A restaurant stocktake checklist you can print

A stocktake is one of those jobs that goes well when it is planned and badly when it is not. The counting itself is not difficult. What goes wrong is everything around it: a delivery that arrives mid-count, a fridge nobody put on the sheet, invoices that are still in a drawer when the figures are calculated, a count finished in a hurry because nobody blocked out the time.

A stocktake checklist fixes most of that. It turns the stocktake from something one experienced person carries in their head into a routine anyone trained can follow, in the order the work actually happens. It also makes the result more trustworthy, because the steps that protect stock count accuracy are done every time rather than when someone remembers.

This guide is a checklist you can print, laid out in the order a manager needs it: the week before, the day before, the count itself, the hours after, and the month end stock close that turns the count into a number. Each section explains why its steps matter, followed by the steps themselves. Every figure in it is an example.

Print the steps, or copy them into your own document, and keep a copy for every count. Tick each step as it is done and initial the sheet at the end of each stage. Kept together, the ticked checklists become a record of how each count was done, which is exactly what you need when a figure looks wrong and you want to know whether the count can be trusted.

Adjust the list to your venue. A small cafe will not need every step; a large restaurant with a bar and a function room may need more. What should not change is the order, because the steps build on each other: a count sheet prepared in advance makes the count quicker, and invoices gathered before the count make the close possible.

The checklist is written for a full monthly stocktake. A weekly count of your main lines uses the same stages with fewer steps, and the end of this guide covers that version. The general practice of stocktaking is the same in any business that holds stock; what makes a restaurant's harder is perishable stock, prepared food and deliveries that arrive almost every day.

The week before is when most stocktake problems are prevented. A count sheet with a missing location, an out-of-date price or the wrong unit cannot be fixed in the middle of the count.

The day before is about getting the stock and the paperwork into a state that can be counted.

The few minutes before the count begins decide whether the snapshot is clean.

The count itself should be steady and systematic. The checklist keeps people from skipping the awkward shelf or guessing the half-used tub.

The hour after the count is when errors are cheapest to fix, because the stock is still where it was.

The count is only half of a stocktake. The other half is the month end stock close: turning the count into a closing stock value and a cost of goods sold figure that can be trusted. Our guide to cost of goods sold explains the calculation.

Before the result goes to the owner, the accountant or a kitchen meeting, give it a short sanity check. A number that turns out to be wrong after it has been discussed does lasting damage to the team's trust in it.

A stocktake produces more than a number. The count sheets and the checks around them usually turn up practical findings, and they are worth a short list of actions before the next count.

Write the actions on the checklist itself, with a name against each. At the next stocktake, the first thing to look at is whether last month's actions were done.

For the wall or the clipboard, the whole stocktake checklist condenses to one page:

If the venue has a bar, count it in the same stocktake, at the same time, with the same discipline, but with its own sheet. Spirits, wine, beer and soft drinks each need their own lines and units, and open bottles need a consistent method: tenths or weighing.

Our guide to liquor inventory covers the bar count in detail. The essential point for the checklist is timing: the bar and the kitchen should be counted at the same point in trading, so that stock moving between them, such as cream, fruit or cooking wine, is not counted twice or missed.

A group with several venues should use the same checklist, the same sheet layout and the same count day in every venue, so the results can be compared and combined. Transfers between venues need extra care: agree that both sides record every transfer, and check at the close that what one venue sent is what the other received.

Central kitchens need their own count, including work in progress and finished products waiting to be delivered. Our guide to running a central kitchen for three venues covers how transfers are recorded and priced.

A full stocktake once a month is enough for the accounts. Managing food cost week by week needs more frequent figures, and a weekly count of the twenty or thirty most valuable lines provides them in a fraction of the time.

Use the same checklist in shortened form: a short sheet of the main lines, counted at the same time each week, with movement stopped, part-used containers weighed and the result checked against the previous week. Purchases for those lines and their sales give a weekly picture that warns of a problem long before the month end. Our guide to the weekly food cost report shows how to present it.

Write the roles on the checklist so nobody assumes someone else is doing a step.

In a small venue, one or two people will hold several of these roles. That is fine, as long as the roles are written down.

Time the first stocktake you do with the checklist, and write the times on it for next time. As a rough example, a single restaurant with a modest store might spend an hour preparing the day before, one and a half to two hours counting with two people, half an hour checking straight after, and one to two hours on the month end stock close once the invoices are in.

If the count takes much longer than that, look at the sheet first. A sheet that does not follow the walk, or that mixes units, costs more time than anything else. Our guide to running a restaurant stock count properly covers the sheet design in detail.

The stocktake, the count sheet and the stock values stay in your own sheet today: servearound does not track stock or run counts. Inventory tracking, for the stock behind the menu, is coming.

servearound covers the sales side of the close. The menu report in Analytics shows units sold and revenue by dish and category over any range of dates, so sales for exactly the same period as your count are easy to pull, and bills for a date range can be downloaded as a spreadsheet for your own records. If you would like to see it, get in touch.

Preparation the week before and the day before, the steps for the count itself, the checks straight after, the month end stock close and a final check before the figure is used.

Monthly for the accounts, with a shorter weekly count of the main lines if you want to manage food cost week by week. Our guide to what a stocktake is and how often to do one covers the choice.

At least two: one counts and calls out, the other writes. Larger venues may have two pairs counting different areas at once.

Not during the count. Ask suppliers to deliver before the count starts or after it ends, and record the time of any delivery that arrives anyway.

The work that turns a count into a closing stock value and a cost of goods sold figure: valuing the count, checking the cut-off for deliveries and invoices, entering credits and transfers, and calculating the cost for each category.

Prepare the sheet in walking order with every location, unit and price, tidy the stock the day before, use two people, and stop movement while counting. Most slow counts are slow because of the sheet.

Yes. Count it by portion or weight and value it at the cost of its ingredients. Leaving it out makes the period look more expensive than it was.

Compare it with recent counts, check the lines whose value changed most, check the cut-off for deliveries and invoices, and recount suspect lines before using the figure.

Yes, with a separate sheet for the bar, a consistent method for open bottles, and the bar counted at the same point in trading as the kitchen.

A stocktake checklist puts the work in the order it happens. The week before, update the count sheet's locations, units and prices, roster two counters and tell suppliers. The day before, tidy, rotate, label prepared food, discard and log out-of-date stock, and file every delivery note and invoice. Stop movement before counting, count in sheet order with two people, weigh part-used containers and write nil where there is nothing.

Straight after, check for blanks and recount anything odd while the stock is still in place. Then do the month end stock close: value the count, check the cut-off, enter invoices, credits and transfers, and calculate cost of goods sold by category. Compare the result with previous counts before anyone uses it. Kept and ticked every time, the checklist is the reason the number can be trusted.