Stocktaking 101 For Bars, Restaurants And Cafes

Let’s start with some tips on getting your stock super neat and tidy:

• Make sure that you have a specific place for each stock item that is labelled and all of the staff are aware of this. It can be extremely difficult to count things that are spread out all over your site and aren’t in the same place every week.
• Ensure that all fridges are re-stocked each night. This helps because if you know that you can fit a certain number of bottles per row in a drinks fridge it becomes much faster to count.
• Ensure you have a process so that only one box of each stock item is opened at any one time. It is much easier if you have full boxes to count.
• Do the same in the kitchen. Don’t open containers or packages before the previous full container or packet has been used.
• Try not to over order stock items, it just means you have to count more.

Ensure all stock items are set up with the correct units

It’s really important that all of your stock items are set up correctly, both so the calculated amount of each item you should use is correct and so the amount of each stock item you count is accurately reflected when you produce a cost of goods report.

There are generally three ways a Stock Item can be set up:

• By Weight — Kilos and Grams
• By Volume — Litres and Millilitres
• By Count — Pack Size and Count Size

Make sure all of your stock is being received correctly

You need to make sure all of your Stock Items have been received prior to starting a stocktake. If your received goods are not correct then there is no way that you will be able to get an accurate cost of goods value for the period of your stocktake report.

An easy way to double check this is to ensure there are no outstanding orders in your Loaded account before you start counting.

Print a stocktake sheet, and start counting

To correctly complete a stocktake you need to count your stock. We recommend that you complete your stocktaking weekly. If you complete them over a longer period than this, it becomes very difficult to troubleshoot when things go wrong. You and the rest of the team have a great ability to remember the last seven days, but any longer than this becomes a blur.

A good idea is to have the stocktake completed on a Sunday night after close of business. This means a separate person can complete any recounts on the Monday morning, which effectively gives you an audit of key items.

Recount any suggested re-counts

A good stock system automatically pulls out any stock items with a large variance and suggests that you recount them. Especially in your first few stocktakes you will make counting errors, so it’s important that you recount the suggested items and update with the correct values if you discover you have made a mistake.

View the stocktake report

There are two main goals from a stocktake, and the stocktake report should help you monitor these two KPIs:

1 — To understand on a regular basis the overall margin or cost of goods you are achieving

2 — To be able to ascertain on an item by item basis if you are using or losing more of an item than you expected to

Troubleshooting Variances

Firstly you need to check variances on an item by item basis, and troubleshoot what is causing the variance. There are four main setup issues that may cause variances:

• Counting — despite counting and recounting you might still have made an error. Triple check you’ve got the count correct.
• Received goods — without having the correct received goods, the amount of each good you have used will not be accurate, and your overall cost of goods will not be correct.
• Calculated usage / POS Links — if these aren’t set up correctly your calculated usage and therefore your variance won’t be correct.
• Recipes — if the recipes you have created do not accurately reflect the portion sizes of the recipes you are producing, they will need to be updated.

Create a list of the items that have major variances

You need to understand the items that are costing your business money and then create a plan for doing something about it. This plan needs to be communicated to your team and implemented.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can technology streamline the stocktaking process?

Advanced inventory management software can track stock levels accurately and in real-time, enabling you to make informed decisions quickly. This technology significantly reduces manual errors through automated data entry and analysis, offering insights into stock usage patterns, identifying discrepancies early, and allowing for precise demand forecasting.

How can small cafes or bars with limited resources conduct stocktaking effectively?

By adopting compact, user-friendly inventory management tools and prioritising the tracking of high-turnover or high-value items, you can simplify the process. Regular, scheduled stocktakes — even on a smaller scale — help maintain accuracy and control over inventory without the need for extensive systems or personnel.

Related Reading

This guide covers the practical how-to of stocktaking. For the bigger picture on why stocktaking matters for your margins and what to do with the data: Stocktaking for the Hospitality Industry.

For the full stock management framework connecting stocktaking, buying, recipe costing, and food waste: Restaurant Stock Control & Food Cost Management: The Complete Guide.

Book a free 30-minute demo to see Loaded’s stocktaking tools in action.