How to Choose the Right Inventory Management App for Your Company

What is Inventory Management?

Inventory management is a monitoring system that ensures a restaurant business has sufficient inventory levels to meet its needs on any given business day. This would involve keeping track of stock levels, ordering new supplies, sending alerts when stock levels run low, and gaining complete inventory control so that goods can be moved to the right place at the right time without hampering sales and customer service.

Inventory management is a critical part of any restaurant business, for it determines how well you can serve your customers on a regular basis. Inventory management has a significant impact on costs and customer satisfaction. Proper inventory management can help businesses ensure that they have the food and non-food materials they need, while minimizing waste and maximizing efficiency.

How Will Good Inventory Management Benefit a Business?

Whether your restaurant business will be profitable or not is often determined by the inventory management practices you follow at your establishment. There are many benefits of good inventory management, the most obvious of which is that it prevent you from running out of stocks during crucial hours. This can disrupt operations and affect customer satisfaction.

Good inventory management will also reduce operational costs associated with excess inventory, storage and shipping. Moreover, when you manage inventory well, you can save on labor costs. Effective inventory management can also improve forecasting and Demand Planning, leading to the efficient allocation of stocks.

In other words, good inventory management has the potential to improve a wide range of business functions, from everyday operations to long-term strategic planning. With smart and accurate inventory management, you can be sure of reducing wastage, preventing theft and limiting inventory losses with constant asset tracking and inventory controlall of which will help you reduce expenses.

Types of Inventory Management Methods

• The most efficient method of inventory management is to use an automated inventory management app or management software. It keeps accurate track of inventory levels, sends stock alerts in real time and eases associated business processes. With inventory management software stock-take can be completed quickly, compared to manual inventory methods that involve having to physically go around the restaurant with a clipboard in hand for asset tracking. Barcode scanning tools will help you easily extract the details of each product on your shelves, including their stock levels, without having to do physical counts. Inventory management apps not only promise ease of use, but also check management and labor costs, wastage and variance.

• The spreadsheet method of a semi-automated inventory management system is another way to count stocks. It requires you to manually keep track of all inventory levels regularly, noting down product details such as item name, quantity, price, shelf-life, and entering the data in a spreadsheet. This inventory spreadsheet can then be used to keep track of your inventory levels and the exact location of each item. A simple search on the inventory spreadsheet will give you all details of your inventory stocks. However, this is a time-consuming process that may take up the manager or stock-taker's entire workday.
  

• The third method of inventory management is the traditional manual method, where staff members go around the restaurant with a pen and paper and take physical counts of each item and their quantity. This is an arduous process that takes a lot of time and effort and may end up consuming several days. Moreover, this method is also not the most accurate, as it leaves scope for human error. This can happen when the stock-taker misses a bottle of oil, or a bag of flour and jeorpadizes the entire inventory.
  

How to Choose an Inventory Management App for a Small Business

• When you are just starting out as a small business, your budget and operations are limited, and so is your staff strength. It is therefore vital to consider a few points before choosing an inventory management app. Firstly, think about what features you need and make sure the inventory management app you want has them.
• Second, consider ease of useyou don't want something that's going to be difficult to use or takes a lot of time for your staff members to learn.
  
• Look at user reviews, including those by business owners and restaurant managers, to get an idea of how well the management app works in real life.
  
• Make sure the app is compatible with your existing restaurant management software systems so you don't have trouble down the road. Most inventory management apps offer third-party integrations that can make your business management smooth and efficient.
  
• Forecasting Inventory is another key feature you need to look for when purchasing an inventory management service. As a small business that is just starting out, you may not have an exact estimate of expected sales and customer demand. Here's where a forecasting tool can be of great help.
  

How to Choose an Inventory Management App for a Large Enterprise

If you have a large chain of restaurants, you need an inventory management app that can handle copious amounts of data. There are a few things to consider when choosing an app for your business.

• First, consider the number of menu items and products you have in your inventory. You will need inventory management software that can track large volumes of stock. An inventory app that offers barcode scanning will make the job easier.
  
• Second, think about how often you need to update your inventory levels. If you only update your inventory occasionally, you might not need a real time system. However, if you update your inventory frequently, you will want an app that can provide real time data so that your inventory can be adjusted according to usage.
  
• Some apps offer basic features like product tracking and stock levels, while others offer more advanced features like managing purchase orders and producing sales reports. Choose an application with features that best fit the needs of your enterprise.
• If you have several restaurant outlets operating at multiple locations, get an inventory management system that supports inventory control across locations and can assist in easy stock transfers between them. A cloud-based system will give your managers remote access to inventory products across geographies.
• Also, check for third party integrations the inventory software supports. As a large enterprise, you may need different apps for accounting, Order Management, supply chain management, and so on. Find an inventory management system that works seamlessly with all these.
• Look for an inventory app that allows multiple users to take inventory simultaneously.

Top 3 Inventory Management Systems for Restaurants

Zip Inventory-
This is an automated, cloud-based inventory management system that does shelf-to-sheet inventory counts within minutes, keeps track of wastage and variance, assists in easy transfers and streamlines ordering. Zip Inventory will not only make inventory control and management an accurate and easy process, but it will also help control food costs, optimize operations and assist in decision-making with its reports and insights into your inventory usage patterns.

Zoho Inventory-
Zoho offers a free plan for small businesses that need inventory management on a smaller scale. This system works for a limited number of users and locations, but you can manage orders, track inventory levels, generate invoices, manage warehouses and also integrate with other management software solutions. The paid plan offered by Zoho has a number of additional features for barcode scanning, purchase orders, reports, analytics and even e-commerce integration.

Toast POS-
Although the name suggests it's a point of sale system (POS system), Toast offers an efficient inventory management system as well. Its inventory app can be purchased as an independent tool and can be integrated with the Toast POS system or with a third-party restaurant management software. The Toast system takes care not only of inventory tracking, but also order management. It can track inventory patterns to reduce wastage and variance, schedule purchase orders and help you communicate directly with vendors. It sends out real time low stock alerts; it can assign staff members to specific inventory counts; and will produce up-to-date reports and insights into your operations.

Final Word

Inventory management systems are critical for businesses today. But there are so many inventory solutions available in the market, choosing the right one can be a challenge. However, by taking time to assess your needs and objectives, you can find a system will shrink your operational costs, improve customer service, increase profits and help your business, overall, run smoothly and efficiently.