Kitchen Conversations: Inventory Management

Whether you operate a small restaurant, full-service restaurant, or hotel the profits you make depend a lot on how well you manage your food inventory. Food cost is any foodservice operation’s largest single expense with labor following closely behind.

Even the best managed restaurants have ongoing challenges in this area. To maintain freshness, especially with produce that is more susceptible to spoilage, operators should know the amount of food to prepare for each shift based on anticipated sales. Too much product on hand results in “sampling”, waste and spoilage and too little results in running out on the line and having to make it up via a comp to your guests.

As a restaurateur, you share the same challenges as any business with valuable inventory and unless the merchandise moves, you are not making money.
Here are some of the concerns and challenges operators shared with us relating to Inventory Control:

1. Improper rotation and storage
2. Employee Theft
3. Prepping/cooking errors
4. Spoiled Food
5. Over-portioning
6. Employee Sampling
7. Waste
8. Kickbacks
9. Unrecorded sales

Outfitting your restaurant with clear, see-through containers with graduation marks is one way to take control of your inventory costs. Clear containers allow you and your staff to see at a glance how much food is being stored.

 

1. This makes it easier to take inventory at a glance without having to open and close the lids; helping to reduce premature spoilage.
2. Also you can easily establish daily prep levels using the graduation marks and help reduce excessive waste which can hurt your bottom line.

Here’s a video testimonial on how one operator is achieving a mere 2% overall waste level, far lower than the industry-average of 8% by using air-tight storage containers to keep their produce fresh longer and help manage their inventory more efficiently.

Contest: Share with us for a chance to win Cambro Clear Food Storage Containers with Lids. First 20 to respond will be selected to win!

This Kitchen Conversation Series is intended as a learning forum so if you have ideas that could help other operators, we invite you to share! What things are you are doing to help you manage your inventory more efficiently? How often are you reviewing your procedures? How do you integrate Inventory Control best practices during the hiring and training process?