Restaurant inventory management is a key part of what makes your establishment successful. And yet 43% of small businesses still rely on counting by hand — or don’t track inventory at all!
Yes, taking inventory is time-consuming work. But it’s necessary for you to be able to keep your kitchen properly stocked and to track product consumption. In fact, taking stock is important enough that you should invest in some technological solutions to streamline the process. Technology can help with inventory in various ways.
Digital restaurant inventory management sheet
It may be basic use of technology, but a digital inventory system is still better than recording inventory on paper. Paper sheets can be damaged or misplaced, as well as inefficient and oftentimes incorrect. Also, a digital sheet can do the math for you so you don’t risk miscalculating or converting measuring units wrong.
A proper par inventory sheet can easily be created using Excel, Google Sheets or some other specialized software. You can use a digital inventory sheet to get an accurate gauge of your inventory situation.
A Food Prep System
Advanced restaurant inventory software can often include a digital system where you can define how much stock each recipe uses up. It provides you with the ingredients, the prep quantity, and even preparation notes.
Combine this with a compatible POS system, so that you will be able to know how much stock gets used up with every order. You’ll then be able to more effectively monitor inventory usage on a day to day basis, and avoid having too much or too little of items in stock.
Clear and informative labeling
Don’t shove ingredients into a plastic bag and dump them on a shelf. Proper inventory management requires you to use up stock on a FIFO basis. That means your staff needs to know which ingredients are still good, which are nearly expired, and which are freshest.
Labeling solutions also streamline this process. With date-code labels, you can print and apply them to food containers. It will have the name of the ingredient, the prep date, and the use-by date clearly displayed. This process eliminates guesswork and inaccuracies from your food storage.
Want to know more about how technology can help you improve how your restaurant handles inventory management? Here are some great tips on the importance of an inventory management system.