A restaurant inventory spreadsheet can be a practical first step for operators just beginning to formalize inventory tracking. It helps establish discipline, introduces core inventory concepts, and creates visibility where there may have been none before.
That said, spreadsheets come with real limitations. As menus grow more complex, locations expand, or margins tighten, manual tracking quickly becomes time-consuming, error-prone, and difficult to scale. This guide brings this older approach up to modern standards, explaining how to use a restaurant inventory spreadsheet effectively, what metrics matter most, and when it’s time to move to restaurant inventory software.
Restaurant inventory management is the process of monitoring the food and beverage ingredients in your restaurant. Monitoring your inventory documents what food and beverage product is coming into your restaurant, what is leaving your restaurant as product sold, and what remains on your shelves and refrigerator. Knowing these essential metrics enables you to make more informed supply orders, and tight inventory control helps you reduce food waste, adding to your bottom line.
While tracking inventory manually can be fairly straightforward, there are a few key terms that can help you and your staff better understand the process. For each metric, you can either calculate it by quantity or dollar value. However, you should choose one unit of measurement and stick with it for consistent reporting.
Even when tracking inventory manually, understanding these core metrics is essential. Choose one unit of measurement (quantity or dollar value) and use it consistently.
Inventory counts track the amount of inventory your restaurant has at a given time. In the absence of restaurant inventory management software, a restaurant inventory spreadsheet serves to help you manage your restaurant inventory manually.
Using the downloadable spreadsheet above, here are the steps for creating a restaurant inventory spreadsheet.
Using a basic spreadsheet template, follow these steps:
Choose categories based on your operation type. Common examples include:
Meat / Seafood
Dairy
Produce
Dry goods
Grocery
Bread
Beer / Wine / Liquor
Menu item supplies (packaging, napkins, utensils)
Create sections for each category, with rows for individual items. Common columns include:
Item category
Item name and description
Unit of measure
Count
Unit price
Total value
For more advanced tracking, you may also include vendor details, case costs, pack sizes, and accounting codes.
Multiply count × unit price to calculate item totals. Sum totals by category and include a grand total for all inventory.
Decide how often you’ll count inventory—daily, weekly, or monthly—and save a clean version of the spreadsheet as a reusable template.
Print the spreadsheet or use a tablet during counts. Record quantities accurately by storage area.
Transfer counts into the spreadsheet to calculate totals automatically.
Track changes between periods to spot trends, anomalies, and cost shifts.
Use inventory changes to make proper Cost of Goods Sold (CoGS) adjustments in your accounting system.
Your CoGS is made up of the products you purchase to create the menu items your restaurant sells. This includes your food and beverage ingredients, as well as supplies such as napkins, coffee filters, etc. If you’re currently doing delivery and takeout, you must also factor packaging, utensils, and other extras that aren’t part of your dine-in CoGS.
To calculate your CoGS totaled during a given period, use the following formula:
Beginning Inventory + Additional Purchases Made During the Period – Ending Inventory = CoGS
In this uncertain time when you’re not at full dining room capacity and may have added off-premise options, you will need to start tracking new patterns in inventory levels and adjust your orders accordingly.
A stock usage report displays the stock usage for a particular account and stock count. This can be beneficial in comparing stock counts to see a trend and help forecast future item orders. Your stock usage report should include these 11 metrics to determine your usage:
If you’re using inventory management software, the stock usage report is created for you in the system if you simply run the report.
Once you have your numbers, it’s imperative that you keep a close watch on your restaurant inventory spreadsheet and reports to track your stock consumption and waste. Even if you don’t have a restaurant inventory management system, you can do this with a restaurant POS system that generates some simple inventory reports.
Insights about past and current inventory allows you to make better choices to improve your food cost in the future. In particular, tracking theoretical vs. actual food cost variance, can help you spot trends over periods of time and make improvements to your food cost. Using these reports, you can identify the areas where your food costs are highest due to waste, errors, over portioning and theft to help you make smart data-driven decisions to reduce them.
Spreadsheets work… until they don’t. As operations grow, restaurant inventory management software provides:
Automated counts and calculations
Real-time inventory visibility
Mobile counting tools
POS-integrated recipe costing
Built-in variance and usage reporting
Modern, cloud-based platforms eliminate manual data entry, reduce errors, and connect inventory directly to accounting and sales data. Look for solutions that integrate fully with your POS and accounting systems to avoid workarounds, duplicate entry, and reporting gaps.
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A restaurant inventory spreadsheet can help establish foundational inventory practices but it’s not built for scale, speed, or accuracy. As complexity increases, manual tracking becomes a bottleneck rather than a solution.
Restaurant365 replaces spreadsheets with an integrated, restaurant-specific platform that connects inventory, accounting, and operations in one system, giving operators real-time insight and control.
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