Stock about to expire: use it, sell it cheap, or bin it?

Read the date before you decide

Two labels look alike and mean different things. The UK government's guidance separates them in two lines. A use-by date is about safety. A best before date is about quality. Food past its best before date is usually safe to eat, though it may not be at its best. Food past its use-by date is not, unless it was cooked or frozen on or before that date.

The third row is for what you make yourself. The US Food Code says ready-to-eat chilled food kept longer than 24 hours must be labelled with the day it is to be eaten, sold or thrown out, and it can be held for at most 7 days at 5°C or below. The day it was made counts as day 1. A sauce made on Monday is gone by the end of Sunday. That is a US model code, and a kitchen in Manila can adopt it as a house rule.

Teach the two labels to whoever closes the shop. In a 2025 survey of 2,069 US adults, people believed they understood 8 common date labels 87% of the time. When tested, they got 53% right. In the same survey 43% said they usually or always throw out food near or past its date, up from 37% in 2016. A closing crew that reads every date as a use-by date bins stock that was still sellable.

Use it before you sell it cheap

The recovery options run in order. Each step gets back less money than the one before it, so stop at the first one that works.

1. Move it to the front. First expired, first out. The tray with the nearest date gets used first, even if it arrived last.
2. Put it in another dish. A special or the staff meal. The patty in a ₱150 special recovers the full menu value.
3. Mark it down in the last hours. A smaller recovery, with a catch covered below.
4. Bin it and log it. Nothing comes back, and the log is the only thing the loss buys you.

Step 2 is the one owners skip, because it means a change to the board at 5 pm. It also recovers the most. Take 10 patties bought at ₱40 each. In a ₱150 special with ₱45 of bun, cheese and wrapper, each one brings in ₱105 over its extra costs, or ₱1,050 for the tray. The same 10 in the bin bring in ₱0.

The purchase price is already gone

The ₱400 paid for those 10 patties is spent whether they sell or not. That changes how to think about a markdown. A discounted burger does not have to cover the patty. It only has to cover what you add to sell it. Sell 10 at ₱90 and the stall takes in ₱900, spends ₱450 on buns, cheese and wrappers, and keeps ₱450 it would not have had. If the bun, cheese, sauce and wrapper cost ₱45, then any price above ₱45 brings cash back that the bin would not.

This is why a ₱90 burger can be the right call on a ₱180 menu item. Against the full price it looks like a loss. Against the bin it is ₱45 better, every time one sells. The comparison that matters is the one between the markdown and the bin, because those are the two things still on the table at 9 pm.

The switcher limit

The catch is the customer who would have paid ₱180 and pays ₱90 instead. Every one of those costs you the difference. A markdown pays as long as those switchers stay few. The switcher limit is markdown sales times what each one earns, divided by what each switcher costs. Earned per sale is the markdown price minus the extra costs. Cost per switcher is the full price minus the markdown price.

The table is the burger stall again: ₱180 full price, ₱45 of extra costs, 10 patties to clear. Halving the price from ₱180 to ₱90 drops the limit from 35 switchers to 5. A shallow cut late in the evening keeps the limit high, because few regulars wait until 9 pm for ₱30 off. A deep cut advertised all day is the version that trains people to wait.

What the bin log is for

Whatever is left goes in the bin, and every binned unit is an order that was too big. WRAP's study of the UK hospitality and food service sector found that 21% of the sector's food waste is spoilage: food bought and never cooked. That slice is the one a better order can shrink.

The log turns a feeling into a figure. If 10 patties at ₱40 land in the bin every week, that is ₱400 a week and ₱20,800 over 52 weeks, on one item. Two weeks of the same item in the log is a pattern. Cut the next order for that item by the units binned, then watch the week after. If it sold out early, put half of them back. The case-or-unit guide covers the other common cause: a case that lasts longer than the item's shelf life spoils its tail every time.

Where ForeFlux picks up

Binned stock goes into ForeFlux as an adjustment. On Inventory, the Adjustments tab has Waste: choose the item and enter how much went in the bin. It opens on Shrinkage, the reason for spoiled and binned stock, and a reason is required. Every adjustment then sits in that tab's history next to what sold and what arrived, so the week of binned patties sits beside the delivery that brought them. ForeFlux does not track expiry dates or price markdowns. The date and the price stay your call: we suggest, you decide.

Sources

• GOV.UK, Best before and use-by dates. Use-by is about safety, best before about quality. Food cooked or frozen on or before its use-by date can be kept past it.
• US FDA National Retail Food Team, Food Code Section 3-501.17, Date Marking (2019). Ready-to-eat chilled food held over 24 hours, a maximum of 7 days at 5°C, the day of preparation counted as day 1.
• ReFED, Confusion over food date labels has grown, according to new national survey (February 2025). 2,069 US adults; 87% believed, 53% correct; 43% discard near or past the date, up from 37% in 2016.
• WRAP, Overview of Waste in the UK Hospitality and Food Service Sector (2013). 21% of food waste from spoilage, food bought and never cooked.