Find the cash tied up in your aging F&B SKUs
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The short answer
For food and beverage stock, a slow mover is measured against remaining shelf life rather than against a generic turn target. If units on hand exceed average daily sales multiplied by the days of shelf life remaining, the excess will not sell before its date and is already a write-off rather than inventory.
Worked example
A SKU sells 15 units a day and the current lot has 40 days of shelf life left. You can realistically sell 15 x 40 = 600 units before the date. If you hold 900, the 300-unit excess will expire unsold, and at a 6.20 unit cost that is 1,860 already lost. Discounting today recovers part of it; waiting recovers none.
Shelf life makes the deadline absolute
In a non-perishable category, overstock is a timing problem — the cash comes back late. In food and beverage, overstock past the shelf-life horizon is a loss that has already happened and has simply not been recognised yet.
That is why days of cover alone is misleading here. Ninety days of cover on a product with forty days of shelf life left is not a well-stocked SKU, it is a write-off with a date on it.
Work lot by lot, oldest first
Shelf life belongs to the lot rather than the SKU. Two lots received six weeks apart carry different remaining dates and different risk, and a SKU-level average hides the older one — which is precisely the one about to cost you money.
Sorting by remaining days and starting with the oldest lot tells you what to move now and how hard to discount it, rather than spreading a uniform markdown across stock that did not need one.
Frequently asked questions
How is a slow mover different for food and beverage stock?
The deadline is absolute. Non-perishable overstock eventually sells, so the cost is carrying it for longer. Stock held beyond its remaining shelf life never sells at all, so the entire unit cost is lost rather than delayed.
Should I track aging by SKU or by lot?
By lot. Remaining shelf life is a property of the lot, and averaging across lots conceals the oldest one, which carries all of the near-term risk.
When is discounting better than holding for full price?
Whenever the units cannot sell at full price before their date. A discount that moves stock recovers part of the cost; holding recovers none, and you pay storage in the meantime.