Last week I enjoyed a couple of days off. One evening an early light dinner was arranged with an old friend.

A couple of hours went by enjoying food, glass of wine, couple of coffees and good conversation. As we said our good-byes and I had started to walk home, it hit me. A big attack of hunger pangs. Beside me was a national fast food outlet. " A portion of french fries should abate the hunger " I thought.

I placed my order ; " sorry we have no french fries ". The look of surprise on my face registered. The assistant apologised and said " he only works there and wasn't allowed to place orders. It was all done centrally by head office and they hoped to have french fries by 10 pm that evening ".

This assistant is always very pleasant whenever I visit, so I just smiled and ordered something else.

Upon reflection, a couple of things came to mind. I should mention this incident happened around 6.30 pm on a Tuesday evening.

1. If head office knew this outlet was low/out of fries, why was someone not sent out to collect from other outlets and supply them with enough to carry them through the night ?

2. Across the road is a supermarket. Why did no one authorise the assistant to take some petty cash and go buy enough fries to cover them until their delivery came through ?

3. With all the sophisticated data and software systems available today, how was this outlet allowed to go below minimum stock levels ?

4. Imagine if instead of being a small national fast food outlet, it was one of the global giants. A great deal of fun would have been enjoyed by the world at their expense. A tarnished reputation would have ensued.

A couple of thoughts if you are using a central purchasing/stock control system.

Yes things can go wrong, that's life, but have a back up plan in place. I felt sorry for the assistant having to explain to customers why a fast food outlet had no french fries. He handled the situation with a smile, but should never have had to deal with it in the first place.

As I was leaving one of my neighbours came in with his grand kids to pick up their phone order. Can you guess his greeting to me ?

" Hi Colin, Imagine a fast food store with no fries " as he laughed. The two assistants simply blushed.

Please ensure you have a back up plan if your central purchasing/stock control system fouls up.
You don't want people laughing, when they think about your business . . . do you ?

Colin Myles Author

P.S.
" Say what you do and do what you say " Business Maxim 101