If you’re reading this, you likely already know the importance of restaurant inventory management. At FoodBAM, it’s a topic we are pretty BAM passionate about.
In fact, we have articles on a variety of inventory related topics, like how to choose the right inventory technology for you, and how to understand and calculate your inventory turnover rate.
The benefits of a strong restaurant inventory management solution seem obvious. It helps ensure your operation never has too much or too little of a product on hand and streamlines the inventory process for you or your team. However, there are several added benefits that come as a result of properly managing your inventory.
Keep reading to learn about 5 better things to spend your time on once you’ve automated your inventory.
1. Re-focus on your menu
You likely entered the foodservice industry to fulfill a passion around food (your passion probably wasn’t for counting cans of it). This may have been an area you found yourself paying less attention to as things like manual inventory took up more of your time.
When you find the right restaurant inventory management solution for your operation, you will help free up some hours in your week. This is a great opportunity for you to re-focus on your menu and ensure you’re developing craveable items.
Spend time looking through your menu and determine if adjustments are needed. Is your menu too big? Are there any food trends you can incorporate into your restaurant?
The time you save with a proper restaurant inventory management process can help you re-focus on the thing you fell in love with and the thing that keeps guests coming back – your food.
2. Get to know your suppliers
You know that suppliers play a big role in the operation of your business. Without them, you wouldn’t have the items you need to keep your doors open.
When you’re bogged down with tasks around your restaurant, like manual inventory, you often lose touch with these suppliers. That lack of communication could often lead to potential issues like inventory problems or unexpected price increases.
Consider using some of the time you save when utilizing an efficient restaurant inventory management solution to re-engage your suppliers. Things like a quarterly business review could be a great way to discuss any known issues or explore some upcoming opportunities.
Getting to know your suppliers and building stronger relationships can help ensure you have better control of your business, as well. You will have better visibility into any stocking or price changes, so you can avoid the risk of any unexpected problems down the road.
3. Experiment with marketing
When was the last time you proactively thought about marketing for your restaurant? For most, it’s something that often falls to the backburner in place of higher-priority items.
However, without some type of marketing activity, you run the risk of losing potential foot traffic. If diners don’t know about you, how will they make their way in for dinner?
When you can free up some time away from inventory, you can spend more time experimenting with marketing.
Does your restaurant have an online presence? Are you active on social media?
These are easy ways to help provide potential diners with information about your restaurant and make sure you stay on their radar.
Our world today is built on technology, so experimenting with digital marketing efforts could be a great way to ensure your restaurant stays relevant.
4. Support your staff
Your staff is the key to your success.
From running the kitchen to managing the guest experience, your staff are the wheels that keep your operation moving.
While you spend so much time focusing on inventory and other operational tasks around your restaurant, you become less involved with your team. You may rush through trainings or neglect any questions or needs presented to you.
When you better streamline your inventory process, it opens up more time on your schedule to re-invest in your staff. This could mean spending more time interviewing and hiring the right people or helping develop a culture that truly supports your staff’s needs.
Or, you may find yourself with more time to just get to know your team.
Creating an environment where your staff feels valued is huge. This could reflect in their attitudes at work and the product they produce. When you have a happy staff, this will translate onto your customers to create a positive experience all around.
5. Pull back the items you’ve pushed off
When running a business, there are plenty of items that get pushed to the backburner. Low-priority tasks that popped up at the wrong time, paperwork that continues to pile up… we get it.
While it may seem mindless, those to-do items are still important and need to be addressed.
By streamlining your inventory process, you can carve more time out to tackle these tasks.
Things like reviewing your bank statements and accounting ledger can ensure you have a better grasp on the business decisions you are making. Developing clear policies and procedures for your employees can help ensure a safe and smooth work environment for your staff.
Whatever the task is that you’ve been putting off, you can finally find the time to complete it when you pull yourself away from manual inventory.
FoodBAM can help
You may not realize it in the moment, but an outdated or manual process of restaurant inventory management can cost you and your business a lot of time. This is time that could better be used elsewhere around your business. Or, better yet, in the comfort of your home.
If you haven’t already implemented a restaurant inventory management software for your operation, now is the time to do so.
FoodBam offers chefs and general managers the tools to easily track and manage their inventory. This can help streamline the inventory process moving forward and help ensure you never have too much or too little of an item on hand.
Interested in learning more about FoodBAM? Request a demo! Our team is dedicated to making the ordering and inventory process easy so you more time to run your restaurant. We’d love to meet you!
