Best Inventory & Asset Tracking Practices for Your Restaurant Business

What makes the most difference for any restaurant business to stay in the market? That is successfully & quickly taking care of the orders, menu things. Another important part is managing & monitoring inventory & assets.

Other than this, there are strategies you need to take care of, for growing your restaurant business. In short, there are a lot of things which need your attention. Therefore, we are suggesting the best dos and don'ts practice list for your restaurant.

Also Read: How Restaurant Inventory Management System Simplifies Tracking and Running?

Best Asset Tracking Practices for your Restaurant Business

Moreover, asset tracking software plays a very important role in a few other restaurant business practices described below.

Optimize Business with Asset Tracking Software

Not just in the restaurant, asset management software should be there in every organization which involves a lot of inventories and assets to take care of.

The software not only enhances security to the organization but it also helps in improving business efficiency. The software assists in increasing the overall productivity and you will also notice improved daily operations.

Many restaurant owners will agree that handling & managing inventory can be a hectic task. However, with asset tracking software all the tasks can be done easily, accurately and efficiently.

Reports & Analytics

When restaurant management utilizes asset tracking and management software, you get reports, statistics & analytics with accuracy. It helps the restaurant management in improving daily operations, such as the software can provide reports of raw material usage and how much revenue is generated from it! And other questions like "What are the other expenses done on the whole procedure, from gathering raw material to getting food ready to eat?"

Asset tracking software not only provides tremendous assistance in gathering data, but you can also use the information in making a crucial decision in order to grow your business.

For instance, "what should be the price of the product?" or "Is the product liked by the customer or not?" or even, "What is the most famous product among customers?", the software helps you keeping track of all those and eventually enhances the overall performance.

Avoid Pen and Paper Method

When there were no technologies, that time the pen & paper method was used. This was the first traditional and most basic method used for tracking. However, some businesses including restaurants are still using it.

A huge or medium-sized restaurant has assets in myriad. With so many assets, it is hard to keep records of each and every asset via a pen-paper approach.

The data you will collect with this approach will not only be inaccurate but also it will lead to the wrong business decision. Not just that, employees will spend more time searching for asset information, which results in decreased productivity & wastage of manpower.

Use FIFO Technique for Inventory

This technique is called first-in, first-out (FIFO). In order to avoid spoilage, expiration of product, obsolete product; use product that has arrived first.

The philosophy of the technique is simple whichever product batch comes in first then that particular product batch goes out first. Put the old stock ahead on shelves and new stock behind. So that whenever the employee comes to collect the stock, he or she will automatically grab the old stuff first.

Also Read: New Generation Digital Technology for Asset Tracking and Management

Stock Monitoring & Management

Stock is considered as one of the most precious & valuable things in the restaurant business. After all, the business depends on it. Hence, managing and keeping track of the stock is a big responsibility.

This is where asset tracking software comes into play. Through the software, you are always updated about the stock level (low, moderate or high).

Whenever the stock is low, the system will notify you every time when the count will reach the minimum level defined by you. It will also notify the person responsible for managing the stock for that particular item. Therefore, you can define the reorder level of inventories for each and every item separately.

Software Training to Employees

Training employees is one of the most important factors in business but most of the organization ignores this factor. At least managers and chefs should be provided training because both of them can work closely with stock & inventory. Therefore, it will be easy for them to identify issues.

Through training, they will understand the pattern, workflow of inventory and how things workaround. Also, you can inform them about how inaccurate information affects business, especially on stock & inventory!

One wrong decision can have great consequences! Also, tell them how important this work is & it should not be taken lightly!

You can also consider offering an incentive or bonus when they find any way of saving money, flaw or error in the operation.

Shelf Life Management

Shelf-life management is an integral part of inventory management for restaurants as each item in the inventory has its specific shelf life. And no one has the right to play with someone's health or its related issues.

For example, rice can last for years, but alongside there are vegetables that have a limited life after that they are not good for consuming. Therefore, managing the shelf life of biodegradable items is important.

For each of the items in the inventory, you need to assure and specify for how long the item can be preserved and used, before getting spoiled. So that, if for a reason the rate of sales gets slow or there is some other reason due to which the items were not used during their shelf-life, you will be notified, along with the reason for the incident.

Also Read: 6 Reasons Why Asset Tracking Software Is Good for Restaurant Business

Conclusion

Today's environment is competitive in terms of the restaurant business. It is very hard to make your own space to standout. But it is always possible to make changes to expand your bottom line.

For that, you can use creative and proactive solutions & implement innovative practices. You can reduce your operating expenses and enhance revenues without disrupting your day-to-day operations.

Restaurants & hotels that manage and track their assets in a proper manner, they have a greater chance of stability, increasing efficiency, and revenue improvement. And without a doubt, inventory tracking software provides a huge relief in terms of managing their assets precisely.

As we have seen above, almost every restaurant business practice will be very effective with asset tracking software. With the correct practices in place, you can monitor and manage restaurant stock and inventory quickly, easily, and successfully.