After the rush of the holidays, but before the summer slam hits, you might find you have a slower season in your restaurant or bar. Many businesses in the hospitality industry experience a slow down in the first few months of the new year, as customers recuperate from holiday spending and retreat into their homes until warmer weather returns.

But a slow season is no reason to lose money – you can take advantage of quieter times by spring cleaning your business practices. In particular, taking stock of your restaurant or bar inventory management is a good way to save more money and prepare for the busier times ahead.

Create new menu items with accurate food costing

When your kitchen or bar is having a slower day or night, take advantage of the quiet and create new menu items, drinks or specials. In addition to testing your creations to make sure they will appeal to your customers, you also need to make sure any changes will protect your bottom line.

Food costing and recipe costing is an essential part of calculating and tracking your actual profits – knowing the exact difference between the cost to you to prepare a recipe or menu item and the amount you can charge your customers for that item.

Accurate food costing is paramount to the success of your business, so you need to know how to effectively cost out your menu items, and also what tools to use to do the job right. Food costing software is the easiest way to cost out all your new and existing menu items. No need for pen and paper – you can use today’s digital tools and restaurant inventory apps to calculate the cost of your new items in seconds.

And once you’ve landed on a new recipe or menu item that works for both your customers and your bottom line, you can promote your new items and specials to draw in customers during slower periods and boost business.

Take stock of your restaurant inventory

Slower seasons are the perfect time to make sure your staff are trained to follow best practices for effective inventory management in your restaurant or bar. Waste and spoilage from bad inventory practices can translate to thousands of dollars in lost goods from your inventory every month. Good inventory management pays off.

Implement inventory training sessions will ensure your staff understand the entire inventory process from supplier management to labelling to FIFO (first-in-first-out) usage practices to performance metrics. It’s also an ideal time to figure out your Inventory Turnover Ratio and how to use it to keep your costs on track.

And each of your team members should also understand how to operate your restaurant inventory software to ensure things are being ordered at the right time, in the best way.

Inventory solutions for chains and multiple profit centers

Running a hotel, casino, golf course, chain restaurant or bar? The same slow seasons affect larger enterprises too, and likewise, these businesses can also benefit from revisiting approaches to inventory management.

Using software designed just for larger or multi-unit food and beverage businesses is the smartest way to streamline your inventory management and save time and money. The right inventory software gives larger enterprises the ability to easily control and consolidate the tracking and maintenance of multiple users and inventories.

And with your inventory management well under control, you can also take advantage of slow seasons by introducing new offerings to attract and retain your customer base. Spa services, new or expanded facilities and offerings, VIP services, new entertainment and attractions, and expanded menus are just some of the ways you can keep your enterprise relevant to your customers any time of the year.

Get the right restaurant management software

Implementing an effective digital restaurant management solution can help streamline every aspect of your business. The slow season is a good time to choose, implement, and test your new inventory systems and software so you and your staff will be ready for the busier seasons.

Optimum Control inventory management software and apps are the best solution for the hospitality industry. Our professional restaurant software helps you track all of your inventory counts and values, scan barcodes for fast entry, calculate recipe values and food costs, automate your ordering and purchasing processes, produce real-time reports – and more – so you can be on top of all your business needs.

Best of all, Optimum Control is easy-to-use and easy to install – it integrates with your existing POS system and can be used on your desktop or mobile device and across multi-unit chains.

So if you’re looking to upgrade your inventory management this spring, you’ll want to look for Optimum Control – your complete restaurant inventory management software solution.

Get ready to save time and money this spring – contact us to learn more about Optimum Control today!