By: Wilton Marburger
Electronic Reporting comes in many shapes and sizes. Depending on the Foodservice Distributor’s that you purchase from, the complexity and breadth of information that is reportable vary greatly.
Large broadline distributor’s such as US Foods and Sysco, have the ability to provide foodservice operators with detailed information on purchases. Sysco many times refers to their usage reports as Satrak’s, which simply stands for Sales Tracking.
Other popular titles which for all intensive purposes mean the same are velocity reports, volume reports, usage reports, historical data reports, purchase volume reports and descending dollar (descending $) reports to name a few. These reports are easy to run, free of charge and hold a wealth of information.
What to Ask For
when asking for velocity reports, it is extremely helpful to request reports in excel (.xls) or (.csv) formats. Reason being is that you can open the reports in an excel spreadsheet and manipulate the data using any and all excel functions.
I find the data-Sort function to be quite helpful in moving large sections of information around quickly and accurately. Besides format, there are also certain pieces of information to request within the report. Keep in mind that different distributors, whether broadline food distribution suppliers, vendors such as Edward Don, or Dade Paper and many smaller produce, meat and niche purveyors refer to the same information under different headings. For any report you will have to also ask for a specified time period. For Example: 01/01/09 to 06/15/2009
This list is what I request on reports from Vendors:
SUPC or Distributor’s Item Code #
Mfg ID – Manufacturer ID #
Vendor Name (This tells you which manufacturer is behind your Distributors Branded lines of products)
Vendor #
Brand
Item Description – Item Name
Pack Size
Case Qty – Case Quantity – Volume – Usage
Splits (Reports how many individual items you purchased from splitting open a case)
Catchweight (the amount of pounds you purchased of a product)
Total $ - Total Sales
Average Price – This is the average price you paid for each individual item over the reporting period
With this information comes the ability to uncover information within your foodservice establishment.
First, from an owner's perspective it is nice to view everything your staff orders from time to time. Also, have historical trend information with volume and pricing information for the items in which you purchase, you now have accurate knowledge as to which vendors to contact to contract on your high use...
Read More
