Unit 1
Purchasing products and communication with a supplier
communicate with а supplier
communicate with а supplierOne of the most important tasks for any foodservice establishment is the communication with food suppliers and arranging the delivery of ingredients and food items. Therefore, students and future restaurant personnel must familiarize themselves with this process and make sure to complete it properly.
The process of communicating with different suppliers and developing a stable business relationship with them is called a food supply chain. There are many levels of processing along this chain until the food can reach its destination – the customer. When it comes to big establishments like restaurants, usually the head chef is the one responsible for communicating with the suppliers and arranging the delivery of food items and ingredients before the stock runs out.
Food supply and inventory checks should be done correctly because a mistake can cause the kitchen staff to have more supplies than needed, which could lead to food going bad. This would be a loss for the establishment in terms of spending money to buy things which are not needed. On the other hand, if you order less quantity of certain ingredients than is needed, you run into the problem of being short on them and unable to fulfill the menu orders from customers. Supply order forms are very helpful and essential in the process of ordering supplies because they can help you keep track of what you’ve ordered, how much and on which day. This makes it easier to avoid mistakes when you need to make a new order.
Exercise 1:
Reading comprehension
Answer the following questions in your notebooks. Use your own words:
- What is a food supply chain?
- Why is it important to have a good relationship with suppliers?
- What is the role of the food suppliers during the process of customer service?
- Do you think a restaurant or other establishment would be affected by a bad supplier? How?
Supply order forms
Starting with the basics, what is a supply order form? It’s a document where you list all the food items and ingredients needed for the proper daily work of a restaurant or other foodservice establishment. It comes in handy especially when you’re dealing with multiple orders from different suppliers and makes it easy to keep track of everything; check if there are any issues with any of the orders (for example, delivery delays, which are very common). Each restaurant has its preferred templates for such order forms and they can be used repeatedly or changed to suit the needs of the restaurant.
Below you will see some examples of templates for supply order forms. Look them over carefully and pay attention to the information you need to fill in.
Language at work
Supply order terms/abbreviations
UIC
Unified Identification Code
VAT
Value-added Tax
Enclose additional documents
Add more documents apart from the order form
Material goods
The items you wish to purchase
Address
Be careful when filling in the addresses for both you and the supplier so that the goods don’t get lost or are unable to be delivered.
Quantity
You need to list the quantity of each item you want to purchase, make sure you know exactly how much you need of each one.
Cost per item
The price of one of the items
In total
How much the entire batch will cost; for example, if one bottle of wine costs $20 and you want to buy 20 bottles, that means in total that will cost $400
Exercise 2: Writing
Use the information given below and fill in the supply order form in the first example:
"On 25.08.2020 the “Black Sea” restaurant on Ivan Bazov street №4, Varna, with acting manager Peter Vasilev with UIC 1122333 and ID no as per VAT 1123435675, received as follows:
- 20 bottles of vodka Fancy – cost per item $9.80
- 10 bottles of rom Arcane – cost per item $8.70
- 30 bottles of beer New Moon – cost per item $1.20
They have been sent from “Julia” shop on Hristo Botev street №7, Varna, with manager John Smith with UIC 444555666 and ID no as per VAT 777889999
write a proper email
write a proper emailWhen communicating with a food supplier in written form, most often that means you will have to exchange emails. Emails should be polite and to the point with all the needed documentation attached in word/excel or pdf formats (this might not always be the case but these three formats are the most commonly used. Let’s look at the given example:
“Hello! I hope you’re doing well. As per our agreement, I am sending you the order form for the delivery on the 24th to the “Sea Turtle” restaurant. Attached you will also find the other documents you requested along with the invoice. Please, look them over and if there are any problems, feel free to contact me at this email or my phone number: 84673767
Best regards,
Ana Evans
Manager of the “Sea Turtle” restaurant
Exercise 3: Working in pairs
Look at the example email and rewrite it to correct all the mistakes you can find. Then exchange ideas with your partners on possible ways to make the email proper and formal.
“Heyyy you! How’s it going? I thought I should send you the stuff you wanted for that thing we talked about. Also I think the weather is so hot here right now anyway I make very important phone call yesterday about the foods and turns out they wanted 30 bottles not 20! Wow wow wow. So I put that in too, just so you know. Lots of kisses and hugs!”
make verbal requests
make verbal requests
Exercise 4: Pre-listening
DIALOGUE 1
Mr. Richards: This is Wain Richards from liquor shop “Pegasus” speaking.
Head chef: Good morning, Mr. Richards. It’s chef Johnson from the “Fire Bird” restaurant.
Mr. Richards: Ah, yes, good morning. How can I help you?
Head chef: We’ve finished our inventory check and we need to make a new order. Should I send you an email with the documents or are you able to discuss it now?
Mr. Richards: Oh, this is fine. We can talk now and I’ll write down your list. But please, just in case, send me that order form later so that I can check if I’ve got everything correctly.
Head chef: Of course. So, we need 23 bottles of “Sunshine” and 15 bottles of “Bare Valley”.
Mr. Richards: What measurements are you looking for?
Head chef: The 375ml bottle for “Sunshine” and 750ml for “Bare Valley”.
Mr. Richards: Hmm, I don’t believe we have enough of the 750ml bottles left. I’ll have to check again and get back to you. Would the smaller bottles be ok?
Head chef: No, unfortunately. Our customers are very keen on the “Bare Valley”. We sold out nearly the entire batch in one evening last week.
Mr. Richards: I’ll see what I can do then. What else do you need?
Head chef: Next is wine. 30 750ml bottles of “Montevario Rosé”, 20 bottles of the “Palerino Blanc” and 15 bottles of “Bellissima Madam”.
Mr. Richards: Right. We’ll get all that to you as soon as tomorrow morning. Is that acceptable?
Head chef: Yes, that’s fine. I’ll be sure to send you the order form later. Oh, and the payment will be in cash upon delivery as usual.
Mr. Richards: Excellent. Pleasure doing business with you, chef Johnson. Have a nice day.
Head chef: You too!
Before listening to the conversation, think about these questions and discuss them with your partner:
- What do you think are the most common items to be ordered by restaurants? Why?
- In your opinion, is it better to have more of something or less? On what does it depend?
- Have you ever ordered something that was unavailable? What did you do then?
Exercise 5: Listening
Listen to the conversation and answer the following questions:
- Who is Mr. Richards?
- What is “Fire Bird''?
- What kind of alcohol does chef Johnson want to order?
- Why doesn’t he want the smaller bottles?
- How many wine bottles in total does he need?
- Is Mr. Richards going to deliver the order on the same day?
- What is chef Johnson going to send via email?
- Is the payment cash or credit?
Answer key:
- He is the manager of the liquor shop;
- A restaurant;
- vodka, wine;
- Because the customers are buying a lot of it;
- 65 bottles;
- No, he will deliver it on the next day;
- The order form;
- It will be cash
Exercise 6: Critical Thinking
Think about the potential challenges that can arise when communicating with suppliers and ordering products for a restaurant or foodservice establishment. Discuss these challenges with your classmates and come up with possible solutions to address them.
Exercise 7: Role Play
Divide the class into pairs or small groups. One group will act as the food supplier, and the other group will represent a restaurant manager or head chef. Role plays different scenarios where the restaurant needs to place an urgent order, there's a problem with the delivery, or negotiation on prices. Practice effective communication skills in these situations.
Exercise 8: Supplier Research
Ask students to research and identify three potential food suppliers for a restaurant or foodservice establishment. Each student should present their findings, including the supplier's name, contact information, product range, delivery options, and any special offers or discounts they provide.
Exercise 9: Supply Order Form Creation
In small groups, have students create their own supply order forms using the provided examples and information. They should design a template that is easy to use, includes all necessary information, and is tailored to the specific needs of a restaurant they imagine. After creating the form, they can present it to the class and explain their choices.
Exercise 10: Supplier Evaluation
Discuss with the class the importance of evaluating suppliers regularly. Ask students to create a list of criteria for evaluating a supplier's performance, such as product quality, delivery efficiency, pricing, and customer service. Then, have them choose one supplier and conduct a mock evaluation based on the criteria they developed.
Exercise 11: Email Writing Practice
Provide students with different scenarios related to communication with a supplier, such as placing an order, addressing a delivery issue, or negotiating a bulk purchase. Ask students to write professional and formal emails based on these scenarios.
Exercise 12: Group Discussion
Assign students to different groups and provide them with case studies related to real-life situations where a restaurant faced challenges with suppliers. Each group should discuss the case study, identify the main issues, and propose solutions to overcome the challenges.
2021-1-BG01-KA220-VET-000024853
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