daily sales summary

[javaalley]

After just starting my coffe shop I had an idea set on how i wanted to keep track of drawer count or daily summary sheet. But it just is not working for me. Do you all have any advice on what I can do to make this easier for me at the end of the day.

 

[GreenCat]

sales summary - not at the day end...

Here's my two cents, but I hope someone else responds, too, since this is a good qestion, and tracking sales is very important. I want to be accurate when I open my shop this spring, and hope to improve on the following... My best advice may be to not do the counting at the end of the day.

This is what they did at the shop I worked at last year. First there were two cash drawers (One cash register.) At the day end, the cash register sales tape totals were ran. Also, the credit card tapes were ran. These tapes were pulled out and put away with the full cash drawer. The cash register drawer compartment was left open and empty at night. (In case of break-ins, you don't want anyone to break your register, just to find out it's empty.)

The next day, the opening staff got out the other cash drawer, which had been prepared with the correct amount of starting cash.

During the lull between breakfast and lunch, the owner would take last night's drawer and enter the totals into a cheap green accounting ledger notebook, and prepare the day's deposit. Also, any large bills or checks from the current morning were added in, and a note was made of how much.

In the accounting notebook, There were two pages for each month, meaning, if you open it up, you could see the whole month on those two right and left pages. There was about two years worth of info in there. At the way top was listed the month. Down the left side each line or row was one day of the month. That one line was filled in each day. Across the top there was listed everything that needed to be tracked for money and non-money coming and going out of the drawer. Non-money being gift certificates.

Here are the column categories that I remember. Try it, and add whatever else you need to track. Date, Cash from the drawer, Credit Sales, amt of checks and large cash taken out for previous day deposit, Gift Certs sold($ in, but no product out), Gift Certs used (no $ in, but product out,) Punch cards redeemed(just count them for info to estimate how much this perk sets you back,) Money out of the drawer (There should be a receipt in the drawer if an employee had to run buy something with cash,) Total sales for the day(Add the various income amts and types,) Amount of overage or shortage. These were most of the cash drawer numbers.

Also, there were columns to track the breakdown of register totals for coffee, pastries, gifts, Foods, Bean sales, and whatnot.

A few notes... The change never got counted. Somtimes there was a little more, sometimes less. The overages and shortages amounts seemed to stay about the same from day to day. Starting cash was just left in the drawer, and not counted and replaced each day. Last night's drawer becomes the starting drawer for the next morning. It just gets put away after the counting and totals are done. Some change rolls, 1's and 5's were kept in a bank bag. If an employee needs quarters, they take a roll and leave a $10, keeping the drawer balanced. The notebook of counts and totals was kept separate from other bill paying and check writing that the owner did at home. If your computer is at the shop, you could easily do the tracking in a spreadsheet.

I only did the totals a few times, but it seemed like a fairly simple stress free way to track it all. I suppose the owner took the notebook home at month end and entered it into the computer for the accountant. This owner has been in business for 11 years, and it works for them.

You'll want to get a good system figured out before it snowballs into a big mess. If you plan to do it yourself, you may want to start by paying someone to help set up your quickbooks accounts or whatever you're using. Then you can just do the entry and month end stuff.

Good Luck

 

[Twitch]

I'm hoping to open this summer, here's my plan.

Cash register with internet connection that I can download to my home PC every night to run via quickbooks. I'll have DSL in the hut anyway just to have access to ordering information and to have speedy ATM transactions.

Cash will be counted and drawers run pretty much as described above by GreenCat.

I like the idea of leaving the drawer open at night. Nice tip.

 

[janie1963]

Just a warning....leaving the cash drawer open doesn't deter a thief. We were broken into march 2-we always leave the till open and empty and don't really hide the cash (we left it in a simple cash box in the restroom). The thief pulled the drawer out and threw it on the floor, ransacked the entire place causing nearly $2000. in damage. I'm not really sure what the solution is, especially where I'm at-the meth problem is huge here and that fuels the crimes. Leaving the drawer open probably saved us from having to buy a new register, though.

 

[GreenCat]

Janie, Sorry to hear about the break-in and ransacking. I suppose it left you feeling scared, vulnearble, mad and more. You are right. The slightly open cash drawer won't deter a thief. It's to prevent having to replace the cash register, which not only has to be fixed or replaced, but reprogrammed, etc.

Some theives will just search for the cash and then run off. Why they have to wreck the place, too, I don't know. It's good to have about 4 to 5 locations to keep your night cash on site, and switch it around now and then.

Again, sorry to hear about it, and I hope clean-up and repairs go smoothly.

 

[yumsetti]

Hello,
I am just going to put my two cents in, you may have already thought about this. However, where I used to work we would have two people take the deposit to the bank afterhours in the night drop box. We had two people for two reasons. 1. For protection in case someone is waiting at the bank to steal your money. 2. So the second person is a witness that the first employee actually deposited it. I also worked somewhere else that my manager got held up with a gun on his way to the bank. If another person were there with him that might not have happened.

 

[janie1963]

My worst nightmare is that someone may watch/follow me home thinking I have a big bag of money on me, which isn't true. We keep only $75 in morning seed money in the shop, but thats enough for the druggies to get their next fix.

Thanks for the tip on two people making the night deposit...it makes great sense.

 

[javahill]

From the perspective of a roaster - one of the things we do it model the profitability that one of our resellers can expect based on their volume of coffee they buy from us, which coffees, how many cup sizes, the mix of cup sizes and their pricing.

Out of that, we have helped half a dozen customers identify skimming, including a son-in-law of the owner. Ouch. Son-out-law?

One thing we do is recommend that nothing ends up in whole dollar amounts. That way every transaction gets a register ring. We've seen a lot of dollar bills for small cups of coffee never make it into the register.

 

[janie1963]

And no matter how much you think you can trust someone, they can and will betray that trust...I'm having some suspicions now about an employee. Not only about skimming money, but she has bad mouthed me to a customer she has befriended...I have no idea what she's said or why since I have been very good to her and haven't given her any reason to be upset with me. that doesn't really matter, its the fact that she's discussing things with a customer and that is against policy. For reasons too lengthy to go into, I'm waiting before I confront her...I've also made the mistake of being a friend to her as well as employer.

It's been a rough day...thanks for letting me vent.

 

[javahill]

Employee theft and similar issues is difficult, but it is probably something best not put off. I would suggest a quick check with counsel - especially if you are thinking about waiting. Not sure how waiting could make it better.

"These things must be handled... delicately." - Wicked Witch of the West

But they must be handled.

 

[celement]

lucky

I was fortunate to have the pathetic cash register in our drive through break about a month after we bought the place...and no one could seem to fix it...I spent about $650 on one from a local business. In return I picked up two of their people as customers (nice) and I get hourly reports as well as exact drink item reports on my full menu. I can see exactly how many 20 ounce white mocha's and 12 ounce hot chocolates I sell daily....its cool - good data and its uploadable to the Internet if I want to see if I'm able to open more locations some day.

 

[TheLeadDog]

counting out

Well here is what I do and it seems to work. I have two shops but started with a little cart so it kind of evolved. At each store I have one cash register with 2 drawers. We maintain 175.00 in each drawer.

1st shift opens and makes sure that there is 175.00 in their drawer. The register I have has 50 departments and I use about 20 of them to track drinks and other sales. Each department can have as many PLU's as you would like ( a PLU stands for price look up) It speeds things up (1 then PLU rings in a small brewed, 2 then PLU rings in med brewed etc)

I arranged my Departments by the types of products Dept 1 is brewed coffees S<M<L Red eyes, Americanos, (any coffee type drink).

Dept2 is milk type drinks, Lattes, Caps, steamers etc

Dept3 is chocolate type drinks, Mochas, Wt Mochas hot choc, etc

You get the picture. So my baristas ring in the drinks and at the end of their shift they take an X, which is the total sales report of all the departments with a total at the end.

The next shift comes on with drawer 2 (which they have counted to make sure there is 175.00) They take over the register with their drawer. The first shift then goes to the back and counts 175.00 to leave in their drawer with a count record (adding machine tape), takes the rest of the money and counts it, records it, puts it in a plastic bag with the X and puts that in a Day bag.

The last sift comes on and uses drawer 1 counts it to make sure the first shift was correct records it and relieves the second shift. Second shift takes an X on the register and does what shift 1 did. At the end of the closing shift the barista takes a Z on the register which is like an X but sets the register back to zero. They also do the counting and like the first 2 shifts.

So at the end of the day there are 3 bags with 3 shifts totals all in the day bag. All money is kept locked up except for the coins which we leave in the drawers (which wont fit in the safe). Our places have alarm systems to deter theft and if an alarm is going off a thief doesnt take a lot of time to thrash your place.

Then comes the fun part. I use an excell spread sheet for counting and totaling each shift. That way I can tell if a barista is making mistakes that cost me or my customers money. Also if they are over or short too much you know you have a problem. Actually if they are exactlly right all the time you really have a problem cause no one is....

Once I total it all up I enter the Z's into Quick Books in memorized sales transactions that record the Department sales by Items. I tried to keep track by each drink I sold but it got to be to overwhelming. Using Departments as sales items keeps me on top of what is happening pretty close.

I hope i didnt confuse you too much and if you want to know any more or want to see how I use Excell to help, let me know.... If you need a roaster (Oh yeah we also roast all of our coffees) we do a great job and sell wholesale too.

 

[janie1963]

THeLeadDog,

Thanks for the great tips (everyone else too for that matter). How do you keep employees from doing a Z report midshift....zero out any sales they want and pocket the cash? I am the only one to have a program key for my register, but that may have to change when we relocate as I won't be able to close every night or be there at closing to run the report. Just today I was thinking about how to change my departments to be better able to monitor exactly what drinks are sold. My register has only 10 departments, so I was thinking of assigning a dept. for each cup size-hot or cold...that way I can count cups each day and know what should be there. I'm suspecting what is happening is my barista is not ringing up some drinks and pocketing that $$. I won't fire her without absolute proof...she knows she can collect unemployment if she's fired.

I don't have excel...but can get it. Any other tips are greatly appreciated.

Thank you again!

 

[TheLeadDog]

x'''s

Well that would be getting pretty bold.. Not ringing up sales would be the way to pocket sales. I used a register with only 10 dept. for years and it worked fine. but not to count cups. You can do that anyway by matching number of sales to total number of cups gone...

 

[Ellie]

Janie1963,
You can fire your employee with cause, and she cannot collect unemployment. Why don't you have a little talk with her about the way she "mouths off" to customers, and document her personnel file? If she does that again, then you can fire her with cause.

Also, what about the little survellience cameras that you can get at Sams Club? I've kinda been wondering if anyone has used one of those, aimed at the cash register, and if they work to deter employee theft? Anyone?

Ellie