Sponsored by Restaurant365
Food waste is a costly issue in the quick-service restaurant industry. According to the International Journal of Applied Management and Technology, an estimated 4–10 percent of food purchased by restaurants never gets served to customers, leading to significant financial losses. With approximately $1000 in revenue lost for every 3.3 pounds of food waste.
Automated inventory management is crucial for reducing food waste and saving money. Relying on manual inventory and spreadsheets often leads to inaccuracies and errors. “Some people don’t manage inventory at all,” says Marc Cohen, solutions architect at Restaurant365. “They just match invoices against sales. In these cases, not only are they losing money, but there’s a high chance of theft.”
Food can be wasted, misportioned, stolen, or lost due to human error. Tracking waste helps determine one of these four issues and shows opportunities to reuse products. Restaurant365 includes a waste log that integrates with the actual versus theoretical report, outlining the entire lifecycle of a product. This feature provides detailed insights into how much product was purchased, sold, and is leftover. “If I see how many brisket burritos I sold versus how much brisket I used, and there’s a discrepancy, I know there’s a problem,” Cohen says. “Someone might have stolen it, thrown it away, or not trimmed it properly.”
Every minute a restaurant is open is an opportunity to collect data, fine-tune operations, and enhance efficiency for the future. The Restaurant365 forecasting module empowers operators to utilize daily operational information. “We’ve developed algorithms for a year-over-year smart forecast, analyzing the last eight weeks of data from both this year and last year,” Cohen says. “The system provides an accurate average by excluding outliers and suggesting sale amounts for specific days. This approach allows for fine-tuning down to 15-minute intervals for precise planning.”
The Restaurant365 forecasting module allows operators to set revenue goals and use a theoretical on-hand inventory count. By monitoring inventory levels, the forecast will indicate what to order, preventing over-ordering and waste.
An estimated 31–40 percent of the food served to customers is never consumed, highlighting a significant opportunity for savings through improved portion control. “Portion control is often overlooked. For example, using a standardized two-ounce spoon for sour cream ensures consistent portions instead of random amounts that lead to waste.”
Restaurant365 provides precise measurements and integrates this information with the point-of-sale system for accurate recipe management. The theoretical numbers will be off if recipes aren’t set up correctly or yields aren’t accurate. Restaurant365 automatically updates recipe costs based on purchase data, ensuring consistency and accuracy.
“Getting to an actual versus theoretical report is a journey with many moving parts. My advice is to follow the 80/20 rule—80 percent of your revenue comes from 20 percent of your product,” Cohen says. “Focus on the 20 percent that’s moving the needle, and you will see results within a quarter.”
Visit the Restaurant365 website to reduce food waste and save money.
By Olivia Schuster
