What happens when you don’t have enough inventory? Running out of certain products could be risky for your business. On the other hand, if you have too much inventory, it can tie up cash flow, not to mention increase your costs for storage and logistics. Effective inventory management is somewhere between these two extremes. Here’s why weekly inventory is the secret to staying organized and keeping things in balance with your business.
Eliminate food waste.
Food waste can be a huge problem when you do monthly inventory. What happens when your supply can’t keep up with changes that happen every week? Or the new product you ordered has a short shelf life? There are so many issues that can be avoided by doing inventory on a weekly basis. And having a system in place can help you manage food costs week-to-week, while also helping you stay on top of expiry dates.
Weekly inventory helps you get organized.
Think about it, how calming it would be to count your inventory at a time when your shelves are at their emptiest and the restaurant is at its quietest. Staying on top of inventory on a weekly basis helps you make better decisions when you’re taking in new food and tracking down over-ordered items, because you’ll know what products you need to stock up on week by week. Staying organized is one of the biggest challenges in any business, especially when your inventory is the key to your business’ profitability. However, if it’s not properly organized, you can miss out on the opportunity to save money.
Extra profit in your pocket.
While it requires more work and planning to achieve an efficient inventory process, your profits will reflect your effort. Managing your products in weekly cycles not only allows you to see excess inventory right away, but also provides more accurate sales and usage data so that you can catch potential problems before they result in lost sales or increased costs. That’s why weekly inventory management is so valuable to businesses of all sizes: you can see overages right away, avoid wasting money and can mitigate the impact of inflation on Canadian food prices.
Keep track of your inventory more efficiently.
Inventory management isn’t just about checking stock to make sure you have enough of the right items. Weekly inventory management is all about managing the flow of your products and boosting efficiency to help you plan for the future and manage your stock better. What if there’s an opportunity for a short-period promotion and you run out of product early? With weekly inventory, you can get ahead of problems like understocking or over-ordering and eliminate the guesswork that comes with monthly inventory management. Weekly inventory gives you a more accurate idea of what you have in stock as well as the visibility to spot potential issues, like seasonality or product shortage, that may affect cost on a weekly basis.
No matter what your restaurant’s inventory schedule is, we encourage you to be proactive about the process. Counting your inventory on a weekly rather than a monthly basis can help you make the decisions that will keep your business running smoothly. It’s about getting the data you need, at the right times so that you can monitor fluctuations in cost and avoid over-ordering. After all, your restaurant’s inventory is one of the most valuable assets you’ve got, and you should give it the attention it deserves—so you can get the profits you deserve.
