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Think about how far tech has come in restaurants and food inventory management.
In sharp contrast, digital systems that manage your sales and other incredible tech are now flooding into the marketplace. The 21st century is full of excellent opportunities created by tech, so let’s look at some ways to use it in your inventory systems.
Your POS System Is Your Best Friend
Use your POS system!
One of the key benefits of a POS kiosk is that it automatically tracks what you sell. Use your POS system to get a head start on inventory. Print out sales reports or allow your POS system to enter sales into your inventory management software automatically.
Track and Approve Inventory Requests
If something critical goes missing and you need to track it down, a signout request record is invaluable.
You can use tech to help you along by creating your own signout sheets in google forms by using a template for google docs, like one of these, or by using team management software like Trello. If you can track and create a digital record, you’ve made a competitive advantage for your company.
Use Automation to Track Your Food Shipments
Companies like Sysco should deliver automatic updates on your incoming deliveries if you ask them to. However, it’s almost always better to go with a third-party solution like Trace Gains.
Companies like Trace Gains can connect you with almost every supplier, allowing you to get shipping notifications regardless of your supplying company. If you’re interested, you can learn more about food supplier management on Trace Gains’s website.
Constant shipping notifications are incredibly valuable information for a restaurant inventory manager to have. If it’s restocking day and the delivery driver is hours or even a day late, then that’s the information you need.
Use Automation to Do Your Inventory in Increments
If you manage food inventory, you know that a full count can take a day to several days to complete. No one has time for that, especially in the restaurant industry. Instead, work on doing inventory on different sections of your food storage areas every week.
Use automated reminders to notify yourself when inventory needs to happen. It’s important to remember that inventory management doesn’t always require food service specific tools. Use your phone or your work computer to notify you when an inventory check needs to happen and where.
Use the First-in-First-Out Method for Your Food Inventory
For this tip, we’re advising you to use the most basic tech of all – your brain. The concept behind this is basic as well; the inventory that you get first is the inventory that you should use first.
You can use tech to help this process. You can print labels using a label maker to indicate when an item was stocked. Now, your inventory taker can look for dates instead of doing a hands-on check for overripeness or spoiling.
This one step will stop your inventory from being off. After all, you can’t accurately count your supplies if half of them have gone bad.
Reach Out to the Experts
Like most things, it’s always good to continue learning about inventory management if you want your process to improve. After all, the more efficiently you can manage your inventory, the more money you’ll make.
So, we encourage you to reach out to experts in food inventory management for coaching and assistance.
