Case Study: How L'Osteria cuts inventory time by 2–3 hours per venue
Efficiency redefined: L'Osteria relies on BarBrain for fast and simple inventory counts
55%
less
inventory time
520
items
per inventory
0
minutes of
post-processing
- Business: L'Osteria – European-wide restaurant chain
- Industry: Multi-unit casual dining
- Locations: Over 160 restaurants in 9 countries
- Use case: Monthly F&B inventory across all branches
- Contact: Apostolos Behrendt, General Manager (Munich branch)
- Result: 2–3 hours saved per inventory per branch
About L'Osteria
L'Osteria is one of Europe’s largest restaurant chains. Over 160 locations in 9 countries, renowned for oversized pizza and pasta in trattoria quality. What looks simple on the plate requires precise processes behind the scenes — from procurement and stock management to the monthly inventory. Apostolos Behrendt is the General Manager of a L'Osteria branch in Munich. He knows the inventory process from both perspectives: before and after BarBrain. The difference, he says, is enormous.
The challenge: end of month, clipboard, midnight
The last day of the month. The kitchen is cleaned, the final guests leave. But for Apostolos’ team, the most exhausting part is just beginning: inventory. Beverages, food, packaging materials, cutlery — every item had to be recorded individually. By hand, on printed Excel lists, with a clipboard.
“At the end of the month, inventory always comes around — of course, nobody looks forward to it because it’s incredibly time-consuming and no fun at all.”– Apostolos Behrendt, General Manager, L'Osteria Munich
The biggest problem wasn’t the individual counting task, but the total volume. Hundreds of line items, a single team, a single clipboard. Then transferring the data manually into Excel, tallying everything up, checking for errors. In a branch with L'Osteria’s product range, this regularly stretched past midnight. Multiply that across over 200 locations and the leverage becomes clear: every hour saved per branch amounts to thousands of staff hours per year across the entire chain.
Why BarBrain
For a restaurant chain with over 200 branches, one factor matters above all others: scalability. BarBrain’s digital inventory app delivered three decisive advantages:
Parallel counting: Instead of one person walking through the storage area alone, two, three or four people can count simultaneously. Each on their own smartphone. Data syncs in real time.
Instant consolidation: No manual collation of lists, no Excel export, no retyping. At the end of the counting process, the result is ready — automatically consolidated.
Smartphone-based: No additional hardware, no specialist devices. The team uses existing smartphones or tablets. The full feature overview shows all functions in detail.
Implementation
BarBrain was rolled out across all L'Osteria branches. The setup per location was straightforward: digitise the product portfolio, assign storage areas, brief the team. Because the app is intuitively designed, onboarding time was minimal.
“Since we’ve had BarBrain, inventory has become significantly easier. The team no longer has to print Excel spreadsheets or run through the storage rooms.”– Apostolos Behrendt, General Manager, L'Osteria Munich
Crucially for a chain: the rollout can be standardised. Once set up, the process runs identically in every branch — with comparable results.
Results
The measurable changes per branch since switching to BarBrain:
| Metric | Before | With BarBrain |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory time per branch | Deep into the night | 2–3 hours less |
| Parallel counting | 1 person per storage area | 2–4 people simultaneously |
| Data consolidation | Manual (Excel) | Automatic in real time |
| Post-processing time | Manual retyping + checking | Eliminated entirely |
| Hardware | Clipboard + printed Excel | Existing smartphone |
| Staff motivation | Frustration, stress | "They almost enjoy doing it now" |
“We save at least two to three hours per inventory. Inventory used to be a tedious task, but now the staff almost enjoy doing it because it’s incredibly fast and no longer causes any stress.”– Apostolos Behrendt, General Manager, L'Osteria Munich
Operational Impact
For a single location, 2–3 hours saved is noticeable. For a chain with over 160 branches, it’s transformative. Extrapolated, L'Osteria saves hundreds of staff hours per month through BarBrain — on inventory alone.
On top of that, there’s data quality. When four team members count simultaneously and results are consolidated automatically, the error rate drops significantly compared to the manual process. This directly impacts cost of goods calculations: more precise stock data means more accurate food costs, better procurement planning and earlier detection of shrinkage.
For the management of a restaurant chain, this means: comparable, reliable inventory data across all locations — without depending on the Excel proficiency of individual branch managers.
About BarBrain
BarBrain is the fastest digital inventory solution for the hospitality industry. Over 1,000 businesses — from independent restaurants to restaurant chains — use the app for their monthly stocktake. Setup takes less than a day, and the 30-day trial is free.
