How should a restaurant do a daily inventory count?

What should you count every morning?

Make the morning count a focused check of ingredients that can stop service or carry meaningful cost. Start with your main proteins and expensive ingredients, then add items with repeated shortages. Keep a separate schedule for a full storeroom inventory.

Choose a fixed counting point before ingredients move into prep. If your kitchen runs continuously, use a shift handover and record movements during the count. A delivery arriving halfway through changes the balance unless you clearly separate stock received before and after the cutoff.

• Write each ingredient's name and counting unit on the count sheet: kilograms, litres or individual pieces.
• List every storage location for that ingredient, including the prep fridge and service station.
• Separate raw ingredients from prepared stock. Raw chicken and marinated portions need a defined conversion rather than an assumed equal weight.
• Put unopened packs and opened containers on the same measurement basis. Subtract the empty container weight when weighing its contents.

Nexara supports ingredients, units, recipes and prep yield. Those records give the count a consistent vocabulary across shifts, so the morning reviewer compares the same ingredient in the same unit.

Who does what during the 20-minute routine?

Name a counter and a reviewer before the shift starts. The counter measures what is physically present. The reviewer checks exceptions and decides what needs investigating.

```mermaid flowchart LR A["Confirm stock cutoff"] --> B["Count physical stock"] B --> C["Compare expected balances"] C --> D["Recount stock differences"] D --> E["Review and assign"] ``` The reviewer assigns unresolved differences after the physical count and recount.

If possible, let the counter record physical quantities before seeing expected balances. This reduces the temptation to count towards the screen. Use the same shelf route daily so an opened tub behind the service fridge does not disappear from the procedure.

Allow enough time to measure accurately. If the priority list takes longer than this window, reduce its scope or extend the counting period.

How do you calculate and investigate a stock variance?

Compare stock at the same cutoff and in the same unit. For a raw ingredient, expected stock equals the previous verified balance, plus receipts and transfers in, minus usage, waste and transfers out. Include other documented adjustments where relevant. If usage already includes waste, subtract it only once.

Quantity variance = physical stock minus expected stock. A negative result is a shortage against the records. A positive result needs checking too: an unrecorded delivery or incorrect pack conversion can produce an apparent surplus.

Here, the shortage is 1.2 ÷ 18 × 100 = 6.7 percent of expected stock, rounded. At an ingredient cost of 4 JOD per kilogram, the ingredient-cost difference is 1.2 kg × 4 JOD/kg = 4.80 JOD.

Under the example's review rules, recount when the absolute difference exceeds 0.5 kg or 3 percent of expected stock. Ask the manager to review a confirmed difference worth at least 5 JOD, or any unexplained difference that repeats the next morning. For countable packaged items, consider a zero-difference rule.

The quantity trigger catches a sizeable weight difference, while the percentage trigger catches a smaller shortage against a low balance. The 5 JOD trigger prioritises manager review by ingredient cost. In this example, 1.2 kg requires a recount even though 4.80 JOD is below the cost trigger. Before adopting these rules, check your scale's accuracy and repeat-weighing variation, then choose limits suited to each ingredient's value.

Check the scale and container weight first. Then check deliveries and transfers against the cutoff. Review prep conversions and waste before treating the remainder as unexplained. When expected stock is zero, percentage variance is undefined; use quantity and cost instead.

How should restaurant waste tracking fit into the count?

Record waste when it happens, rather than reconstructing it from memory the next morning. A useful waste log identifies the ingredient, quantity and unit, with a time and reason. Name the person recording it so the reviewer can ask a specific question.

Use reasons that describe an event, such as spoilage or a dropped batch. Avoid writing 'waste' as the explanation for every shortage. Missing stock becomes explained waste only when there is evidence of what happened.

Keep recipe yield separate from avoidable waste. Trimming raw material during prep changes usable weight; the recipe and yield assumptions must reflect that. Counting cooked portions against raw kilograms without a conversion creates an apparent difference.

Nexara includes waste analytics, recipe costing and prep yield within inventory and costing. Review waste alongside yield assumptions when the same ingredient repeatedly comes up short. To check which other purchasing and stock tools are available, see Nexara inventory and operations features, including suppliers, purchase orders and branch stock requests.

How does NexaraFlow time the morning count?

NexaraFlow's Morning Inventory template gives you a starting point for the routine. Use inventory count progress to follow the quantities being recorded, and task status to follow the counting and review responsibilities.

1. Use the Morning Inventory template as the starting point for your procedure.
2. Set a recurring schedule around the branch's counting cutoff, before routine prep movements.
3. Assign the branch and responsible role so the work appears in that role's task list.
4. Set the stages and time allowance to match your counting and review responsibilities.
5. Review task status alongside inventory count progress, and keep unresolved differences assigned.

The responsible role sees recurring tasks with deadlines, and overdue work escalates for attention. The reviewer applies the branch's variance rules when deciding which confirmed differences need further investigation.

Workflows are a Pro-plan feature. For how templates, schedules and branch assignments organise recurring work, read how NexaraFlow timed tasks work.

What must be settled before the count is closed?

A count needs a physical result and a review decision. 'Counted' and 'explained' are different states in your procedure. Keep the original observation alongside any correction so tomorrow's reviewer can understand why the balance changed.

For each unresolved difference, write the ingredient, confirmed quantity and next check, with a named owner and deadline. If stock is insufficient for prep, tell the kitchen immediately. Nexara supports branch stock requests; confirm receipt of replacement stock before including it in the available balance.

Review repeated differences by ingredient over successive counts. Repeated shortages can point to an incorrect recipe yield, while alternating shortages and surpluses can point to inconsistent cutoffs or units. Check the underlying records to establish the cause.