Tips for Managing Your Kitchen Inventory

Maintaining an accurate kitchen inventory is crucial to the success of a commercial kitchen. It’s important that you know what items you have, the quantities of consumables and the condition of your appliances and utensils. Having this information stored and checked upon on a regular basis can save you from running out of stock.

Here, we offer some tips on how to manage your kitchen inventory to help keep the process simple and effective.

1. Be organised

To ensure that your regular inventory checks become seamless give every item in your commercial kitchen a home. Place each appliance and utensil in the same spot after use and make sure your kitchen staff know where every piece belongs. This will save you from searching for missing equipment when it’s time to count.

2. Create a schedule

Choose a time and day for inventory checks and stick to it. Weekly checks allow for less shortfalls and overstocks and can help you identify missing or damaged items immediately. Performing kitchen inventory at the same time weekly will help you get the most accurate count possible, and help your staff be prepared.

3. Enlist help

It’s possible to complete a kitchen inventory on your own but having a second pair of eyes run over the count will help significantly minimise mistakes. Despite how thorough you are, errors can occur, so ask a staff member or colleague to carry out their own checks and then compare results.

4. Check before receiving new stock

It’s important to check the current stock you have before receiving a new shipment. You don’t want to be overstocked or understocked, so having an accurate count will help you understand what you do and don’t need. When you receive a new shipment, check that the delivery has everything you ordered before signing the invoice.

5. Include emergency items

There will be items that you need in the case of an emergency, when equipment breaks or disappears during your daily operation. Try to understand what these items may be and stock accordingly. Getting the balance right can be tricky but consider what appliances and utensils you rely on all day every day and have a backup in place.

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