For restaurant owners, inventory is the backbone of their business. A proper food inventory plan keeps operations smooth, organised, and connected. However, this delicate supply line means that even a slight misstep or oversight could lead to drastic consequences in profitability. Therefore, restaurant owners must always be vigilant to prevent these consequences from happening to their business. This is where the following tips and tricks come in to help you be proficient at staying on top of your F&B inventory.
Organise your space
Inventory tracking and management start with being organised. Check to see if all food containers are adequately labelled and their contents periodically dated for expiry, no matter how small the ingredient may be. Furthermore, continue this organisation to the dry and walk-in storage to keep different types of food in their designated areas. Having everything sorted and consistent means employees can get what they need when they need it, resulting in efficiency in both time and use of space.
Take inventory periodically by adopting a consistent count schedule
Regardless of the frequency, strive to be consistent when taking inventory counts to build the habit. In time, this will help make your cost of goods sold (COGS) calculations more manageable, improving decision-making. Doing so will provide data for a set period that can be used to compare the same period down the line, enabling you to identify trends and base your decision-making on them. For instance, if inventory usage increases from one month to the next, that could mean generating more sales than initially projected.
Invest in proper tools and software
There is only so much that restaurant owners and their employees can do to improve inventory management processes on their own. Therefore, it is recommended to invest in proper tools that empower the overall business. For instance, modern and dedicated restaurant POS systems are designed to specifically address the issues of dated old POS solutions as well as many of the industry-specific challenges restaurant owners face, like inventory issues, while also providing other advantages.
These can include simplified day-to-day workflows like ordering, seamless hardware integration, scalable features, sophisticated analytics and reporting, and many more. In short, getting the right tools for your F&B business’s requirements not only keeps food costs down by offering greater visibility on inventory, but also enhances other aspects of the business by introducing greater efficiency.
Track food waste
Many restaurant owners know that inventory can be depleted for many reasons: spillage, food waste, incorrect portions, sales, and more. Do not forget to account for food waste to ensure your COGS figures and actual inventory levels are correct. Simply documenting occasions when there is food wastage will be sufficient in letting you calculate losses for the next inventory period.
Stay on top of daily sales reports
Since sales is one of the primary factors dictating inventory, it is crucial to stay on top of daily sales reports specifically for inventory purposes. Besides doing weekly and more in-depth reviews, it is best practice to spend a bit of time tracking the restaurant’s sales every day and reviewing the metrics. By checking sales daily instead of longer intervals, owners can track and swiftly respond to minute-by-minute developments in their restaurant, allowing for timely adjustments to the inventory planning and provision delivery schedules.
Conclusion
Inventory is one of the main contributing factors that affect the profitability of F&B businesses. Hence, restaurant owners must address the issues affecting their management and planning processes to maximise revenue and avoid unnecessary losses that could negatively affect their bottom line.
At Edgeworks Solutions, we strive to simplify your business operations to make them more manageable. If you are an F&B business owner, you should consider implementing our restaurant POS system in Singapore to assist you in running your establishment as efficiently and smoothly as possible. You can reach out to us here find out more or arrange a demo.
