Cost control
Restaurant Inventory Management: A Practical Guide for Indian Restaurants
· 7 min read
Inventory is cash sitting on shelves. Too little and you turn guests away, too much and food spoils. A simple routine, repeated every week, keeps stock matched to sales.
Start with a clean item list
List every ingredient and supply with one unit of measure each: kg, litre or piece. Group them by category and supplier. Consistent units are what make recipes, purchases and counts match.
Set par levels and reorder points
A par level is the amount you want on hand after a delivery. A reorder point is the level at which you place the next order. Base both on how fast an item sells and how long your supplier takes. Review them each month, because sales change.
Record purchases when they arrive
Check each delivery against the order, note short or damaged items, and record quantity and price. Recording price at receipt keeps your dish costs accurate.
- Match the delivery note to the purchase order
- Reject or log damaged goods
- Record the price paid per unit
- Date-label items and rotate stock with FIFO
Deduct stock from recipes
When each dish has a recipe, every sale can deduct its ingredients automatically, so the system knows what should be left. Without this, you only discover shortages when you run out.
Count, compare and act on variance
Count your highest-value items weekly and everything monthly. Variance is expected stock minus counted stock. A small variance is normal. A large or repeating one points to over-portioning, wastage, theft or a wrong recipe, and tells you where to look.
Alerts and records that save time
Low-stock and expiry alerts stop surprises. A full ledger of every movement (purchase, sale, waste, adjustment) lets you trace a difference to its cause in minutes instead of hours.
Run your restaurant on one system
GST billing, KOTs, inventory and reports from Rs 1,499 per month.