Getting credit for part of a damaged food delivery
How a restaurant claims a supplier credit note when part of a delivery arrives damaged or short, and records what arrived so it never pays for the rest.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Hospitality businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
The fish arrives on a Saturday morning. Most of the order is fine, but one box has been sitting warm, and a tray of eggs at the bottom of the crate is broken. The invoice in the driver's hand is for the full order. The sous chef signs it because service starts in a few hours, puts the bad fish in the bin, and mentions it to nobody. Weeks later, the supplier's statement shows the full amount owing, and nobody can remember which box it was.
Partial damage and short deliveries are routine in a busy kitchen. Getting credit for them is not difficult, but it depends on a few habits at the back door and in the office. Here is how a restaurant, café or hotel kitchen can claim the credit, record it, and make sure it actually arrives.
Noting the damage at the back door
The claim is won or lost in the minutes the driver is still there. The person receiving should:
- open and check each box before signing, not after the van has left;
- write the problem on the delivery note itself: which items, how many, and what was wrong;
- ask the driver to sign or initial the note beside the comment;
- take a photograph of the damaged goods, with the delivery note visible;
- keep the damaged goods aside, if the supplier wants them returned or inspected.
"Received in full, subject to checking" is not a note the supplier will honour. "Tray of eggs broken, hake box warm on arrival, driver informed" is.
Recording what actually arrived against the order
In Achekam, deliveries are recorded against a purchase order line by line, including part deliveries, and a goods-received record is kept. The receiving record should show what was usable, not what was ordered: the full quantity for the lines that arrived in good order, the reduced quantity for the lines that did not. One point to note: recording goods received does not add the items to stock.
AccountingTools explains that matching the supplier invoice to the receiving documentation checks that the goods were received, in the correct quantity and in good condition. A receiving record that shows the shortfall is what makes that match catch the problem later.
Holding the invoice until the supplier responds
When the supplier's invoice is recorded against the order, Achekam matches it with what was ordered and what arrived. If the price or quantity differs, the invoice is held until someone writes a resolution note. That is exactly the pause a damaged delivery needs: the full invoice cannot slip through to payment while the credit is still being argued.
AccountingTools says that when a three-way match finds a problem, accounts payable staff contact the supplier, which may lead to a revised invoice or a credit memo. Send the supplier the marked delivery note and the photograph the same day, and ask which of the two it will issue.
When the answer comes, write the resolution note so that someone reading it a year later understands what happened: which lines were affected, what the supplier agreed, and the number of the credit note or revised invoice. Agree with your accountant how each outcome is entered in your books, so that the bill that finally posts reflects what you owe for the goods you could use.
Partial credit notes and the supplier's statement
ACCA notes that a credit note need not cover the full value of the original invoice, for example where only part of a batch of goods was damaged. That is the normal case in a kitchen: one box of fish, not the whole order.
Partial credits are also a common reason the supplier's statement and your own records disagree. ACCA lists the usual reasons: payments not yet received by the supplier, invoices posted to the wrong supplier, unprocessed credit or debit notes, discounts not accounted for correctly, and transposition errors. When you reconcile the statement each month, an item marked "credit claimed, not received" or "credit received, not yet on their statement" will explain much of the difference. Reconciling a supplier statement works through that comparison step by step.
Following up credits that never arrive
Some suppliers agree on the phone and never issue the credit. Keep a simple list of open claims, with a line for each: the date, the supplier, what was wrong, the value claimed, what the supplier promised, and the date the credit arrived.
Review it weekly, and make one person responsible for chasing every open line until it closes. A credit still missing after the supplier's next statement deserves a call to someone senior at the supplier, not the driver. Until it arrives, it is reasonable to pay the parts of the account that are not in dispute: in Achekam a posted bill can be paid in full or in parts from a chosen bank account, so the supplier is not left waiting for money you agree you owe while the disputed part is settled.
Recording and paying the bills themselves is covered in paying food and beverage suppliers in parts.
ACCA's article on supplier statement reconciliations explains why statements and ledgers differ and how partial credit notes fit in.
Put a pen and a camera at the back door, make "check before you sign" the rule, and start the open-claims list today. The credits you have been losing are usually small, but they arrive every week.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
