What two days in your bakery showed us
BakeServe main bakery: a diagnosis from the floor and from your records to 27 September.
The short answer
Your records agree with each other because they are written to agree. So they cannot show you where to act.
The fix is small: count at two points on the sheet you already use, and put tomorrow's bake in front of the bakery manager before the stores voucher.
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026Where you are today
A busy bakery that writes everything down, often three times
Sales a month, 29 June to 27 September
Of sales value is Deluxe bread
Deluxe batches a day on average, about 3,500 loaves
Records for every van load: security book, loading book and salesman report
Your production workbooks and stock report; Zubair's photos of 6 October.
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026How the figures are made
The sheet records the standard, and nothing counts loaves between the table and the van
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026One batch, 5 October
A batch counted at 212 still went into the day's total as 216
Zubair watched batch 8 come out four loaves short. The supervisor wrote 212 on the batch line, which is right. The day's total was then written as 16 batches x 216 = 3,456, so the four loaves disappeared again.
The batch lines added up
The total written on the sheet
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026Finding 1
Damages are the one loss your books can see, and they carry no cause
Damages a month at selling price (bakery and returns). The cost to you is lower; we do not have costs yet.
Deluxe loaves a day damaged in the bakery, written on 90 of 91 days
Deluxe loaves a day returned damaged, written on 90 of 91 days
Each entry is a number only. Nobody can say whether a loaf was lost in the proofer, the oven, cooling or the slicer.
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026Finding 1, continued
Little goes missing outside the damages line. Is that line counted?
- Your finished-goods stock book closes every day, and it stayed flat at about one day's sales.
- A batch Zubair counted after the oven on 6 October came to the full 216.
- So loss the books do not record is probably small.
- What the paper cannot show is whether the damages figure is counted loaf by loaf, or written so the book balances. Two weeks of counts after slicing will tell you.
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026Finding 2
Tomorrow's bake is set the same morning, and nobody checks it
- The plan lives in a supervisor's diary and along the top of the stores voucher.
- The bakery manager does not see it before it drives the requisition.
- Tuesday's production sheet will show whether 25 batches were baked.
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026Finding 2, continued
The weekday pattern is small, so the check matters more than the forecast
Average Deluxe loaves sold, by weekday, 29 June to 27 September
- As a forecast, last week's same day misses by about 286 loaves a day; yesterday's sales miss by 341.
- Turned into whole batches, that saves about 5 to 35 loaves a day.
- The value is a plan someone checks before flour is drawn.
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026Good news
Old bread reaching customers is a smaller problem than it feels
Average Deluxe loaves from the previous day's bake still in stock at closing
- Bread two or more days old was never in stock overnight in 13 weeks.
- The previous day's bake carries over on 17 of 91 days, Wednesday to Friday.
- Saturday clears it. Those three days are where the bake sheet should start.
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026Finding 3
Slicing is slow enough to queue the whole day
About 17 seconds a loaf, roughly 210 an hour, against maker ratings of up to 250 to 600 for hand-fed slicers. How many run at once is counted on Thursday.
Stopwatch, six loaves, 6 October. Oliver 797 manual (2024); JAC Eco+ 450 (maker maximum ratings).
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026Finding 3, continued
Deluxe leaves the proofer well before its stated time
Short proof gives smaller loaves that can burst at the sides. The proofers have no timer and no numbers.
Zubair, 6 October. BAKERpedia, "Final proof" (citing Pyler, 1988).
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026An open question
Stores issue three flours in equal thirds, but your recipes do not use them that way
What stores issue every day
What Tuesday's plan needed for Cena, which is said to use only Royal
Either Royal piles up in the store, or Deluxe takes Royal too. Royal is said to be the better flour. Thursday's stock of each type settles it before anything changes.
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026What we suggest
One change to try first, and three counts on the paper you already use
Nothing new for staff to learn. Each step can be stopped by the person named.
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026The one change
A printed bake sheet that the bakery manager signs before the voucher
Trial: 19 October to 1 November, Deluxe only. Yusuf can stop it; going back means returning to the diary.
Measured by: batches baked within one of the sheet, and the bread carried over Wednesday to Friday.
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026The baseline, from 12 October
Three lines on the production sheet, so the trial has something true to measure
Count three Deluxe batches a day after slicing and write it on the batch line.
Write proof, oven, cooling, slicing or packing next to each damage already recorded.
Add up the batch lines for the day's total instead of batches x 216.
Plus one food-safety step: date each milk drum on arrival and use the oldest first.
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026Who does what
Six people, no more than three tasks each
ZubairAkoma
This week: loaves after slicing, slicers and hours, flour by type.
SafiSupervisor
From 12 October: good loaves, damage stage and real totals.
Abu BakrBakery manager
Signs the bake sheet from 19 October; dates the milk.
MunirAccounts
Sales and a sheet photo by 09:00, from 9 October.
YusufOwner
A 20-minute weekly review with Abu Bakr.
MoAkoma
Sends the bake sheet by 08:00 during the trial.
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026When, and what stops
Four weeks from first count to a decision
Zubair counts after slicing, slicers and flour
Walkthrough: you decide on the trial
Three counts start on the sheet
Bake sheet trial starts
Review, and the phase 2 decision
Stop doing
Writing the day's total as batches x 216. Setting the bake without the bakery manager seeing it. Handling daily problems one by one between weekly reviews.
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026For Mo and Zubair Akoma only: raise in person
Four things we say face to face, never in writing
- The morning stock count equals the book on 271 of 286 counts. Ask how it is done.
- On our reading the security book misses 25 Deluxe and 20 Cena that left the gate. Check by eye first.
- Route cash-ups January to September are about ZMW 30,000 short, ZMW 22,000 on one route.
- The bake sheet needs Akoma after the paid week: founding-client gesture or start of phase 2? Decide by Friday.
BakeServe diagnosis · 7 October 2026
Friday's decision: try the checked bake sheet for two weeks
What we are not saying: we have no costs yet, so all money is at selling price, and we saw no carelessness. Next date: the review on Monday 2 November.