As with any business, knowing your inventory is the key to success. When it comes to the food industry, inventory organization matters more than anywhere else. You’re dealing with a lot of perishable inventory that can end up losing you a lot of money if not consumed by the expiration date. Here are some great tips for assisting your cafe in cataloging and organizing your inventory.

It’s Important to Know Where Your Food Goes

Determining how much of a profit your food supplies bring in for your business can be a challenge at first. Having a proper food inventory management system will allow you to track your inventory to see where your supplies are going. Keep in mind that you’ll want to know what supplies come to your cafe, what goes out to the customers, and what’s leftover. Things like spillage, employee mistakes, staff meals, theft, and remedying customer complaints are all areas of loss that you will also have to take into account when determining where your food goes.

Use a Food Inventory Management System

One of the best ways to keep track of your inventory is to use an inventory management software program. This allows for real-time access to your inventory at any point in time. You can set thresholds that send out electronic orders for more supplies when your existing supplies reach a specific number. There’s no need to worry about human error when it comes to this type of inventory tracking as it’s all done electronically.

Use Inventory Scanning

In accordance with your inventory management system, you can utilize a barcode inventory system. This allows your employees to easily scan in deliveries of new supplies in seconds. With real-time data from your inventory management system, that barcode scan will update all the stock of the supplies that are recorded.

Train Your Employees Well

You can have a great inventory management system, but untrained employees can destroy the effectiveness of your management system. You should take the time to properly train all employees on how to use the inventory management software. Managers and shift leaders should be able to look over inventory reports and alert employees if there are shortages in the supplies.

Any business that sells goods needs to have some sort of inventory strategy. With the availability of technology and its many benefits, there’s no reason that your cafe business shouldn’t be utilizing it. The above are four tips that you should work on employing at your cafe to ensure that your inventory is kept correctly.

Addy Reeds is a freelance writer from Eugene, Oregon. She discovered her passion for journalism while attending the University of Oregon. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook: @addyreeds1; https://www.facebook.com/addy.reeds