If you own a restaurant, you’ll be the first to acknowledge it’s a fulfilling, yet challenging business, especially during a pandemic. And you’re surely aware that it’s hard to keep everything running efficiently if you can’t manage your inventory. Having enough ingredients and other necessary items in stock at all times is critical to success. The tough part? From customers and employees to ingredients and take-home boxes, you’ve got a lot to manage and not a lot of spare time.
The good news is that if you get your inventory management under control, you’ll free yourself up to spend time improving your business and delighting customers. That’s what you’re after, and that’s why we’re here. Read these five tips to take better control of your restaurant inventory management.
1. Know what restaurant inventory management is
Before you can dial in your inventory management strategy, you need to know what exactly restaurant inventory management is and how to do inventory in a restaurant. And while it might seem obvious, a quick refresher doesn’t hurt.
What is restaurant inventory management?
Restaurant inventory management refers to the method of monitoring the food inventory, ingredients, and other supplies that come in and out of your restaurant to maximize profits and minimize waste. It deals with controlling the amount of inventory you have in stock to ensure you have enough to meet business demands while not having surplus that goes to waste.
Why is restaurant inventory management so critical?
As you well know, margins in the restaurant industry are razor thin. If you aren’t running a lean operation, you’ll feel the effects more than most. Ensuring you have the right amount of food, napkins, take-home boxes, cutlery, and cleaning supplies isn’t always cut and dried. There’s a lot that goes into knowing exactly what you’ll need to order each month.
Some weeks are slower than others, you have to deal with employee and server turnover, and it’s not always a given that they’ll know exactly how much of each ingredient you need. Managing your inventory is vital if you want to save money and reinvest it into improving your restaurant.
2. Get the right restaurant inventory management software
So you know what restaurant inventory management means, and you know you want to improve your strategy. What’s the next step? Getting the right software.
Running a restaurant is one of the most stressful jobs out there, and customer service is critical to success. If you or your employees are worried about inventory levels, they will soon be facing a barrage of customer complaints.
You know the feeling. It’s a busy weekend and there’s an angry customer who got the wrong order, plus the dishwasher starts leaking. The last thing you need is to find out you’ve run out of Diet Coke. You’ve got enough on your plate without having to worry about inventory. We can help you there.
How can SynergySuite help you with your restaurant inventory management?
Our platform integrates back-of-house operations with your POS. It means that from the palm of your hand, you can order from your supplier, check forecasted inventory levels, and see what the day’s sales look like and whether you still meet par levels. We streamline inventory management so you can have your time back. It’s time you could use to try new recipes, add new menu items, talk with more customers, or relax with your family.
3. Get familiar with the restaurant inventory management software
Our software works well, but it will work even better if you take time to learn how to use it to its fullest capacity. The solutions we offer include everything from restaurant inventory management to purchasing, reporting, operations, and cash management. What about food safety, staffing, and time tracking? Yes, our software tackles those too. Time spent learning the software will pay huge dividends.
If you take the time to get to know our platform, you’ll be able to quickly get organized. From there, you’ll be left with time to go grow your business. It will feel great to leave your management worries behind and focus on what you really care about—your restaurant and your community.
4. Stay on top of things
The name of the game when it comes to restaurant inventory management is consistency. Our software makes it easier, but you’ll find that keeping your business running smoothly takes concerted daily effort. The beauty of life with us is that time spent manually writing down inventory can now be spent reviewing and optimizing it on one powerful platform. With the right data, you’ll be able to make informed decisions. That’s where our software can help.
We’re here so you can work smarter. And what’s great about working smarter? It frees you up to spend time with your customers and employees. Setting aside time daily to check in on the nuts and bolts of your restaurant will give you the peace of mind and clarity to keep moving forward.
5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help
An easy trap to fall into as a restaurant operator is the idea that you can do it all yourself. And hey, maybe you can. Or maybe you have in the past. It’s possible you’ve managed, but weren’t as effective as you could have been. You need to embrace certain realities. If you’re trying to run every segment of your business by hand without help, you’ll get burned out. More than likely, you’ll also make mistakes. And, especially when it comes to restaurant inventory management, those can be costly ones.
Sitting down at the end of every day and painstakingly tracking inventory with pen and paper is no fun, especially after a long day on your feet. The restaurant business is a tiring one, and inventory management only adds to that stress. Ready to put your feet up, pull up the SynergySuite app and breathe a sigh of relief?
Let’s get started
You deserve the time to focus on your customers, menu, and dreams. After all, food unites people and that’s something special. We can’t wait to free you up to do what you do best. Sign up for a free demo if you’re ready to get started.
