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EVALUATING AND PURCHASING FOOD PANTRY INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

Finding the right Food Pantry Inventory Management Software that best fits the needs of your food pantry, has all of the necessary functionality, is fast and reliable, cost-effective, and avoids the many pitfalls and shortcomings of second-rate inventory management systems is crucial for truly optimizing your pantry’s operations, reducing spoilage, maximizing warehouse space, minimizing warehouse personnel requirements, and serving more clients and in a more highly-dignified manner. We will address all of these issues so that you are in the best position possible to evaluate and select the best Food Pantry Inventory Management Software solution for your organization.

Benefits of Food Pantry Inventory Management Software

  1. On-Time Replenishment: Dynamically track food inventory in real time to identify replenishment needs and reduce out-of-stocks (e.g.- Days of Inventory remaining by pantry item)

  2. Spoilage Reduction: Identify food spoilage risk for perishable items currently in excess stock so that proactive measures can be taken (e.g.- special promotions, inventory transfers, etc.)

  3. Improve Ordering Frequency: Analyzing inventory turn rates by food pantry item in order to optimize future food ordering quantities and timing

  4. Optimization of Costs and Constraints: Effectively manage warehousing space constraints, personnel scheduling and headcount, delivery logistics, and working  capital (cost of holding inventory)

  5. Improve Client Dignity: For online client food ordering, such as with SmartChoice’s virtual pantry shopping interface, eliminate client disappointment with food items being “out-of-stock” at pickup by displaying in the shopping interface only items that are currently in stock, through the integration of the real-time inventory management system

Why is Food Pantry Inventory Management Software essential for Digital Food Pantries?

If your food pantry is going to offer online food ordering / shopping – or any type of remote ordering for that matter, including via telephone, then it is critically important to have a directly-integrated food pantry inventory management system in place to support that.
 

From an inventory management perspective food pantries are very different than supermarkets due to the fact that inventory replenishment of specific food items is far less controllable. Food pantries don’t typically have the luxury of ordering and re-ordering specific food items on-demand as needed.
 

Larger food pantries may be able to place orders with food bank partners and other suppliers, however, typically they are only able to do so for the highest volume products that are in the greatest demand. Lower volume food items that are still important to pantry clients are typically far more difficult to be replenished to inventory. The bottom line is that food pantries have less control over available inventory. The result is that what they have in stock at any given time varies greatly from one day to the next. Imagine from a client’s perspective what that would look like when they shop at the food pantry’s online store and select the food they need and want, but then when they go to pick it up (or when it’s delivered) most of their selections are missing because those items were out-of-stock. Hardly a satisfying and dignified experience.
 

What if instead the online shopping interface dynamically only showed items that were actually available at that exact point in time – and once those items were selected by the shopper they were automatically reserved for them? Food pantry inventory management systems directly integrated with online shopping portals, such as SmartChoice’s food pantry shopping and inventory management software are designed to deliver those exact types of dynamic and seamless client experiences, resulting in a truly dignified and satisfying experience.

What key functionality should a Food Pantry Inventory Management System have?

  1. Barcode and QR code scanning: The key to an effective inventory management system is efficiency. There should be no bottlenecks in the operational logistics of the inventory management software. As food items and other products arrive at the pantry for inventory intake it is absolutely essential that they’re able to be loaded into the inventory management software quickly and efficiently. Using a wireless handheld scanner, the ability to scan an entire pallet of food, or a case of food, or even a single unit with a quick barcode scan accomplishes that, and allows a food pantry to manage this process with only minimal headcount resources, saving money and time. When a barcode or QR code is scanned for intake, the item is automatically recognized and entered into inventory.

  2. Keycode Entry: For items that cannot be scanned into inventory (no barcode or QR code), an easy-to-use mechanism for keycode entry is important for intake efficiency. PLU codes for fresh produce, custom  manually-created codes (e.g.- for bundled items/baskets), etc. should be able to be entered into inventory in a clear and seamless  manner.

  3. Product Lookup and Search: For intake of items without barcodes, QR codes, PLU’s, or custom codes, items should be easily searchable for an inventory clerk, as well as able to be found via a hierarchical product directory.

  4. Integration with Online Ordering Interfaces: A standalone inventory management system significantly limits the available benefits of such a system to the food pantry. Instead, the pantry’s inventory management software should be fully-integrated with its online ordering and in-person POS market shopping checkout software to deliver the full benefits available. Otherwise the data feedback loop is not closed, and when items are shopped and ordered online or selected during an in-person market checkout, the inventory software won’t know that the selected items’ inventory was reduced. Similarly, during an online – or any type of remote shopping experience – a shopper will see out-of-stock food items as being available to them when, in fact, they are not, thus severely diminishing the client experience.

  5. Inventory Visibility, Analysis & Reporting: A key benefit of an inventory management system is for administrative and warehouse personnel to be able to view in real-time as well as point in time the current inventory status across all its food and non-food products. A low inventory report and associated automated alert functionality will prevent and/or limit out-of-stocks. An excess inventory report will identify spoilage risks and reduce spoilage for perishable items or allow for valuable physical warehouse space to be better utilized. Understanding inventory turnover rates and days-of-inventory at an item or SKU level will allow warehouse managers to better plan and schedule order replenishment, reduce working capital, and minimize food spoilage and waste.

  6. Transferability: In combination with inventory visibility and analysis/reporting, the ability to react and utilize that data not just for future planning and purchase timing optimization, but also for real time actions, including inventory transfers, is vital for reducing spoilage and freeing up available warehouse space. Food pantry inventory management software should allow for the easy transfer of food both internally and externally. For example, if a food pantry has excess inventory of a perishable item such as broccoli or apples that are at risk of spoiling, an inventory manager can externally transfer that excess inventory to another local food pantry that is in need of that same item – and even be compensated for it. Similarly, if the agency also happens to operate a soup kitchen, congregate meal or packaged meal program, the agency can transfer that excess-quantity item from its food pantry to one of those other programs, thereby filling a real need while at the same time eliminating spoilage.

  7. Adjustments: Although significantly reduced as a result of the implementation of a quality food inventory management system, spoilage, waste, and loss/breakage do still occur. As a result, it is essential that a food pantry’s inventory management software easily allows for corresponding adjustments to be easily made to the inventory database. At the same time, it is equally important that any such adjustments are tracked and fully-auditable by the system to allow for full reconciliation, minimize and correct human error, and to prevent inventory loss.

Summary, Conclusion, and Next Steps

A quality, well-integrated food pantry inventory management software system is essential for a food pantry to operate efficiently, reduce headcount and spoilage costs, save valuable physical warehouse space, and deliver a dignified and satisfying experience to the food pantry client. For more information or to view a live demo contact a SmartChoice representative to see all of the benefits and cost savings opportunities available to your pantry – or schedule an in-person visit to a SmartChoice food pantry near you.

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