3 ways restaurants can stay profitable during times of inflation: “Use automation to reduce food was
Updated: Mar 20
It’s more likely than not that your restaurant has had to throw out a lot of products due to spoilage, surplus, cooking mishaps, and dissatisfaction from customers. It’s just bound to happen, but the amount adds up fast; in fact, millions of tons of food is wasted by restaurants every year. The problem is both costly and unsustainable in the long-term, and when inflation becomes an issue, you can’t afford to be wasting so much food that could otherwise be useful. Luckily, advances in automation can help lessen the burden of food waste in your restaurant.
Having strong inventory management tools in place is key to minimizing product loss and simplifying reordering processes. With the right technology, you can easily manage expiry dates, understand what ingredients you’re using (and for which recipes), and plan how and when to use ingredients without having to manually label and track each one. The ideal system will help you predict the number of products you’ll need to order to have the correct amount of food. Are you selling less rib eye and more filet of cod as a main dish? You should be able to see how many customers ordered either dish, how many ingredients were used, and the appropriate amount of food to reorder, so you’re not stuck with too much or too little. And with automated replenishment capabilities, you can place a new order for ingredients before they run out.
Not only that, but the right system will help you keep track of what you’re throwing away and in what quantities, allowing you to have clearer visibility over the usage of ingredients and correctly report waste. This way, you can see where your restaurant is actually losing money and quickly act upon this information to try to limit it. And because it can also tell you what ingredients you’re using the most of, and at what capacity, you can make sure you’re not overspending on ingredients that won’t get used or underspending and losing out on revenue.
