Did you know that the Indian restaurant industry is expected to double in the time period 2013-2021?
With restaurants sprouting up in every street, and technology evolving it is essential to be on top of the chain. Every operation must be carefully analyzed for successful restaurant management. Restaurant inventory is considered to be the lifeline of a restaurant. Poor or mismanaged inventory can not only result in the escalation of food prices but also prove to be detrimental to the business. So how do you know whether your inventory management system needs an upgrade?
Here are the questions you must answer – Does it have all the required features? Is the current system still efficient? Can your system be integrated with the latest software? In case your replies are No, then it’s a sign and you need to change your restaurant’s inventory management system.
- Rapid Growth in Business
When you first start a restaurant, doing things as reasonably as possible is quite easy. Keeping a tab of things or crunching numbers on an Excel sheet may seem ideal. But as the business grows, inventory control can become a task and you would require more than a sheet to automate the inventory tracking. Growth in the restaurant business also means rapid consumption of items in the inventory. Integrating a sophisticated tool or system can help you be on top of your game. This can also be used to send alerts when an item is getting over so that you are never out of stock.
- Rising Food Prices
A robust POS keeps track of items in the inventory to ensure that only the necessary money is spent. This software not only helps reduce soaring food costs but also suggests changes in the menu to optimize the price list.
- Inability to Optimize Restaurant Chain Inventory
Managing a single outlet is a tedious affair. Imagine the number of tasks a restaurant chain may have. Integrate a system that will streamline the process and ensure consistency across the chain.
- Non-tracking of daily consumption items
It is essential to keep a tab on your restaurant’s inventory on a daily basis. For this, the inventory management system needs to be competent enough to provide daily consumption reports.
- Unavailable Starting and Closing Inventory
The beginning and closing inventory of any restaurant is crucial to control the running of the restaurant. Daily reports can be tallied with the total sales and also conveniently check if there’s any misinformation occurring at the outlet.
- Inventory Stealing
In a study, it was confirmed that 75% of the employees have already gone as far as stealing from their employer.
Inventory theft at the restaurant is a common activity and you can easily spot it by understanding a few factors.
- Is the physical stock and ideal stock different?
- Do you frequently experience damaged products?
- Do you frequently experience missing products?
If yes, then there is a high chance that your staff is stealing your inventory. You can prevent it by installing an inventory management system to keep a track of activities.
With a strong inventory and stock management system in place, you can easily identify loops and source of losses in your restaurant and rectify them, before it’s too late. Proper planning and optimization of the inventory management system can pave way for a successful venture. So, if you haven’t yet thought of revamping your system, it’s high time you do!
