Inventory management in the foodservice industry can be a nightmare. However, with the right strategies and tools, inventory becomes an opportunity to maximize profitability.
How often should I take inventory? What is my ideal stock level? How can I reduce expenses and losses?
Here are 5 methods you can apply (right now) in your restaurant, with the added bonus of our free Inventory Management Software.
Don't thank us it's a gift. 🎁
Precise inventory management enables you to control stocks and expenses, avoid overstocking and optimize purchasing.
Lossesdue to expired products, theft or human error affect a facility's profitability. Inventories make it possible to detect these problems early and take corrective action before they affect the bottom line.
The aim here is to save time and avoid errors. This guarantees the availability of the products needed to prepare dishes, improving kitchen efficiency and avoiding stock-outs.
For a complete or almost complete physical inventory, the norm is 1 inventory per month. For partial inventories, it is essential to determine the ideal frequency in order to define an inventory schedule and table.
The size of the restaurant, the inventory of products on offer, the seasonality of ingredients, and market demand. For example, a restaurant with seasonal products may require more frequent inventories to quickly adjust raw material purchases.
Periods of low activity can be favorable for inventories to facilitate the work of the teams.
💡 Good to know: You can carry out more frequent partial inventories on certain more expensive products (meat or fish). This will enable you to react quickly to any anomalies.
Sortyour ingredients by category (meat, dairy, vegetables, etc.) to make your inventories simpler. This simplifies product searches, minimizes the risk of errors during inventories.
Barcodes, QR codes or labels with detailed information help you to identify incoming and outgoing stock. HACCP management software can also be integrated to facilitate this process.
Quantities of the most commonly used products should be placed in easily accessible locations. The aim here is to facilitate the work of your teams in the day-to-day management of your restaurant's stocks.
TheFIFO (First In, First Out) method minimizes losses due to product expiry. This approach involves using the oldest products first. This ensures rotation and avoids wastage of products that remain in stock for too long.
Usehistorical data to identify periods of peak activity and times of decline. This in-depth analysis helps you anticipate seasonal fluctuations and maintain optimal stock levels throughout the year.
Identifythe products essential to your menu and calculate safety stocks that act as a buffer reserve. This will enable you to cope with unexpected requests or delays in your purchases.
Effecta cost/benefit analysis for each product. Identify the costs associated with overstocking, such as warehousing fees and product loss through expiry. Balance these costs against the benefits of maintaining higher stock levels for high-demand products.
Proactive loss management is essential to maintain a restaurant's profitability and limit food waste. These strategies will enable you to define an effective inventory sheet management system in each outlet. The aim here will be to monitor losses in order to minimize the financial impact and reduce waste.
Explainthe financial impact of product expiry and waste with structured inventory sheets. A thorough understanding of financial issues motivates staff to adopt more responsible practices.
Thesereports provide a clear view of products prone to frequent losses and stock discrepancies. By analyzing this data, restaurateurs can identify trends, determine underlying causes, and take swift corrective action.
Thisplan should include procedures on how to react in the event of mismanagement, stock-outs or surpluses. Make sure all staff are trained and familiar with these protocols.
Constantlymonitor market prices and adjust your orders accordingly. Use historical data and sales forecasts to optimize your raw materials purchases. Regularly adjust orders to avoid shortages and overstocking.
Youcan adjust your menus according to stock variations. Offer alternative dishes or special promotions to quickly sell off surpluses.
As a foodservice professional, you know that managing stock inventories in Excel is not ideal.
Yokitup has developed the first completely free tool dedicated to the fast-food, traditional, bakery and hotel sectors. Forget about inventory sheets, free inventory templates and Excel stock management!
You can create your free account in just a few clicks 👉 Free inventory management software
Better than a free excel inventory table, you can now manage your recipe cards and carry out your inventories with ease. 0 inventory cards, 0 excel stock tables, it's time to go digital! You can analyze the cost of each ingredient in real time, and assess the profitability of your dishes.
Benefits for restaurateurs:
✅ Reduce human error
✅ Saving precious team time
✅ Minimize food loss and waste
✅ Automatically value your inventory
Want to find out more? You can now make an appointment with our team to set up the best inventory management strategy for your restaurants.
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