Restaurant inventory management: best practices to prevent waste and losses

Food waste accounts for 10 to 15% of the average restaurant's revenue. Poor inventory management leads to spoilage, mid-service shortages, and runaway costs.

A restaurant owner who doesn't track inventory can't: - Know which dishes are the most profitable - Anticipate stock-outs before they happen - Comply with food safety standards (FIFO, traceability) - Negotiate with suppliers based on actual usage data

Batch traceability is a regulatory requirement in the food industry. Every batch of goods must be identified with: - A batch number - The receiving date - The expiration date - The supplier of origin

With a modern POS system, this information is captured at receiving and the system automatically handles: - Expiration alerts: red (expired), orange (7 days), yellow (30 days) - FIFO enforcement (First In, First Out): the oldest batches are used first - Full movement history for every batch of stock

Setting up alert thresholds for each product lets you act before a stock-out occurs. The software sends a notification whenever a product drops below its defined minimum level.

Best practices: - Set a minimum threshold for every critical ingredient - Configure alerts via email or push notification - Schedule supplier orders based on alert data - Analyze consumption trends to fine-tune your thresholds

Physical inventory counts don't have to be a headache. With a barcode scanner built into your POS app, you can:

1. Scan each product directly with your phone's camera 2. Compare actual quantities against the expected stock level 3. Spot discrepancies and investigate them 4. Generate an inventory report exportable to CSV/PDF

digabloPos includes an advanced inventory management module with all of these features, plus built-in batch tracking and expiration date monitoring — included free in the base plan.