Planning tissue and napkin supply for a hotel or restaurant group

Tissue is a small line on a hospitality P&L and a large one in guest experience, which is why it is worth an hour of planning. This is the method we use with hotel and restaurant groups in India and the UAE to turn ad-hoc buying into a monthly supply plan.

Step 1: list the touchpoints

Walk through a guest's day and list every point where tissue appears: table napkins, bar napkins, room-service trays, guest-room facial tissue, washrooms, kitchens and back-of-house cleaning. Each touchpoint has a best format, and mixing them up is where cost and complaints come from.

Step 2: match formats

Step 3: count by covers and rooms

Napkins per cover × covers per month per outlet; tissue packs per occupied room-night × room-nights; kitchen rolls per kitchen per week. Add about 10 per cent for events and seasonal peaks. The result is a monthly quantity per outlet that a manufacturer can plan production against.

Step 4: consolidate to one supplier

One manufacturer supplying napkins, facial tissue and kitchen rolls on one schedule means one artwork approval for printing, one delivery per outlet per month and one invoice per group. It also gives you leverage on price that scattered buying never does.

Step 5: set the schedule and review quarterly

Agree a monthly delivery date per outlet, a buffer stock level and a contact for urgent top-ups. Review quantities every quarter against actual covers and occupancy and adjust.

Working with GramBask

We supply Indian hospitality groups on scheduled monthly deliveries from our plant in Bihar, and UAE groups through GramBask General Trading in Abu Dhabi. Send your outlet list and rough monthly covers through the quote form and we will come back with formats, samples and a supply plan.