What is a par level, and how to set one

What is a par level? It is the amount of an item a kitchen or bar should have on hand to get through until the next delivery, with a small cushion in case trade is busier than expected or the delivery is late. If the par level for lemons is 60 and there are 20 in the fridge when the order is placed, the order is for 40. That is the whole idea: a target for each item, and an order that tops the stock back up to it.

Par levels sound simple, and they are. But a good par level rests on a little arithmetic: how much of the item is used, how often it is delivered, how long it takes to arrive and how much cushion is sensible. A par level set by guesswork tends to drift upwards, because running out is painful and over ordering is quiet. The result is full shelves, tied-up cash and waste at the back of the fridge.

This guide explains what a par level is, the three-part sum behind a good one, how it connects to the ordering schedule and the restaurant stock count, how to avoid over ordering, and the two kinds of ingredient that par levels never suit. It ends with a worked example and the common mistakes.

A par level is the target quantity of an item to hold, set so that the venue will not run out before the next delivery. Each item has its own par level, in the unit it is counted and ordered in: kilograms of flour, cases of tomatoes, bottles of a particular wine.

When stock is counted, the difference between the par level and what is on hand is the amount to order. The par level does the thinking; the order is just subtraction. Kitchens often shorten the term to par, and par levels to pars.

Par comes from the idea of a normal or expected level, as in "on par". In stock control, it means the standard level an item should be brought back to. The wider discipline of inventory control uses many methods to decide how much to hold and when to reorder; the par level is the simplest of them, and the one most kitchens use.

Without par levels, ordering depends on whoever is ordering that day, their memory and their mood. Some days they order too much, some days too little. Pars make ordering consistent: anyone can place the order by counting and subtracting, and the result is roughly right every time.

They also control cash and waste. Every item on a shelf is money spent before it earns anything. Targets set at the right height keep stock lean without running out.

A good par level comes from three parts:

Par level equals usage multiplied by cover, plus cushion. The sections that follow take each part in turn.

Usage is how much of the item the venue uses in a typical day. Work it out from the last few weeks: how much was bought, adjusted for the change in stock between counts, divided by the number of trading days. For items used in dishes, it can also be estimated from sales: the number of each dish sold multiplied by the amount of the item in its recipe.

Usage differs by day. A Saturday uses far more than a Tuesday. Where the difference is large, use the usage for the days the stock must cover, not a simple average.

Estimating usage from sales is often more accurate than from purchases, because it shows what the menu should have used. If the venue sold 140 portions of a salad last week, each using 30 grams of rocket, usage was about 4.2 kilograms of rocket for the week, or 600 grams a day on average.

Comparing usage from sales with usage from purchases also shows waste: if purchases suggest 6 kilograms were used and sales suggest 4.2, the gap is waste, over-portioning or recording errors.

Cover is the number of days the stock must last before the next delivery arrives. It depends on the ordering schedule: how often the item is delivered, and how long it takes from placing the order to receiving it. An item delivered every day needs about a day's cover; one delivered twice a week needs three or four days; one delivered weekly needs a week.

Include the lead time. If an order placed on Monday arrives on Wednesday, the stock counted on Monday must last until Wednesday, plus until the next delivery after that if Wednesday's is the only one that week.

The cushion, sometimes called safety stock, is a small extra amount to cover busier days than usual, a delayed delivery or a delivery that arrives short. It should be small: a fraction of a day's usage for items delivered daily, perhaps half a day or a day's usage for items delivered weekly.

The cushion is where pars drift. Every time the venue runs out, someone adds a little more cushion; nobody ever takes it away. Review cushions regularly, and keep them modest.

Here is an illustrative par level for a case of tomatoes. The figures are examples.

The par level for a delivery that covers Friday and Saturday is about 2 cases plus 2.5 cases plus half a case, or 5 cases. For a delivery that covers Tuesday and Wednesday, it is closer to 3.5 cases.

As the example shows, one par level for the whole week rarely fits. Many venues set a different par for each delivery day: higher for the delivery before the weekend, lower for the delivery early in the week. Others set one par level and adjust the order up or down from the bookings.

Either approach works, as long as the pars follow the trade rather than staying fixed at the level of the busiest day.

The best pars follow the forecast. If next Saturday is booked far above the usual, the order before it should be higher; if a quiet week is coming, lower. Start from the par level, then adjust for the covers forecast.

Our guide to a covers forecast your kitchen will believe covers how to build the forecast that ordering depends on.

Pars work alongside an ordering schedule: a fixed timetable of which supplier is ordered from on which day, for which delivery. A schedule makes ordering a routine rather than a scramble, and it is what gives each par level its cover.

Write the schedule down: supplier, order day and time, delivery day, and who orders. Pin it where the person ordering can see it.

Every par depends on a count. Before each order, count what is on hand for the items being ordered, then order the difference from par. That count does not need to be the full monthly restaurant stock count; a quick count of the items on that day's order is enough.

The monthly stocktake checks the whole picture and the value of stock. Our guide to how to run a restaurant stock count properly covers both.

Count each item in the unit it is ordered in, or convert carefully. If tomatoes are ordered by the case but counted by the kilogram, the person ordering must convert every time, and mistakes follow. Set the par level in the ordering unit, and count in the same unit wherever possible.

Over ordering is the most common problem with par levels. It happens when cushions grow, when pars are set from the busiest week of the year and never lowered, when nobody counts before ordering, and when suppliers suggest larger orders. The cost is cash tied up on shelves, waste from items that spoil, and cluttered storage that makes counting slower.

Watch for signs: full fridges before every delivery, items routinely thrown away past their date, and a food cost that creeps up while sales are steady.

Under ordering is less common but more visible: a dish runs out at 20:00, a server has to tell guests it is off, and the kitchen borrows from another venue or sends someone to a shop. A par level that runs out more than occasionally is too low, or its cover does not match the delivery schedule.

When an item runs out, record it, and look at whether the par level, the cover or the cushion needs adjusting.

Review par levels regularly: monthly for most items, and whenever the menu, the trade or the delivery schedule changes. Compare each par level with recent usage. If stock is routinely well above par when the order is placed, the par level is too high; if the item often runs out, it is too low.

A quick review of the twenty most valuable items each month covers most of the value of stock.

When the menu changes, par levels must change with it. A dish removed leaves its ingredients with pars that no longer make sense; a new dish needs a par for each ingredient from the first day. Set them from the expected sales and the recipe, then adjust after the first week.

Remove the pars of items no longer used, so they are not ordered out of habit.

Pars work best with good stock rotation: new deliveries placed behind older stock, so the oldest is used first. The idea is the same as first in, first out in accounting: what arrived first goes first. Without rotation, older stock is pushed to the back and spoils, even when par levels are right.

Label containers with dates, and check them at each count.

Par levels never suit very perishable items that are best bought to a forecast each day: fresh fish, some seafood, delicate herbs and salad leaves, and fresh bread. These may only last a day or two in good condition, so keeping a standing level on hand means either throwing stock away or serving it past its best.

For these, order each day from the forecast and the bookings, for that day or the next, with almost no cushion. If something runs out, it is better to take the dish off than to hold stock that spoils.

Par levels also never suit ingredients used irregularly: items for specials, events, seasonal dishes or one-off menus, and very expensive items used occasionally, such as a premium cut or a rare ingredient. There is no steady usage to base a par level on, and holding a standing level means money sitting on the shelf for days or weeks.

For these, order to the specific need: the special, the event or the booking, and nothing more.

The bar uses par levels too: bottles of each spirit, wine, beer, mixers and garnishes. Bar pars often have longer cover, because deliveries are less frequent and most stock does not spoil quickly. But bar stock is valuable, so over ordering ties up a lot of cash.

Our guide to bar inventory management covers counting a bar without closing it.

Par levels must fit the space. A par level that needs more fridge space than the venue has will not work, however correct the sum. If storage is tight, deliver more often with lower pars, or reduce the number of items on the menu.

Look at storage when setting pars for the busiest days, because that is when space runs out.

Suppliers shape the sum too. Some have minimum order values or charge for small deliveries, which can push a venue to order more than it needs. Others offer a lower price for larger quantities. Weigh the saving against the cost of holding the extra stock and the risk of waste.

For items that do not spoil quickly, a larger, less frequent order may be sensible. For perishable items, a small delivery charge is usually cheaper than throwing food away.

A par level is a starting point, not a rule. On the morning of the order, the person ordering should still look at the bookings, the weather and any events, and adjust. A sunny weekend may need more salad; a quiet week after a holiday may need less of everything.

The par level saves them from starting from nothing each time, and makes sure their adjustments start from a sensible base.

Two short records make every par level better over time: a note of each item that ran out, with the date and time, and a waste sheet of what was thrown away. Items that keep running out need a higher par level or more frequent delivery; items that keep being thrown away need a lower one.

Review both records at the monthly check, and change the levels that the evidence points to.

The head chef usually sets the kitchen's pars and the bar manager sets the bar's, because they know the menu and the usage. The person who places the order may be someone else, such as a sous chef or a supervisor, who counts and subtracts. Keep the par levels written where the person ordering can see them.

Review them together once a month, so the people ordering can say which ones feel wrong.

In a group, each venue needs its own pars, because usage, deliveries and storage differ. A shared list of items and units makes it easier to compare venues and spot those that hold far more stock than others for similar trade.

Our guide to par levels: how much stock to hold and why covers the subject in more depth.

Here is an illustrative kitchen setting par levels for the first time. The figures are examples.

After two months, stock on hand before deliveries fell by about a fifth, waste fell, and the kitchen ran out of an item only twice.

servearound does not hold stock or par levels, so the counting and ordering stay in your own sheet or stock system. It does provide the sales side of the sum. The menu report shows every dish that sold, with units and checks, which, multiplied by each recipe, gives the expected usage of each ingredient. Reservation analytics shows covers by day and hour, and the reservations calendar shows the week ahead, so orders can follow the bookings.

When a dish runs out, an 86 takes it off everywhere at once, and it comes back the next day or stays off until you say. See Analytics.

The target quantity of an item to hold so the venue will not run out before the next delivery.

Daily usage multiplied by the days of cover until the next delivery arrives, plus a small cushion.

The par level minus what is on hand when the stock is counted.

Often, yes. The delivery before the weekend usually needs a higher par level than one early in the week.

Monthly for most items, and whenever the menu, trade or delivery schedule changes.

Growing cushions, pars set from the busiest week, ordering without counting, and suppliers suggesting larger orders.

Very perishable items best bought daily to a forecast, and ingredients used only for specials, events or occasionally.

The head chef for the kitchen and the bar manager for the bar, reviewed monthly with the people who order.

What is a par level? The target amount of an item to hold until the next delivery, so ordering becomes counting and subtracting. Set it from three parts: daily usage, the days of cover set by the ordering schedule and lead time, and a small cushion. Adjust it for busy days and for the covers forecast, and count before every order.

Review par levels monthly, change them with the menu, and keep cushions small to avoid over ordering. Rotate stock so the oldest is used first, make pars fit the storage, and do not use them for very perishable items or special-only ingredients, which are better ordered to need. Check the whole picture with a regular restaurant stock count.