Managing Inventory Control and Procurement

Specifications should be written for nearly every item that is purchased. This is critical is the foodservice operation receives federal funding as is the case for some education and healthcare facilities. Writing specifications can be a demanding and time-consuming job, especially for many different food and supply items, equipment, chemicals, and so on.

Meat, seafood, poultry, processed fruits and vegetables, and fresh fruits and vegetables can be ordered under different specifications. For example,

• Meats can be ordered by grade, cut, weight/thickness, fat limitation, age, whether fresh or frozen, and type of packaging.
• Seafood can be ordered by type (e.g., finfish/shellfish), species, market form, condition, grade, place of origin, whether fresh or frozen, count, size, and packaging,
• Poultry can be ordered by type, grade, class (e.g., broiler, fryer), style (e.g., breasts, wings), size, whether fresh or frozen, and packaging.
• Processed fruits and vegetables can be ordered by grade (sometimes), variety, packaging size and type, drained weight, count per case, packing medium, and whether canned or frozen.
• Fresh fruits and vegetables can be ordered by grade (sometimes), variety, size, weight per container, growing area, and count per container

Below adapted from Canadian book…

Table 10.7 shows an example of a purchasing specification sheet for beef that might be kept in a commercial kitchen or receiving area.

Table 10.7 A Sample Purchasing Specification. The table shows different kinds of beef with their grade, weight, and cut specifications.