Using restaurant stocktaking software is one of the easiest ways to optimize your restaurant’s profits and operations. Managing stock is a time-consuming process, but it’s also one of the most important things to get right when running a restaurant.
By using the right stocktaking software, you can save time, improve accuracy, and gain greater insights into your restaurant’s performance. This results in a business that’s run much smarter. Restaurant stocktaking software also lets you achieve more with less, which can be a game-changer for restaurants with small and busy teams.
As a restaurant owner, using this software will mean you spend less time counting stock and have more time to focus on the tasks that need your attention.
To help you find the best solution, this guide explores some of the best restaurant inventory management systems available right now.
What Is Restaurant Stocktaking Software?
Restaurant stocktaking software allows restaurants to easily monitor their inventory usage.
While different inventory management software options work in different ways, the main idea is that the tools provide detailed inventory tracking, right down to the ingredient level. This information is then tied to creating recipes, costing menu items, and managing orders and purchases.
Inventory management software automatically calculates how much inventory a restaurant should have after sales. These systems integrate with a restaurant’s POS platform so that the inventory management system can calculate the estimated inventory based on specific sales. Restaurant managers can then compare actual inventory to estimated inventory to understand factors like wastage.
The right inventory management system provides an easy way for restaurants and bars to ensure they have enough inventory on-hand at all times. Instead of having to do manual stock takes every day, restaurants can use their inventory management software to gain a convenient overview of how much inventory they have available.
7 Best Restaurant Stocktaking Softwares
Using the right restaurant inventory management software can help restaurants operate more efficiently and maximize profits.
Here are some of the best restaurant inventory software options available.
1. Craftable
Craftable is a complete hospitality management platform designed to streamline restaurant operations. The platform includes tools for procurement and inventory management, accounting and payments, and business intelligence. Used together, these different modules can help restaurants optimize their operations and profitability.
As a restaurant stocktaking software solution, Craftable is one of the best. It offers detailed insights for inventory management and ties this into your restaurant's finances. This means you can see the exact effect that your inventory management efforts have on your restaurant’s bottom line.
Craftable syncs your sales data from your POS to help you compare your actual vs. theoretical inventory. This is all connected to an ordering and purchasing management tool for a full-circle inventory management experience.
Main Features
- Inventory management
- Ordering and purchasing management
- Sales and business intelligence
- Accounting and payment management
2. Restaurant365
When it comes to restaurant management software, Restaurant365 is one of the most popular solutions. The platform provides a solution that centralizes all of your restaurant data, helping restaurant owners make more efficient, more informed decisions. A key part of this is the platform’s inventory management software.
Restaurant365 offers a convenient solution for automating your restaurant’s inventory. Restaurants can use the platform to easily break down menu item costs, identify potential inventory management issues, and monitor actual food costs vs. estimations in real time.
This inventory management system is tied to the platform’s purchasing and receiving solution, inventory forecasting tools, recipe pricing tools, and more. You get access to every bit of data around your restaurant’s inventory, sales, profits, and costs, to make managing your restaurant a much more efficient process.
Main Features
- Automated inventory management
- Automated purchasing and receiving processes
- Inventory forecasting
- Catalog management
- Recipe costing
3. xtraCHEF
xtraCHEF offers a suite of automated financial and operational management tools which make it easier for restaurants to control their food costs, manage inventory, and improve profit margins.
The solution focuses on automation, which makes restaurant inventory management a much easier process. With xtraCHEF, there’s no manual data entry required, which can save a lot of time on stock taking and calculating.
The restaurant inventory software also offers detailed insights that are available in real time. This makes it easy for restaurant managers to monitor their performance and make informed decisions.
xtraCHEF also integrates inventory data across your various restaurant management systems. This makes it a lot easier to gain big-picture insights without having to dive into each specific area of your restaurant or enter data across functions. Ultimately, this helps restaurant managers control inventory counts, food costs, vendor management, and profits, far more effectively.
Main Features
- Detailed inventory management software
- Culinary management tools
- Restaurant financial management
- Operations management platform
4. Orderly
Orderly is one of the most straightforward food cost and inventory management systems available. With Orderly, there’s absolutely no need for data entry or manual inventory counts. Instead, the restaurant inventory management software handles this all automatically by tracking your food spending and costs and comparing your estimations with the actual inventory.
The platform syncs invoices from your suppliers, where all line items are automatically added. This helps you update inventory without any effort. Orderly also integrates with your POS system, so that you don't have to manually enter your daily sales into the platform.
The solution is simple, and it provides clear insights into your food costs, food inventory, food waste, and sales. If you’re looking for a straightforward inventory system without too many details and insights, then Orderly is a solid option.
Main Features
- Food cost management
- Automated inventory management
- Connects to POS systems
- AP automation
5. MarketMan
MarketMan provides an extensive restaurant management software solution. The entire platform covers many different functions, like expense tracking, purchasing and order management, recipe costing, and inventory management. Of course, this means it’s one of the most robust restaurant stocktaking software platforms available.
With MarketMan, you get an advanced inventory management system that automates your stocktaking for you. The cloud-based system runs inventory counts whenever you like, and provides detailed analytics to help you understand the impact of your food costing and food waste.
MarketMan integrates with restaurant POS systems so that the inventory software is tied to your sales. And when MarketMan’s restaurant inventory software is combined with the platform’s other features, you get a complete insight into your restaurant performance.
Main Features
- Restaurant inventory software
- Purchasing and ordering management
- Expense tracking
- Recipe costing software
6. Lightspeed Restaurant
Lightspeed is one of the most popular restaurant POS systems. It’s a powerful platform, offering many different functions for managing orders, restaurant sales, payments, and more. Of course, this also includes one of the best tools to manage inventory and stocktaking.
With Lightspeed’s restaurant inventory management software, you can easily plan out recipes to help you reduce food waste. The platform creates recipes based on your inventory, offers menu pricing suggestions, and monitors the gross profit of each item. The system also provides automated stock counts and wastage logs.
If you decide to use Lightspeed as your restaurant's POS system, then you can access this powerful inventory software.
Main Features
- Restaurant inventory management software
- Restaurant POS system
- Payment processing
- Automated stock taking
- Accounting tools
- POS hardware
7. MarginEdge
MarginEdge is designed to automate back-office tasks, manage food costs, and provide detailed data insights. Of course, this includes managing inventory and stock takes.
The system captures and processes invoices, and uses this to categorize products and manage your inventory. No manual stocktaking is required! You can access detailed reports on your inventory compared to your sales, and carefully manage your food usage across each item on your menu.
MarginEdge also offers a powerful recipe and menu analysis tool to help you understand and optimize your profit margins.
Main Features
- Inventory and food usage
- Invoice processing
- Recipe and menu analysis
- Cost management
- Back-office efficiencies
Conclusion
The restaurant inventory management software you choose should fit into whatever existing systems your restaurant has in place. The more integrated the software is, the easier it will be to gain the right insights and maintain tight control over your stock!
When applied properly, the right restaurant stocktaking software can greatly impact your restaurant’s success.
If your restaurant hosts events, you'll also need a great event management platform to run your restaurant more efficiently.
Try Perfect Venue for free to see just how effective this software can be to help you save time, maximize efficiency, and ultimately boost your restaurant’s profits.
