5 Tips For Restaurant Inventory Management

As the manager of a busy restaurant, you have many responsibilities on your plate. However, if you’re not careful, you may miss one of the most important ones – managing inventory levels. Managing inventory level in restaurants is of great importance because if you run out of food to serve your customers, it will reflect poorly on the business and might lead to loss of business and an increase in cost. However, if done right, it can help prevent any such problems from happening and help reduce the cost of running the business by saving money on food purchases and waste management.

What Is Restaurant Inventory Management?

There are many reasons for a restaurant to have a restaurant inventory management system. Firstly, tracking your Inventory and knowing precisely what you have in your kitchen at any given time is vital. It helps ensure that you do not sell food items before they expire and will also let you make sure that you order enough fresh ingredients, so there are no shortages. There are many ways to keep track of inventory management, and today we will discuss five of our favorite tips! Take a look below to learn more!

Understand What It Means To Manage Inventory

Managing Inventory is one of your restaurant’s most significant challenges, and it requires you to closely monitor what’s coming in, what’s going out, and how much is left on hand. But while you can keep a running inventory on paper, electronic tracking makes it easier to manage your business—and will reduce errors and omissions. Choose a third-party system that ties into your point-of-sale (POS) software. It will allow you to track more than just sales figures—you can also estimate future stock needs based on daily averages. If your POS doesn’t have an electronic inventory module, discuss adding one with a POS specialist.

Separate Material Costs From Non-Material Costs

A material cost is any cost related to an inventory item, whether direct or indirect. For example, food would be considered a material cost in a restaurant. Food costs significantly impact food-and-beverage profitability because many restaurants pay for Inventory based on what they sell (food costs will impact your food-cost percentage). Non-material costs are fixed and cannot be attributed to individual items; rent and utilities would fall into that category in a restaurant. It’s crucial to ensure that these costs aren’t unnecessarily high because of a lack of proper supply planning or other inefficiencies – if you allow too many non-material costs in your operations can severely erode profits.

Use Vendors to Reduce Risk

If you’re starting a restaurant, the chances are good that you’re working with a tight budget. Regarding your food and drink Inventory, consider working with at least two vendors to keep your costs down. Doing so helps keep risks manageable by spreading around your business volume. If a vendor goes out of business or starts charging too much for their products, there is a higher chance of finding another replacement product than if you only used one vendor. It also keeps you from over-investing in any product or vendor’s services if they have price gouging policies.

Take Advantage of Technology

We’re guessing you’ve got a cell phone in your pocket. You can probably use it to create inventory lists, shoot photos of your products, and track how many are left in stock. If you want to manage your inventory list effectively, integrate technology into your operations so all staff members can easily update information throughout their shift. Don’t underestimate how powerful mobile phones and social media apps can be regarding management and customer relations—and they don’t even need internet access!

Stay Organized & Keep Things Running Smoothly

Keeping a restaurant running smoothly depends mainly on the organization. Good inventory management means a good organization that helps ensure everything from supply deliveries to customer service runs smoothly. You’ll ensure nothing falls through the cracks by employing top tips for restaurant inventory management. Here are five of them 1. Track Your Inventory With Barcode Technology: Barcode technology is an easy way to track your Inventory as it comes in and out of your restaurant. This system allows you to scan every item as it enters or leaves your kitchen, so you know exactly what things need replenishing at any given time. It also keeps an up-to-date record of how much food is left in storage, allowing you to plan more accurately for future orders. When paired with a computerized ordering system, barcode technology makes tracking Inventory simple and efficient. It also makes theft less likely because there’s no guesswork involved—the system automatically knows when items have been removed from storage without authorization.

Use Restaurant Software to track Inventory Perfectly.

When managing restaurant inventory, most restaurant owners use pen and paper for tracking Inventory—this traditional method of tracking inventory results in massive losses due to miscommunication, theft, and overstocking. When you rely on pen and paper, there are chances that your staff will get orders incorrectly, leading to financial losses because you sold items that are either low or high in stock count. You can easily manage a business with restaurant management software such as RestoraPOS. You can set up separate logs for different products, departments or employees. In addition to that, since everything is done online. An email notification is sent whenever an entry is made into any log by any employee – one less oversight that could lead to mistakes!

Conclusion

Managing restaurant inventory is important to maintaining a successful business. Maintaining optimal inventory levels will help ensure you don’t run out of items, making customers wait for service or replacement items. As with most aspects of running a restaurant, having procedures in place will make your life easier when managing your Inventory. Implementing and adhering to proper guidelines can save you time and money while helping you maintain your high-quality standards. Using tips from our experts can help make management easier so you can focus on other areas of your operation and keep satisfied customers coming back time after time.