• Article Author: Christina Lazuric
•  

Food Business

Every seller is so busy that they rarely have time to get the essential things done but there are 5 things that you just have to do. If you’re thinking of selling your business or if you just want to catch up there are some things that will make you feel more organized and glad that you did.

1-Do your inventory at the end of the year. Initially every business owner intends to do everything perfectly in his business but as time goes on, and the demands of the business wear on the owner. Slowly doing things, like inventory, can fall off the “TO DO” list. It’s critical that you actually do an inventory at least one a year. If you don’t then your taxes are not accurate, you have no idea about your shrinkage and it makes it difficult for a potential buyer to evaluate your business.

2-Get your 1099’s prepared early. By keeping your employees files updated with information that you will need, like updated addresses, social security numbers… you won’t be catch searching if they suddenly quit or get fired. Consider it part of the end of year check up.

3-Get your Xmas inventory in early if possible. If you’re in retail you might or might not be aware that preferred customers actually receive inventory  way before the holiday season even begins but the billing is deferred until the season arrives. For anyone in retail, they know how valuable that is. I’ve rarely ever seen a holiday order ship complete, there’s usually some type of short shipment, especially these day with manufactures tightening their belts.

4-Prepare the business holiday card list. Whether you want to send your employees their bonuses in a X-mas card or you plan on sending your clients a happy holidays card, you don’t want to be running around last minute to look for peoples contact information. Try to store it in an excel format so you can just print labels instead of writing all those addresses.

5-Focus on building your data base. In any business you must take advantage of the opportunities that are before you.  There are many reasons why business owners don’t stop and take the time to get their clients contact information but they are all excuses. When you sell a business, being able to say that you have 500 active patrons on an email list or a mailing system is very powerful. The holiday season is, for most businesses, the busiest time of the year. If you own a restaurant or a retail business, make contest with your waiters and waitresses, whoever gets the most emails at the end of the months get’s a $30 gift card. That will motivate them to remember to ask every time they give out the bill.

May your end of year be more profitable than the last!

Christina Lazuric

Food Enquirer