Today’s economy, labour challenges, and continued rising prices leave many operators feeling cost-conscious and looking for ways to maximize margins without raising menu prices. One strategy to save money and improve efficiency is by better managing your inventory to reduce waste, gain more time, and spend less money on spoiled or unnecessary ingredients.

Accurate tracking

Expert inventory management begins by vigilantly tracking every ingredient from the time of ordering to delivery to its use in your restaurant. This can be done by hand, if that’s your preferred method, or you can invest in inventory software to streamline the process. Set up a system that’s specific to your restaurant, separating items like food, dry goods, spices, liquor and beverages, and even including expenses like linens and uniforms.

Use the data

With tools like AI, you can track consumption, schedule orders, and predict upcoming needs, but you need to be able to look at those insights and apply them to your business. By analyzing the information that tracking provides, you can make the best use of your remaining ingredients, plan upcoming menus, minimize shrinkage, and maximize ingredients with the highest profit margins to help your bottom line. This data will help to eliminate over- or under-ordering, limiting waste and saving you money.

Stay consistent

Becoming routine with your inventory management will help you get used to regularly thinking about how to improve your processes. Set aside scheduled time each week to do inventory and analyze the data so you stay on top of it as much as you can. Additionally, assign the task to the same person each week so they can help identify patterns, become familiar with the process, and develop an efficient way of managing your inventory. Planning and sticking to a schedule help this process become a regular part of managing your business.

Get organized

Once you start to notice patterns and get insight, you can better manage your buying and ingredient use. For storage, use the FIFO method (first in, first out), which means using older ingredients first and minimizing waste. Create a schedule for ordering based on usage and need, along with shelf life. For example, canned goods and items with a longer shelf life will not need to be ordered as often as perishable goods or menu favourites. Once you drill down into the info, you can get more precise with your ordering to save money and limit waste.

Tracking, data, consistency, and organization are factors that can help you develop a plan for successful inventory management.