Inventory management is essential to running a restaurant and to your bottom line. Think about it, without the right inventory, you can’t serve your customers their favorite meals – which is the whole point of them dining at your restaurant.
But taking inventory the old school way doesn’t always give you the most accurate picture of what you have – or what you need.
Throw away those clipboards – they are so 1995.
What if we said there is a quick and easy way to track ingredients coming in and out of your restaurant?
It’s time to welcome inventory technology with open arms.
We get it, technology is scary when you’ve been doing something the same old way for years.
But inventory management doesn’t need to be complicated or time consuming.
Here are three benefits of using restaurant inventory technology:
Save time
Managing inventory can take hours. With a labor shortage and customer demand, you no longer have hours to waste counting ingredients and placing orders. Inventory technology give you the ability to make quicker business decisions and put more time back into your day. By automating the inventory process, you can let technology do the hard work for you so you can focus on creating innovative plates your guests will keep coming back for.
Save money
Whether you over order or under order your inventory, either way you are losing money. If you over order ingredients, they don’t get used so you have to throw them away. Money down the drain. If you under order, you can’t make the food on your menu, so you lose sales and decrease check sizes. Inventory technology gives you a more accurate look into your inventory counts and can even suggest the same ingredients at less prices. It’s a win win in our book!
Reduce Waste
Up to 10% of food restaurants buy is thrown out before it ever reaches the consumer. Imagine, 10% of your profits just thrown into the garbage. Food waste can put a huge hole in your bottom line. Without technology, you’re vulnerable to over ordering which can result in throwing away expired ingredients. Food waste can cost your restaurant thousands of dollars or more a year. Restaurant technology provides you with clear visibility into your stock counts and gives you more control over your inventory, leading to more informed and profitable ordering decisions.
Tip: If you end up having food that is coming up on its expiration date, try running a limited time offer (LTO) to use up those ingredients. This can reduce food waste and allow you to still make a profit.
Think of your inventory as the key to restaurant profitability. What would you do without – serve your guests a plate of air and a cup of nothing? I don’t think so. Manually managing your inventory leaves room for human error. It’s impossible to catch everything with the naked eye. Inventory technology ensures you are managing your inventory more effectively in all areas of the process.
