Fast food chains and fast food restaurants

Stocktaking in fast food chains - full control despite busy periods

System catering businesses work with standardized processes and serve thousands of guests every day. In a fast food restaurant with high footfall, there is hardly any time to take a deep breath. Many different products and ingredients pass over the counter - and yet the inventory has to be right. Because even at peak times, you can't lose sight of stock levels if you want to keep costs and processes under control.

Why stocktaking is critical to success in system catering

In system catering, stocktaking is much more than a compulsory exercise - it is critical to the success of your business. Purchasing goods accounts for a large proportion of your expenditure: Almost 35% of the budget goes on food, and up to 20% of these costs can be saved by taking a proper inventory . If you don't know the exact cost of goods per burger, you run the risk of losing money on every sale; accurate inventory control is the basis for effective cost management and helps to reduce waste and unnecessary expenditure.

Inventory is just as important as the basis for order automation. With precise stock data, you always know which ingredients need to be reordered - shortages of burger buns or surpluses of salad are a thing of the past. Regular stocktaking also reveals fluctuations and losses. Without realizing it, an average of around 20% of turnover is lost in the catering industry due to shrinkage, theft or spoilage. By immediately recognizing deviations between target and actual stock levels, you can take countermeasures and keep your cost of goods under control.

The typical challenges in a fast food restaurant

Quick service restaurants face very practical challenges when it comes to stocktaking. You work in shifts, often from early to late or even around the clock. Peak times such as the lunch rush or a busy drive-through counter leave little room for stocktaking during ongoing operations - but stock management still has to function at all times to ensure that no product runs out. Stocktaking is therefore often carried out at night or on a quieter day - an additional burden for you and your team.

The nature of the products also makes stocktaking in the fast food sector challenging. Many ingredients only have a short shelf life - what is not sold today ends up in the bin tomorrow. At the same time, you often have to deal with partial quantities: for example, opened sauce bottles, half-full chips containers or used frying oil. Recording these residual quantities accurately with a piece of paper and pen is tedious and prone to error. What's more, your stocks are spread across different areas - kitchen, counter, storage room, cold store - and would ideally have to be counted in parallel so as not to disrupt operations.

How BarBrain optimizes digital inventory in fast food establishments

Today, stocktaking can be done differently: BarBrain, a digital stocktaking software for fast food restaurants, massively simplifies digital stock control and stocktaking. The app is specially designed to make stocktaking in fast food establishments quicker and easier - without compromising on accuracy. Important functions of BarBrain (your fast food restaurant inventory software) at a glance:

• Partial quantity regulator for sauces, toppings, frying oil etc.: You can also record opened containers with an exact fill level.
• Quick count for standard items: Count frequent items with a single tap thanks to predefined units.
• Multi-user access for simultaneous counting in the kitchen, warehouse and counter: several team members can count in parallel at different locations without disturbing each other.
• Offline function, e.g. in the cold room: You can continue counting even without internet reception - the data synchronizes automatically later.
• Real-time reports: After the inventory, you immediately receive evaluations of consumption and losses as well as automatic order recommendations.

Advantages for franchisees and central systems

BarBrain makes franchise inventory a breeze - for you as the local operator as well as for the central organization behind it. As a franchisee, you save time and nerves: the digital solution speeds up stocktaking considerably, reduces errors and provides you with reliable figures at the touch of a button. You can concentrate more on your day-to-day business while the software takes care of things like cost of sales evaluations in the background.

The franchise head office also benefits from standardized digital inventory data. All locations work with the same system, which enables standardized, digital inventory control in system catering. Anomalies in shrinkage or the use of goods in individual branches can be identified immediately by comparison. In addition, central purchasing managers can evaluate the inventory and order data of all outlets at a glance. This considerably simplifies planning and procurement for the entire franchise network.

Fictitious quote from an area manager or franchise partner

"It used to take half a day to take stock in each of my five fast-food restaurants and was a horror for my employees. Thanks to BarBrain, we can now carry out stock checks in less than two hours and have a precise overview of the use of goods and possible losses at all times."

Conclusion: Test BarBrain now free of charge

You don't have to do without precise, digital stock control in a fast food restaurant - on the contrary: with modern tools such as BarBrain, you always have an overview of stock levels, goods usage and orders, even at peak times. See the benefits for yourself: Try BarBrain now for free and experience how much easier stocktaking can be in your fast food restaurant!