How Restaurants Actually Control Food Costs and Inventory
Most restaurants lose 5-10% of revenue to food waste, incorrect portioning, and guesswork pricing. Modern management systems solve this by tracking every gram of ingredients, calculating real dish costs, and showing exactly where money goes. Here's what actually works.
The Real Problem: You Don't Know Your Actual Food Costs
Why Spreadsheets Fail in Restaurants
Most restaurants calculate food cost like this: buy ingredients at one price, assume portions stay the same, set menu price. Three months later, beef went up 15%, cream supplier changed, and that 'small' portion of truffle oil adds up. Your calculations are from July, it's now November. The Excel sheet shows 28% food cost, but actual is 34%. That's the difference between profit and loss.
Ingredient prices change weekly, your Excel doesn't
Chefs adjust recipes, portions creep up, nobody updates the file
You calculate cost per 100g, but buy in kilos - conversion errors everywhere
Inventory count once a month means 30 days of 'mystery shrinkage'
By the time you notice problems, you've lost thousands
Traditional Approach
Inventory Count
Monthly
Too late to fix problems
Price Updates
When you remember
Usually never
Actual Food Cost
Unknown
Estimates only
Excel sheet from 2019
Monthly inventory with clipboard
Menu prices based on old costs
Find out about waste weeks later
Guess at portion consistency
With Mise System
Inventory Tracking
Real-time
Know stock levels any time
Cost Updates
Automatic
Each delivery updates recipes
Food Cost
Exact
Per dish, per ingredient
Every ingredient tracked by weight
Quick daily counts on phone
Recipe costs update automatically
See waste same day it happens
Compare theoretical vs actual usage
What Restaurant Management Systems Actually Do
Track Everything That Matters
A good system doesn't try to run your whole business. It does a few critical things perfectly: knows exactly what's in your walk-in right now, calculates real cost for every dish, shows where ingredients go (or where they disappear), and makes ordering simple. That's it. But those four things solve 80% of restaurant profitability problems.
Core Functions for Restaurants
Inventory Management
Track every ingredient in grams or liters. When you receive delivery: scan items, enter weights, prices update automatically. System knows: 15.3kg beef in walk-in, 4.2kg in freezer, 2.8kg in hot kitchen. Mini-counts take 5 minutes - just check what's running low. Monthly full count shows discrepancies immediately. No more 'I think we have enough' followed by emergency run to cash & carry.
Recipe Costing (ТТК)
Build recipes with exact quantities: 250g ribeye, 100g butter, 30ml cream. System calculates cost automatically. Ribeye price goes from 850₾ to 920₾ per kilo? Every dish with ribeye shows new cost instantly. You see: Steak cost was 7.20₾, now 7.85₾. Your menu price is 28₾. Food cost jumped from 25.7% to 28%. Time to adjust menu or find cheaper supplier.
Butchery & Prep Tracking
Critical for places doing their own butchery or prep. You buy whole ribeye at 850₾/kg. After trimming, you get 65% usable meat, 20% trim for burgers, 15% waste. System tracks actual yield - if yield drops to 60%, someone's over-trimming. Costs you money. Each butcher's yields tracked separately. Hold people accountable.
Supplier Orders
System knows: using 12kg beef daily, have 18kg in stock, need 3 days coverage. Automatically suggests order quantities. Compare prices from 3 suppliers in one screen. Send order with one click. When delivery arrives, enter actual quantities - if you ordered 20kg but got 18.5kg, system adjusts everything. No manual math.
Real Numbers from Real Restaurants
Time to see measurable savings
How This Actually Works in a Restaurant
Daily Reality, Not Theory
Morning: kitchen manager opens app, does quick count of high-use items (5 minutes). Sees you're low on salmon - creates order to supplier. Afternoon: delivery arrives with invoice showing different prices than last week. Enter new prices in system, all recipe costs update automatically. Evening service: chef makes 43 steaks. Next day, system shows theoretical beef usage 10.75kg (43 × 250g), actual usage 11.8kg. Someone's over-portioning or waste isn't tracked. Fix it before you lose another 1kg tomorrow.
Quick daily counts: 5 min on phone vs 45 min with clipboard
Every delivery updates all affected recipe costs automatically
Compare theoretical vs actual usage daily, not monthly
Spot problems while they're small and fixable
Staff see real-time stock - no more 'did we order more cream?'
What Different Restaurants Actually Need
| Restaurant Type | Priority Feature | Typical Win | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Cafe | Inventory + Recipe costs | Stop over-ordering perishables | 1-2 weeks |
| Bistro/Casual Dining | Full inventory + Butchery tracking | Control protein costs | 2-3 weeks |
| Fine Dining | Precise portioning + Waste tracking | Consistency + Cost control | 3-4 weeks |
| Central Kitchen/Catering | Batch production + Multi-location | Scale operations | 4-6 weeks |
Important: Setup time includes building initial recipe database and training staff. System useful from week 1, optimized by week 4-6.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Don't Do These Things
Biggest mistake: trying to track everything perfectly from day one. Start with your top 20 ingredients (usually 80% of cost). Get those right, add more later. Second mistake: not updating prices. Supplier changes tomato price from 2.80₾ to 3.20₾/kg? Update it same day, see impact on dishes immediately. Third mistake: staff don't buy-in. If kitchen manager thinks it's 'extra work', it won't work. Show them how it makes their job easier - less time on manual counts, fewer stockouts, less blame for 'missing' inventory.
Start Simple: The 3-Week Plan
Real Restaurant Scenarios
Problems These Systems Actually Solve
Scenario 1: Your beef supplier raises price 10% without warning. With Mise, you open dashboard, see all dishes affected, new costs, new food cost percentages. Takes 30 seconds. Decide: absorb cost, raise menu price, or switch suppliers. Without system: you don't notice until accountant says 'food costs were high this month.'
Real Stories from Restaurant Owners
Cafe Owner, Tbilisi
"We knew pastries were profitable, but not how much. Turned out our croissants cost 0.65₾, we sold for 2.50₾ - 63% margin. But almond croissants cost 1.85₾, selling for 3.50₾ - 47% margin. Changed pricing, promoted regular croissants more. Simple insight, immediate impact."
Head Chef, Budapest
"Inventory count used to take my sous chef 3 hours every Sunday morning. Now it's 20 minutes on his phone during family meal. We do mini-counts daily now - catch problems immediately. Found out our truffle portions were 3x recipe spec. Fixed that, saved 400€ monthly."
Restaurant Manager, Berlin
"Ordering was chaos - different chef ordering each week, always running out of something or drowning in stock. System knows usage patterns, suggests quantities. Orders down from 6 per week to 3, less waste, better prices from fewer bigger orders."
Owner, Small Chain
"Three locations, couldn't compare performance. Mise shows me: Location A food cost 29%, Location B 35%. Same menu, same prices. Went to Location B, found over-portioning and ingredient 'borrowing' for staff meals. Fixed in 2 weeks."
Questions Restaurant Owners Actually Ask
We're too small for this - isn't it only for big restaurants?
Actually backwards. Big restaurants have purchasing managers and systems analysts. Small places suffer most from inventory chaos. A 25-seat cafe wastes less in total than 100-seat restaurant, but it's bigger percentage of profit. Mise works for single-location cafes up to small chains. Price scales with size - small cafe pays 50-100€/month, gets same features.
My chef is 60 and doesn't use computers. Will this work?
If he can use WhatsApp, he can use Mise. Phone app is simple - scan barcode or select item, enter number, done. No typing, no complex navigation. Train someone younger to build recipes initially, chef just does daily counts. That said, if your operation is '100% old school', might not be right fit. System requires minimum digital literacy.
What if my supplier changes products or I need to add new dishes?
Add new ingredient in 30 seconds - name, unit, price. Add to recipe, system calculates cost automatically. Supplier discontinues item? Mark as inactive, it disappears from ordering but stays in historical data. New seasonal menu? Duplicate existing similar recipes, adjust ingredients. Summer menu to winter menu in under an hour.
Do I need to count inventory every day? We barely do it monthly now.
Full count? No. Mini-count of fast-moving items? Yes, 5 minutes daily. Or do weekly - your choice. But here's reality: monthly count means 30 days of invisible problems. Daily count means you catch portion creep, waste, or theft same day. Restaurant that does daily mini-counts vs monthly full count - savings pay for system in 6 weeks typically.
What about recipes I don't want to share with staff?
Recipe database has permission controls. Head chef sees everything. Line cooks see their station recipes only. Front-of-house sees nothing. Or make everything visible - your choice. Some restaurants want transparency, some protect signature dishes. Mise accommodates both approaches.
Can I try it before committing?
Yes - free trial includes full features. Add your actual ingredients, build 3-5 recipes, do inventory count, see how it works with your real data. No credit card for trial. If it doesn't click after 2 weeks, not the right system for you. Most restaurants know by week 1 if it fits their workflow.
See What's Actually Happening in Your Kitchen
Mise helps restaurants in Europe track inventory, control food costs, and eliminate waste. No complex setup, no enterprise software. Built for actual restaurant work - quick, practical, straightforward. Used by cafes, bistros, fine dining, and central kitchens.