Restaurant POS inventory system

As restaurant menus continue to get more extensive to attract customers, food prices continue to rise further, leaving most restaurants in the dining industry to struggle with the rocketing costs and food spoilage. That being said, a very high proportion of restaurants still fail to realize the importance of efficient inventory management as a key element of business success, and an effective player in combating rising food costs. The main purpose of conducting inventory counts is to calculate the amount of food, supplies and other products your restaurant uses over time, which can eventually be converted to cost of goods sold and facilitate a profit and loss analysis.

Follow this simple guide to establish an efficient inventory management system for your restaurant.

Step 1

Inventory management begins with revealing the numbers. To establish baseline knowledge of what you have at hand on your shelves and in your fridge, carry out a complete inventory count.

Step 2

Having a well-organized inventory management system can make every aspect of the process rampantly easier. Do your research homework and set up an inventory management system most suited to your restaurant. There is a whole plethora of restaurant inventory management systems, each with its own pros and cons. It is essential to find a solution that’s compatible with your ordering, recipe, and invoice systems in order to easily monitor your cost of goods sold (COGS), stock valuation, and inventory trends.

Fully-integrated software solutions, such as the designed by eRestaurant, can prove to be instrumental in proficient inventory management. Not only do they combine the restaurant’s Sharp pos terminal up-v5500 series manual with an ordering/shipping system but also offer the added advantage of an electronic physical inventory system.

Step 3

Restaurant inventory management only begins with setting up an appropriate management system. Regardless of the type of system you choose, make sure your business is deriving the maximum amount of efficiency from your inventory management system.

By establishing a procedure on managing and controlling inventory, you can ensure utmost returns from the arrangement. Set up a consistent schedule on the frequency and timing of an inventory count, daily or weekly for example, and enforce it. Frequent inventory checks are not only important to avoid food spoilage, but tracking your inventory perpetually through periodic physical counts also facilitates the comparison of stock figures to your general ledger balance.