How To Manage All My Inventory In My Restaurant?

When it comes to restaurant management, labour, food costs and general overheads are the top expenses.

Restaurant owners and managers all agree that knowing how to manage kitchen inventory is one of the biggest challenges in running the business.

Beginner managers can easily fall victim to restaurant inventory as they don’t have effective procedures, tools and policies.

Keeping your restaurant’s inventory under control is vital in preventing ballooning costs.

When you factor in your fast-paced and dynamic schedule, you simply do not have the time for the additional chaos from inventory mismanagement and neither do the customers.

That being said, here are some tips for managing your restaurant’s inventory more effectively.

Conduct a Personal Initial Inspection

Even though you’ve delegated kitchen inventory management to one of your employees, it is advisable to do the preliminary cataloguing.

This creates a baseline and allows the management team to know what inventory is on hand.

This can ideally allow you to stay on top of inventory requirements and question any abnormal purchases.

Prioritize the Inventory

Categorising your kitchen inventory into priority groups makes it easier to know what you need to order more of and how frequently.

It also helps you know which inventory is important but may be expensive and moves rather slowly.

It’s advisable to categorise your inventory in Group A, B and C. Things in group A are the costly ones that you require less of.

Things in group C are lower-cost products whose inventory turns over rather quickly.

Group B contains what is left (items that move out faster than items in A but slower than items in C and are moderately priced).

Audit The Inventory

Some businesses conduct a comprehensive count once per annum. Others monthly, weekly or even daily. Most do all of the above.

Regardless of how frequently you do it, it is advisable to physically count the inventory on a regular basis to ascertain it matches what you think you have.

Track Sales

This is certainly a no-brainer, but it goes beyond just adding up sales before you close for the night.

You should understand what products sold, how many and update the inventory totals on a daily basis. It doesn’t end there as you need to also analyse the data.

Do you know when particular products sell faster? Is there a particular day in the week when you know some products sell faster?

Do some products almost always sell together? Knowing your sales totals as well as the bigger picture is essential in keeping your kitchen inventory under control.

Know Your Supplier Performance

An inconsistent supplier can cause havoc in your business. If you have a supplier who is frequently late or shorts an order, you need to take action.

Have a discussion and figure out what the issue is.

Also, be ready to switch suppliers or even deal with particular stock levels as well as the possibility of running out of restaurant inventory.

By practising all the above, you significantly reduce the chances of inventory errors and mismanagement.

If you need help managing your restaurant inventory, then look no further than ASP Microcomputers.

We are the market leader when it comes to the development of customised and packaged solutions.

This includes Inventory Management, Portable Barcode Readers, Supply Chain Management, Time and Attendance and Asset Tracking to name but a few.

Please call us today on 03 9578 7600 or 1800 061 642 or contact us through our website on https://www.asp.com.au/contact-us/