Inventory counts are used to reconcile the on-hand count as recorded in Inventory with the actual count of a restaurant’s inventory. The frequency of counting inventory is a user’s option. In most cases a weekly count is sufficient. Counting more frequently can help isolate portioning, theft or delivery receipt problems. Counting inventory less frequently can compromise the accuracy of your records and make cost control difficult.
There are many reasons why inventory records can be inaccurate:
•Portion Control – Accurate portion control is critical for controlling food and beverage cost. The more costly an inventory item, the more important accurate portioning becomes. Accurate portioning of meat and cheese is more important than onion or lettuce. Accurate portioning of fine wine and super-premium spirits is more critical than draft beer.
•Shrinkage – Inventory shrinkage is defined as inventory recorded on a company's books but not on hand, due to theft, loss, portioning error, or accounting error. When there is a difference between Inventory system records and an on-hand count, this difference is automatically recorded as a shrinkage adjustment.
•Poor Receiving Practices – Differences between inventory ordered and paid for and the actual inventory received is a significant reason for uncontrolled costs. Received inventory should be immediately inspected and counted in the presence of the delivery driver to ensure accuracy.
Recommended steps for counting inventory can be found in the Procedures section of this manual.
Category – Choosing a category in the drop-down list filters the count window to show only those inventory items assigned to the selected category.
Find Inventory Item – Enter the first few characters of an item’s description. The selection arrow to the left of the Description column will move to the first item that matches the search characters typed.
Sort – Select a field to sort the inventory items in the count window.
Show inactive – Only active inventory items are shown in the count window by default. Click this box to show all inventory items regardless of whether an item is active or inactive.
Enter Count - Enter the on-hand quantity of the inventory item. The quantity can be entered in case, pack or unit measurements. Multiple units of measure can be entered at once using the “+” shortcut. Separate the case, pack and unit quantities by a plus sign to use this shortcut as in these examples:
•1+2+3 – Receives one case, two packs and three units
•+2+3 – Receives two packs and three units
•1 – Receives one unit specified in the inventory item’s “Item is normally counted by” field
•++3 – Receives three units
•+2 – Receives two packs
Count Batches – The Inventory count window invisibly creates a batch as you enter a count. This allows you to leave the entry window before you have entered the entire count. Clicking Close will close the window without saving the receipt entries you have created. To reload this batch and continue later, click the Load Batch button. Clicking Delete Batch will remove a stored batch. Clicking the Receive button not only saves the receipts on the screen but clears the batch.
Note: If you plan to continue entering a count, do not enter additional item counts before loading a saved batch. Doing so will remove any counts entered before the previous batch is loaded.
Click New to enter a new inventory item. Click an inventory item to select it then click Edit to edit an inventory item. Click Save Count to save the count when all items have been entered.
Customize view
Use this menu item to control which fields are displayed in the inventory list.
Fields in the Available Fields list can be selected for inclusion in the list. Fields listed in the Selected Fields are those that are currently displayed in the Inventory List. To add a field from the Available list, click the field to select it then click the single green right arrow to move the field to the Selected list. To remove a currently displayed field, click the field in the Selected list, then click the single green left arrow.