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Food Inventory Management Tools for Your Restaurant
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Written by: Hilary Young with Expert Review by: Miroslava Kotsan
Published: November 7th, 2024
In an industry where time is money, having the right systems in place can yield greater profits for your restaurant. Thanks to advancements in technology, restaurants no longer have to sacrifice profits to inefficiency and human error; the right food inventory management tool will give you access to invaluable data that will help you make smarter choices for your business.
Just like a good POS system for your restaurant, finding the right food inventory management program for your restaurant will improve overall operational efficiency by not only helping to reduce waste (and lost money), but by also freeing up your staff to focus on higher priority tasks on a daily basis. And while there are always some growing pains around implementing a new technology for your restaurant, the time, money, and resources that it will save you in the long run will prove out the return on your investment.
The Top 5 Benefits of Food Inventory Management Technology
There are a variety of reasons why your restaurant should invest in food inventory management technology, but there are five that stand out amongst the rest:
- It will help you meet customer demand. A good food inventory management system will be able to ensure that your menu actually reflects customer behavior and demand, which means less instances of having to disappoint customers when their desired order isn’t in stock.
- It will reduce waste. With the ability to accurately forecast based on historical data, you can make smarter purchasing decisions for your kitchen in order to reduce waste–both from a food perspective and a cash perspective.
- It will improve your cash flow. The right food inventory management system will allow you to calculate plate costs more accurately in order to determine how much each portion of food is actually worth, encouraging a positive cash flow for your restaurant by not leaving any money on the proverbial table.
- It will lower your operating expenses. When you have more insights into customer demand combined with greater inventory accuracy, a food inventory management system can pave the way for greater operational efficiency, time savings for employees, and also keep everyone accountable when it comes to items disappearing–all of which will keep your operating costs down.
- It will ensure quality control. An automated food inventory management system makes it easy to conduct regular audits and inspections at various stages of the supply chain in order to maintain your restaurant’s reputation for serving high-quality meals.
VETTED AND APPROVED BY BACK OF HOUSE EXPERTS
Our Top Picks
Feeling overwhelmed by all the options out there? We’ve got you covered. Our team of experts have identified their top choices for food inventory management systems for you. As you review, pay close attention to more than just price–from the level of your own involvement in the process to the other types of integrations that work well with each platform, it’s important to take your restaurant needs into careful consideration before making an investment.
Disclaimer: Any paid partnerships have no influence on our evaluations and suggestions. All our opinions are our own.
GREAT ALL-IN-ONE SYSTEM
For restaurants who want a premium management solution with high-end inventory data to create a centralized solution for recipe management that calculates plate costs, auto-updates ingredient prices, and provides a single shared playbook across multiple locations. Once implemented, our experts have seen MarginEdge save restaurants an average of 8 hours per week in back office administrative tasks.
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Features
- Submit and process invoices within 24-48 hours
- Sync directly with your accounting system
- Get daily profit insights, real-time budget visualization, and daily P&Ls
- 60+ POS system integration options
- Streamline your inventory process
- Analyze your food usage
- Order products from any vendor through the software, and transfer products and recipes between locations
Where it excels
The invoice capture feature harnesses the expertise of real people with restaurant industry backgrounds to look at the invoices scanned in by operators to convert them into line items of data that match with their ingredients from an inventory and recipe standpoint.
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Support
MarginEdge provides unlimited email support and assistance from a dedicated customer service team. They also have a comprehensive Resource Library that includes videos and blog articles to help you better understand the platform.
GREAT FOR FLEXIBLE PRICING
Get 5% Off the Monthly Price + No Implementation Fee
MarketMan offers a complete cloud-based Restaurant Management System to simplify order management, eliminate waste, and jump-start profitability. It also provides operators with the ability to compare products across vendors.
Features
- Streamline procurement, delivery, and restaurant accounting
- Cloud-based inventory management
- Automate accounts payable
- Easily scan invoices
- Identify ways to reduce food cost
- Advanced analytics based on sales, expenses, purchasing, and menu reporting
Where it excels
Great for multi-units and chains looking for tiered pricing options. Added bonus for those already using Lightspeed POS who want flexibility with an inventory integration.
Support
Support is included in the software subscription, giving you access to real, U.S.-based employees via phone, email, and web 24/7.
GREAT FOR FOOD COST OPTIMIZATION
Get up to 20% off the monthly price
Piecemeal is ideal for full-service, multi-location, high-volume, and fine dining restaurants focused on food cost control. It helps manage inventory, track waste, and accurately cost recipes, making it valuable for restaurants prioritizing cost efficiency and profitability.
Features
- Recipe costing with ingredient-level pricing
- Real-time inventory tracking and reordering
- Waste monitoring to reduce food loss
- Menu analysis for profitability insights
- Supplier integration for streamlined ordering
- Detailed food cost and savings reports
Where it excels
Great for full-service restaurants and multi-location groups focused on tight cost control. Ideal for operators needing precise recipe costing and waste tracking to improve margins.
Support
Piecemeal offers customer support primarily via email and live chat on their platform, providing responsive assistance for users. There are also customer support knowledge articles online.
GREAT FOR MULTI-UNITS AND FRANCHISES
For enterprise-level restaurants, including franchises and multi-unit operators, who want to merge their accounting and operational tools to one comprehensive platform, Restaurant 365 is an accounting system first (which also means operators must commit to using it as a bookkeeping service).
Features
- Drive growth with POS integration
- AP automation
- Real-time reporting
- Scheduling and inventory insights
- Workforce solutions for hiring, payroll, benefits, and labor cost analyses
- Gain real-time insights, data visualization, benchmarking, and collaborative reports
- Easy-to-use data dashboards
Where it excels
Restaurant365 is an all-in-one restaurant management software for accounting and store operations, but primarily functions as a standalone accounting system. They promote themselves as the “industry’s only restaurant enterprise management platform” and promise seamless integration with your POS, banks, vendors, and more
Support
Access a variety of customer service functions including chat and phone support. Join a community of experts and peers using their resources, including their blog, dedicated guides, and webinars.
