Restaurant inventory management is the practice of knowing exactly what ingredients you have, what they cost, and where they went. Without it, every pricing decision is a guess and every menu change is a risk. With it, food cost becomes a number you control rather than one that surprises you at month end.
What are par levels — and how do you set them?
A par level is the minimum quantity of an ingredient you want on hand before reordering. Set too low and you run out mid-service; set too high and perishables spoil before you use them. Calculate par by taking your average daily usage, multiplying by your reorder lead time in days, and adding a safety buffer (typically 20-30% for high-turnover items).
Review par levels monthly. Seasonal menu changes, new suppliers, and portion size adjustments all shift your usage patterns. GetRestro's inventory module displays current stock against par levels and triggers low-stock alerts automatically.
How often should you count inventory?
Weekly full counts are the gold standard for single-outlet restaurants. For operators with lean teams, a rotating section count — proteins one week, dry storage the next, dairy and produce the third — covers high-risk items without requiring a full shutdown.
Never skip high-value items (premium proteins, alcohol, specialty ingredients) regardless of cadence. These have the highest theft and spoilage risk and the largest margin impact. Use blind counts — have staff count without seeing the system number first — and reconcile against the theoretical depletion from recipes and sales.
What is recipe costing and why does it matter?
Recipe costing is the process of assigning an exact ingredient cost to every dish you sell. Once your recipes are costed, you know your food cost percentage per item (ingredient cost ÷ menu price), which dishes are profitable, and which are subsidising others.
Costing also enables theoretical depletion: after each day's sales, GetRestro can calculate how much of each ingredient should have been used. Comparing that against actual counts gives you a variance number. A consistent variance on the same ingredient usually points to a portion control problem or a supplier short-delivery — not theft.
How do you track food waste effectively?
Log every waste event with a reason code: trim waste, spoilage, customer return, staff meal, training plate, or recipe change. Over four to six weeks, patterns emerge. A spike in trim waste on a specific vegetable often means a new prep cook needs training. Recurring spoilage on the same product might mean your order quantity or par level is too high.
Tie waste entries to menu items when possible — it improves future portion size and pricing decisions. GetRestro's wastage module lets you log by item, quantity, and reason, and connects those entries back to your food cost reporting.
Manage inventory inside GetRestro
Recipe costing, stock tracking, low-stock alerts, and wastage logs — all in one platform. Free to start.
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