Restaurant inventory management: a simple system your kitchen will keep up

Restaurant inventory management comes down to three questions you can answer at any moment: what do we have, where is it, and what do we need before the next delivery. A system that works is one the kitchen can keep current during an ordinary week, not a perfect spreadsheet that goes stale by Wednesday.

That means a target level for each item you reorder, a storage habit that uses older stock first, and a count that fits around service. Below is each piece, what to look for in a restaurant inventory system, and when a clipboard is still the right tool.

What restaurant inventory management has to do

A restaurant’s stock does four jobs at once, and a good system supports all of them.

• Keep service running. Nothing on the menu should run out halfway through a shift because nobody noticed the last case of tomatoes went on Tuesday.
• Make ordering quick. Whoever writes the order should start from counted numbers, not a notepad and a guess.
• Limit waste. Perishables that sit at the back of a shelf until they spoil are money in the bin.
• Show what actually happened. When a figure looks wrong, you want to know who changed it and when, not guess.

Food stock control is harder than warehouse stock control: much of it is perishable, it moves many times a day, and many people touch it, from prep cooks to front-of-house staff taking milk from the bar fridge.

Why kitchen stock records fall behind

Most restaurant stock records do not fail because people are careless. They fail because recording is slower than the work itself.

A paper sheet on the walk-in door only helps the person standing in front of it. A spreadsheet on the office computer gets updated when someone has time to sit down, which in a kitchen means rarely. The numbers drift, the team stops trusting them, and ordering goes back to memory.

The fix is not more discipline. It is making each update take seconds, next to the stock, on a device people already carry. If recording a used case of oat milk takes one tap, it gets done. If it takes a login and a form, it waits until after service and is forgotten.

Set par levels for the items you reorder

A par level is the amount of an item you want on hand after a delivery, enough to cover usage until the next one plus a small buffer. A reorder point is the lower level that tells you it is time to include the item in the next order.

Setting them is simple in principle:

1. Look at how much of the item you use between deliveries on a normal week.
2. Add a buffer for busy days and late deliveries.
3. That total is your par. Pick a reorder point below it that still leaves time to order.

Start with the items that hurt when they run out or cost the most: proteins, dairy, coffee beans, takeaway cups. You do not need a par for every jar of spice. Review pars when the menu or season changes.

With a par and a reorder point, the order almost writes itself: for each item at or below its reorder point, order the difference up to par.

Store stock first in, first out

First in, first out (FIFO) means the oldest stock gets used first. It is the single most useful habit for reducing food waste, and it lives on the shelf rather than in software.

• Put new deliveries behind existing stock, never in front.
• Label opened and prepped containers with the date they were opened or made.
• Give each item one home, so older stock is not hiding in a second spot.
• Check use-by dates during the count and move anything close to the front.

An inventory system supports FIFO by showing what each storage holds, so you notice when the same item sits in two places. The dates themselves stay on the labels, where the cook reaching for a tub can see them.

A stocktake routine that fits around service

A stocktake is only useful if it happens on schedule and takes a predictable amount of time. Split it by frequency rather than counting everything at once.

What to count	How often	Why
High-value and fast-moving items (proteins, dairy, coffee)	Daily or every shift change	They drive cost and run out fastest
Perishables with short shelf life	Before each order	Order to real stock, not last week’s
Dry goods and packaging	Weekly	They move slower and keep longer
Cleaning supplies and smallwares	Monthly	Low risk, but still run out
Everything	At period end	A full count to reset the record

A few rules keep counts fast and consistent:

• Count in the same order every time, shelf by shelf, so nobody skips a corner.
• Agree on the unit for each item (case, bag, bottle, portion) and write it into the item name or description, so one person’s “2” means the same as another’s.
• Count before a delivery is put away, not in the middle of it.
• Record the counted figure directly instead of working out the difference by hand.

When the counted figure and the record disagree, treat it as information. A regular gap on one item usually means unrecorded use, prep waste, or a portion size that has drifted.

Cutting food waste starts with the shelf you can see

Most kitchen waste comes from ordering more than you use, or from stock that is forgotten until it spoils. Both are visibility problems.

Par levels stop over-ordering because they give every order a ceiling. FIFO and clear storage stop forgotten stock. Regular counts close the loop by showing which items are always over-stocked, so you can lower their par.

When prepped food is thrown out, record it as used and note why in your kitchen log. Patterns appear within weeks: the same garnish binned every Monday, or a sauce made in batches too large for mid-week.

What to look for in a restaurant inventory system

Whatever tool you choose, judge it on whether your team will keep it current. These criteria matter more than a long feature list.

• Fast updates from a phone or tablet, next to the shelf, in a tap or two.
• Stock per storage area, so the walk-in, freezer and dry store each show what they hold.
• Low-stock alerts that reach the person who orders, not only a report nobody opens.
• Shared, live numbers so the morning and evening crews see the same figures.
• A change history that shows who changed which quantity and when.
• Easy counting, ideally by scanning a label on the shelf or product.
• A free way to try it with your real stock before committing.

If you also need recipe costing, expiry tracking by batch, supplier ordering or a link to your till, check for those specifically; many stock tools do not do them.

When a clipboard or spreadsheet is still enough

A paper count sheet or a spreadsheet is fine when one person does all the ordering, the menu is short, and there is a single storage area. If that person is always there, keeps it current and nobody else needs the numbers, adding software may not be worth it.

It stops being enough when several people use and receive stock, when you have several fridges, stores or sites, when the orderer is not the person who counted, or when you cannot tell why a figure changed.

Where Tana fits

Tana is a shared inventory app for teams, and it covers the stock-keeping side of running a kitchen.

• Set up storages to match your kitchen: walk-in, freezer, line fridge, dry store, bar, packaging cupboard. Stock is recorded per storage, and each item’s total is the sum. Optional locations hold each site’s address when you run more than one.
• Record use with − and deliveries with + in one tap on iPhone, iPad, Mac or the web app. = sets the exact counted quantity during a stocktake. Move stock between storages, such as from the freezer to the line fridge.
• Set a low-stock threshold per item as your reorder point. Tana shows what is running low on the home page and by email and push, and can post to a Slack channel. Write your par and supplier details in the item’s how to reorder note.
• Print QR labels for shelves and items, or attach a product’s own barcode, and scan with the camera to open the right item.
• Every change is kept in the history: who changed which quantity, when, and in which storage.
• Schedule an expected refill for a delivery day and get a reminder on the date. Export stock to CSV for a count sheet or your accountant.

Tana does not track expiry dates or batches, cost recipes, create purchase orders or connect to a till. For dates, keep using labels on the containers; if you want a reminder in Tana, a tag or a line in the item’s description can mark items that need a date check. There is a free plan with no card required, and paid plans per team.

Frequently asked questions

How often should a restaurant do a stocktake?

Count high-value and fast-moving items daily or at each shift change, perishables before each order, dry goods weekly, and do a full count at the end of each accounting period.

What is the difference between par level and reorder point?

Par is how much you want on the shelf after a delivery. The reorder point is the lower level that tells you to order. When stock reaches the reorder point, you order enough to get back to par.

Can I manage restaurant inventory in a spreadsheet?

Yes, if one person handles all the stock and ordering in one storage area. Once several people use stock across several areas, a shared app that updates from a phone is easier to keep accurate.

Does Tana track expiry dates?

No. Tana records quantities per storage, with history and low-stock alerts. Keep date labels on containers and use FIFO on the shelf; a tag or a note in the item description can flag items that need a date check.