During a recent business trip to Asia, I was hosted by two locals.  On the first day of my stay in Kuala Lumpur one brought the meal and the other on the second day.  On the third day Aloysius, one of my hosts, suggested that I might like to visit a local street café for traditional pancakes and curry sauce.  Always being keen to soak up the local ambience of the places I visit, I readily agreed.  We had three pancakes and three drinks.  Thinking that I should take my turn, when we had finished I asked the waiter for the bill.  It came to 5.40 Ringgits, less than 80 pence, the last of the big spenders!

On another day I visited the elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka.  It was quite a warm day, and as I was feeling a little thirsty, I purchased a coconut from a street vendor to drink the milk.  He cut of the top and gave me a straw for an all in price of about 10 pence, very pleasant.

After 10 days of being fed and waited on in hotels, I arrived back in the UK on a Thursday, and the following evening my wife suggested that I might like to accompany her on a trip to the local supermarket.  Wheel you own trolley; pack your own bags, if you want you can even scan your own purchases through the checkout.  Back to reality.

In order to better understand our world, we try to compartmentalise various aspects in our minds.  When talk about the ‘food and drink’ sector what do we mean?  What does the street café in Kuala Lumpur or the coconut seller have in common with your local Tesco or ASDA?  Certainly they all sell food and drink, so there is at least one common factor, however there are huge differences.

Most food and drink products have a defined lifespan.  If you keep them long then they spoil.  Proper stock rotation is therefore critical – always ship the oldest first. 

Howard Turvey  MD Proteus Software

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For more information please call Howard on +44 (0) 121 717 7474 or email moreinfo@proteussoftware.com