Restaurant inventory: from stock counts to purchasing

Inventory control starts at delivery and does not end when a dish is entered into the POS. Quantities change through preparation, portion variation, staff meals and waste. You need a routine that captures what actually happens in the kitchen.

Give every item a location and unit

Decide how each item is counted: kilos, litres, individual units or packs of a specified size. A box is not a consistent unit if the supplier changes its contents. Use matching names in purchasing lists, recipes and stock counts.

On receipt, check deliveries against the order and your procedures for temperature, condition and labelling. Record discrepancies immediately. An incorrect delivery should not first become apparent when an ingredient is needed during service.

Rotate according to shelf life

Make items that need using first visible and accessible. First in, first out helps, but check dates: a later delivery may have a shorter life than older stock. The Swedish Food Agency’s guidance covers stock rotation and waste-prevention planning.

Follow the appropriate storage instructions for each product and documented routines for opened and prepared foods. Ingredients do not all require the same temperature. Cooling food later does not make unsafe food safe or reset an expired shelf life.

Distinguish best-before from use-by

Best-before concerns expected quality under appropriate storage. Food may sometimes be used after this date if the business assesses it as safe and suitable.

Use-by is a safety date. Food must not be sold, donated or used after it has passed. Plan any cooking or freezing in time under the applicable procedures; do not rely solely on smell or appearance to disregard the date. See the Swedish Food Agency’s guidance.

Count where discrepancies matter

Conduct regular full counts and more frequent checks on sensitive, valuable or fast-moving ingredients. Match frequency to operations. Count at comparable times and record deliveries or withdrawals occurring during the count.

A spreadsheet can work initially when responsibility and follow-up are clear. A digital tool can simplify entry but needs the same accurate inputs. Recipe-based stock deduction remains theoretical until reconciled with physical stock.

Calculate the next order

Assume the kitchen expects to need 12 kilos of an ingredient before the following delivery. There are 4 usable kilos in stock and 3 already ordered that will arrive in time. With an explicitly chosen 2-kilo reserve, the additional requirement is 12 + 2 − 4 − 3 = 7 kilos.

This is a hypothetical planning example. Check shelf life, pack size and delivery risk before ordering. Do not count ingredients as available if they cannot be used within the period.

Track why waste occurs

Record discarded items and reasons: excessive purchasing, preparation errors, overproduction or plate leftovers. Pick one cause to address and review the result. Smaller, more frequent deliveries may suit some ingredients, but consider freight, minimum orders and staff time.

Donating safe food also requires proper temperature handling, information and handover. See the Swedish Food Agency’s donation guidance.

Use Vendion’s sales analytics to inform demand planning. Combine it with physical counts, current recipes and supplier information. The next purchase then has a clear basis in both sales and what is on the shelf.