Restaurant Inventory Management: Best Practices to Control Stock & Costs
Poor restaurant inventory management costs Indian restaurants 4-10% of revenue annually through spoilage, theft, and over-ordering. Whether you run a dhaba in Pune or a fine-dining spot in Bangalore, controlling stock directly impacts your bottom line.
Three Essential Practices
First, conduct weekly physical counts of high-value items like paneer, chicken, and imported ingredients. Second, use the FIFO method religiously—older stock goes out first. This is critical for perishables in Indian kitchens where items like coriander and curry leaves spoil within days. Third, track your food cost percentage weekly. It should stay between 28-35% for most Indian restaurants.
Start with a simple inventory system—even a spreadsheet works better than memory. Set par levels for your top 20 ingredients based on actual sales data. Track wastage daily in a register. Many restaurants using digital solutions like DineCard (dinecard.in) for QR menus also find it easier to sync menu changes with inventory planning.
The 80/20 rule applies: 20% of your ingredients typically account for 80% of costs. Focus your food inventory tracking on these items first for maximum impact.
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