Inventory. It’s kind of a big deal.
16% of your food ends up in the trash.
75% of your employees steal from you, representing a staggering 7% of your revenue.
And restaurants who take regular inventory can increase profits by up to 24% a year. Those are 3 pretty convincing reasons to make sure you take inventory… and do it right.
With that in mind, we’ve put together The 2017 Complete Guide to Restaurant Inventory to give you the “what”, “how” and “who” of inventory.
Hacking inventory is a little like baseball’s OPS… stay with me and I’ll explain.
Any avid baseball fan will tell you how important the trendy new hitting statistic OPS (a combination of slugging and on-base percentages) is to gauge a player’s offensive success.
In the restaurant industry, there’s a similar combined statistic that gives you an immediate sense of the success of a restaurant… Prime Cost. The components of this powerful metric are Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and Total Labor cost.
Let’s face it: restaurant inventory management is not what lured you into the business.
But are you allowing inventory to be more painful than it needs to be?
Maybe this is familiar… “OK, team,” you begin in a cheerful and hopeful tone. “Who wants to volunteer to do restaurant inventory?”
And, perhaps unsurprisingly, your query is met with oppressive silence and lack of direct eye contact.
Restaurant apps play a crucial role in business life nowadays. From running your restaurant’s Instagram to helping customers ordering a pizza on a lazy off day, they’re always just a swipe away.
In fact, Apple reports there are 2 million apps now available on the App Store to download. These apps represent the acceleration of a way of life that barely existed 5 years ago.
The reality that we’re so attached to our apps isn’t really that surprising, though…
I know what you’re thinking… yeah yeah, you know you’re supposed to take inventory at your restaurant.
You’ve seen the stats. You’ve read some of the articles. You’ve heard the consultants preach about how to take inventory.
But do you know why?
In all the noise about HOW to do this back-of-house task, there aren’t a lot of WHYs.
Which leaves room for myths to float around about inventory… how it’s not that important… how you don’t get anything out of it… why the profit isn’t worth the pain.
In the restaurant business, there’s one thing everyone wants more of…
Time.
Just a few more minutes a day, a few more hours a week, an extra day a month you could spend on yourself.
Extra time for family.
Catching up. Just taking a breath.
Putting more into the hospitality side of the business.
Sounds like a dream… huh?!!
Restaurant Suppliers.
You work with them on a daily basis. In fact, you might spend more time on the phone with them than anyone else.
They’re your one, all-important way to make sure your restaurant is properly stocked. Without them and the products they provide, you’d be out of business.
Investing your time and money wisely when it’s slow can make or break you when it comes to bringing dollars through the door.
You can either sit back and hope for the best, or you can take actionable steps to make sure the money keeps flowing.
One of the best hacks to prevent lost revenue during slow seasons is to establish an ongoing events program for your restaurant.
Technology can be a life-saver.
Whether it’s an app, a POS system, or reservation software, restaurant technology has changed the way your business runs for the better.
And restaurant technology has never been more abundant. New tools are popping up every day, and existing technology is rapidly changing.
But this often leaves restaurant managers in a sticky situation…
Farm to table menu! Fresh-to-fork! Eat local!
Recognize any of these phrases? They’re the popular slogans of the growing campaign for restaurants to create a menu that’s from farm to table, using locally-sourced food.
Consumers are eating up the fresh-ingredient craze and demanding restaurants keep pace.