Biggest Mistakes Restaurant Owners Make With Inventory

By: KEXY Team
January 22, 2024
News And Tips

Do you know that an effective restaurant inventory management software can streamline your business operations? Not only does it smooth your business processes, but it also controls and manages your food costs.

However, when you fail to maintain and update the inventory, you will experience a wide range of problems. However, it is a time-consuming task with a higher likelihood of errors. Here are a few biggest mistakes restaurant owners make with the inventory.

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Lack of Automation

Many restaurant owners use manual registers and Excel sheets to track and manage their restaurants’ inventory processes. However, manual calculations can lead to errors and take a lot of time, leading to reduced overall efficiency. On the other hand, using a cloud-based inventory management software like KEXY can help you to optimize your inventory operations.

Ineffective Recipe Management

Ineffective recipe management leads to a wide range of problems, including stock mismatches. In most situations, restaurant managers report stock discrepancy and theft due to over portioning or food wastage. Use a cloud-based inventory management software with recipe, billing, and stock management features to maintain your food costs.

Focus on standardizing your recipes to ensure each item has the exact amount of ingredients. Using recipe management software will help you calculate the amount of stock consumed in a dish preparation, and this is done automatically.  

Inaccurate Stock Forecasting

Lack of stock forecast or inaccurate forecast demand can affect your business negatively, leading to reduced productivity and decreased revenues. If you want to avoid food overstocking and minimize the risk of food wastage, make sure you focus on forecasting.

Implement a POS system with inventory management software to calculate each item you will need in a month based on order history and sales report. It is crucial to set reorder levels for all your items.  KEXY is a customizable software system that sends you automatic reminders and alerts about your stocked items.

Lack of Staff Training

Although inventory management software can streamline your business operations, you need a little manual intervention, especially training your staff. The purpose is to train your staff for conducting regular checks.

Create a team of professionals and ensure they tally the ideal stock with the total stock available. For instance, create a dedicated team with 2-5 members who will count the inventory items, leading to reduced errors.

We recommend training your staff in effective inventory management strategies and practices. Because different items in your stock will require different levels of management, it is essential to have a well-trained and experienced staff that comprehends and analyzes inventory categories, food units, purchase units, etc.

Lack of Reporting

You can’t optimize your inventory management unless you have the right tools for tracking and reporting. These are essential aspects of managing and maintaining a healthy restaurant inventory. When you fail to monitor inventory reports, you will experience over-consumption and wastage.

Therefore, it is crucial to update your inventory reports after each purchase order and maintain daily reports about stock consumption. At the same time, you should focus on measuring the daily variance. It refers to the difference between ideal and physical stock.

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SCOTT GRAHAM

Co-Founder

FORREST YOUNG

Co-Founder
KEXY Bites is your go-to hub for all things food and beverage. Whether you're a retailer, supplier, or distributor, we deliver insightful content that ignites fresh thinking for your business.