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Ineffective ingredient management directly leads to increased production costs and reduced profits. This 5-step ingredient management process will help you address that issue.
Similar to running a business, the operational efficiency of a restaurant or café is greatly influenced by the effective management of ingredient inventory.
Given the nature of the food service industry, where ingredients are predominantly perishable or have strict storage requirements, the management of restaurant and café ingredient inventory becomes even more crucial.
In particular, a shortage of ingredients affects food preparation and beverage mixing, resulting in unmet customer demands. Conversely, maintaining excess inventory leads to waste, the primary cause of increased production costs and reduced profits. The pressure on your business will be even greater when your restaurant or eatery is large and part of a chain.
Efficient Restaurant Ingredient Management
Therefore, an effective ingredient management process, especially regarding inventory management, is crucial. Here are 5 fundamental steps:
1. Estimate the ingredients needed for purchase
Choosing a reliable supplier
The first principle when opening a food service establishment is selecting a trustworthy supplier. Remember, never work with unreliable suppliers. An unreliable supplier cannot provide you with materials that meet the criteria of freshness, quality, and safety. The reputation and survival of your restaurant depend heavily on this supplier, so choose wisely.
In today's food business, customers are willing to pay a higher price for good, safe products and services. Therefore, ensuring the quality of the raw materials always needs to be a top priority if you want your establishment to become a trusted destination for customers. Failing to manage the quality of incoming raw materials will lead to many repercussions in the future, directly affecting the reputation, quality, and long-term viability of your establishment.
Determining the supply capacity of the supplier
You need to have a list of suppliers for various types of food ingredients for your establishment. To ensure proactive food ingredient management for your kitchen, you also need to determine their supply capabilities: same-day or advance orders. If advance orders are necessary, specify how far in advance to ensure availability.
Our advice is always to have a contingency plan in place. For the food group you require, at least prepare a list of 2-3 backup ingredient suppliers.
Carrying out ingredient import-export activities
Import food and beverage ingredients when the inventory level in the warehouse is below the minimum stock level. When receiving shipments, pay particular attention to the expiry dates of the food. Avoid overstocking and leaving items for too long; it's regrettable and risky to use them past their expiration. Fresh produce should be ordered daily and always kept in refrigeration. Their shelf life should not exceed 3 days to ensure freshness.
Supplying ingredients to the kitchen for daily menu preparation.
Control of inventory ingredients
Many restaurants experience significant ingredient shortages at the end of the month. One of the reasons is the lack of coordination between the kitchen and the ingredient management team, resulting in reductions in dish components while still reporting them as complete. This highlights the importance of monitoring ingredient inventory reports in restaurant management for efficiency. To do this well, you need to regularly check both the storage and kitchen areas to stay on top of the situation.
- Daily inventory checks for ingredients
Conduct daily inventory checks to understand the restaurant's daily consumption. This practice is crucial for restaurant operations, whether it's a large restaurant or a small eatery.
This inventory check also helps you assess the status of your inventory on a daily basis, determining which items are running low, which need to be replenished, whether to order more or less, and what needs immediate preservation. Through this, you can manage your ingredients effectively, track food expiry dates, and plan for disposal or replacement accordingly.
- Never use expired ingredients
In reality, some eateries attempt to cut costs by using expired ingredients such as sauces, fresh produce, fruits, and dairy products, as it's difficult for customers to detect once incorporated into dishes.
However, this is an extremely naive business mindset because expired foods can directly cause illnesses to customers. These food groups contain many types of bacteria, especially E. coli, Vibrio vulnificus – bacteria that can cause stomach bloating, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and fever when ingested. Running around to resolve complaints leaves you with no time for business anymore; the survival of your restaurant is perhaps only counted in days.
5. Always have a forecasting plan
Forecasting the quantity of dishes, popular dishes to be sold in the future (weekly, monthly); predicting which ingredients may become scarce or increase in price,… are things you need to calculate in advance, based on the restaurant's sales figures over weeks, months, quarters, and years.
The more accurate your forecasting and analysis capabilities are, the more you can reduce unnecessary ingredient stock, food costs. Consequently, you can reduce selling prices or run promotional programs, offers, enhancing competitive advantages,…
Some considerations for food ingredient preservation
Preserving ingredients is a crucial step in restaurant kitchen management to prevent loss, spoilage, and waste. Here are some key experiences to keep in mind when preserving ingredients in the kitchen:
- Upon receiving shipments, the kitchen staff must double-check to ensure that the quantity received matches the delivery note.
- It's essential to have a food quality management staff member carefully inspect all batches to detect any spoilage or issues, ensuring only the best ingredients are brought into the restaurant.
- It's advisable to thoroughly wash and drain vegetables, then use food wrapping film to wrap and store them in the refrigerator.
- Ingredients should not be left on the ground; instead, they should be placed on tables or elevated surfaces in dry, ventilated areas.
- Regularly check the quantity of kitchen ingredients at the beginning and end of each shift.
- Ensure cleanliness in both the food preparation area and the ingredient storage area.
- Regularly check which ingredients are expired or about to expire to handle them promptly, avoiding the situation of using expired items to prepare food for customers.
- …
Managing restaurant ingredients has never been easy for a Manager or Owner. However, by closely following the steps and tips above, along with your own restaurant business experience, we believe you will develop an effective management formula for yourself.
Wishing you success in your business endeavors,
Best regards,
