The Executive Chef of The Mirabel Club keeps a close eye on supply chains and tries to stay ahead of shortages to keep his operation running smoothly.
Have you ever played the classic whac-a-mole game? Players use a mallet to hit toy moles, which appear at random, back into their holes. But as soon as you hit one mole, another jumps up on the other side. Move for that one, and then there’s a mole in a different spot.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
The supply chain we are all struggling with right now feels an awful lot like whac-a-mole. Whether it’s glass or aluminum for bourbon and soda, or plastic for the tomato juice and to-go boxes, or meat production facilities with reduced processing and fewer delivery dates due to low or no staff—we’re all struggling. I’m not sure what the issues are in your area, but I’m sure you have some. These are issues we face regionally and globally.
It’s never a good look to 86 menu items or to be missing some of your members’ favorite gratis items. This situation had been creating some issues for the membership at Mirabel Club until I started to function as my own broadline warehouse. I made the decision to track the supply chain issues as best I could. I talked to my reps about upcoming issues and shortages. They have the inside track. I followed the news reports and trade information. I paid close attention to the inventory supplies listed in the company’s online inventory systems and, more specifically, what was missing from their inventories.
Then, staring deep into my crystal ball, I forecasted what would be the next gapping item in the supply chain. Sadly, my crystal ball was not that accurate. However, the attention to my supply chain did pay off. No one can see everything that will gap, but my diligence helped. I was then able to stock two or three weeks of the items facing difficult issues in production or delivery. This allowed me to slide over the gaps in supplies and keep the club and membership from having too many missing food or related items.
Worst case scenario, on occasion, I resorted to what will surely be the downfall of modern sociality, Amazon Prime. You really can get anything on there. I trie to shy away from using it too often purely for personal and environmental reasons. But when I cannot find what is really needed for a special event, member’s party or birthday, or just a basic item that I need to supply the kitchen, I will resort to Prime. Just this week I ordered dressing pour bottles and squeeze bottles from there. They were delivered more quickly, were cheaper than my other companies and came to my desk in a day.
It’s always best to discuss a plan of this nature with your GM and the financial department before you order three times the amount of goods in one week as would normally be ordered over three weeks. If you can get them on board and help them see how you’re trying to mitigate future issues, it will help your operation immensely. Explain the plan and reasoning behind it. Work out where the goods will be stored, secured, accounted for, and used before they arrive. Use the “FIFO” (first in, first out) system, only use it to rotate two to three weeks of supplies.
It does create a bit more work on stocking and rotation, but it’s worth it when your next order for a three-day tournament arrives and you were shorted your week’s supply of tomato juice. (True story. I missed that one in my crystal ball.)
