Guide · the kitchen and the money
How to do a restaurant stock take, and find where the variance went
A stock take is only useful if it can be repeated: the same shelves, the same units, the same time of day, so that the difference between two counts means something. Get the method right and the variance tells you where money is leaking. Get it wrong and it tells you who counted.
Published · A practical guide for restaurant kitchens and bars.
What the count is for
A stock take answers one question: of everything that came in, how much went out on plates and in glasses, and how much went somewhere else? The "somewhere else" is the variance, and it is the number that pays for the hour of counting.
The arithmetic is short. Take what you had at the last count, add what was delivered since, subtract what you have now: that is what you used. Then compare it with what you should have used, which is what the recipes say the dishes you sold needed. Used minus should-have-used is the variance, in grams, millilitres or pieces first and in money second.
Every part of that sum has to be trustworthy for the answer to mean anything: the last count, the deliveries, this count, and the recipes. Most variances that cannot be explained turn out to be a problem in one of those four rather than a thief.
Before you count
- 1
Fix the moment
Same day, same time, every time: after the last service of the week and before the first delivery is the usual choice. A count halfway through a delivery or a prep session is a count of a moving target.
- 2
Fix the unit for every item
Grams, millilitres or pieces, decided once and written on the sheet. A case of tomatoes counted as a case one week and in kilos the next makes two counts that cannot be compared.
- 3
Write the sheet in shelf order
Walk-in, dry store, freezer, bar, line — in the order you walk, top shelf to bottom. A sheet in alphabetical order sends the counter back and forth and things get counted twice or missed.
- 4
Close the doors
Deliveries received and entered before the count, waste written up, transfers between kitchen and bar recorded. Whatever arrives during the count waits in its box until the count is finished.
The count itself
Count in pairs where you can: one person counts and calls, the other writes. Count what is there, by looking at it — open packs weighed or measured, a part bottle of spirit estimated in tenths or weighed, prepared items such as stocks, sauces and portioned proteins counted in their own unit. A number written from memory is a guess with a pen.
Prep needs a rule of its own. Either count the made-up items in their own line — litres of gravy, portions of braised beef — or count only raw ingredients and accept that the variance will move with prep levels. Pick one and keep it, because switching between them makes one week look like a disaster and the next like a miracle.
Finish with a quick check of the big-money lines: meat, fish, spirits, wine. If one of them looks wrong, recount it the same day. A recount next week is a different count.
Valuing the count
Quantities find the problem; money tells you how big it is. Value each line at the price you last paid — the price on the latest invoice, per gram, millilitre or piece. Using last month's price for a line whose cost has jumped makes the stock on the shelf look cheaper than it is and the variance smaller than it is.
Keep the value of the count beside the quantity, and keep both. A spreadsheet will do this for a few dozen lines; past that, the time goes into typing invoice prices rather than reading the result.
Where the variance usually hides
- Waste that was thrown away and never written down: the trimmings, the dropped tray, the batch that went over its date.
- Portions that drifted: the recipe says 180 g, the busy line serves 200 g.
- Comps and staff meals made from stock and missing from the sales.
- Deliveries signed for without checking, short by a box or the wrong weight.
- Transfers between kitchen and bar, or between sites, that left one count and arrived at the other unrecorded.
- Recipes that are out of date: the dish changed in spring and the recipe card stayed the same.
- And sometimes theft — but look at the six above first, because they are more common and cheaper to fix.
Waste has a second reason to be written down: every food business has to dispose of its waste securely and properly, and a waste record shows what left the kitchen and how.
How often to count
Weekly for the expensive, fast-moving lines — proteins, fish, spirits, wine — and monthly for everything, is a rhythm many kitchens can keep. A full weekly count is better information if you have the hours; a full count once a quarter finds problems three months after they started.
Whatever the rhythm, compare like with like: this week's variance against last week's, on the same lines, counted the same way. A variance that is steady is a portioning or recipe question; one that jumps is an event, and the week it jumped tells you where to look.
The stock take in Slotina
- Stock items are kept in grams, millilitres or pieces, and counts, deliveries and waste are entered against them, on the web and in the app.
- Each dish, size and option has a recipe, so what is on hand follows what was sent to the kitchen, and the variance between two counts is worked out for you.
- Receiving a delivery sets the cost price to the invoice price entered at receiving, so food cost per portion follows the last price paid.
- The stock screen shows what is low, out or cannot be made, and staff mark a dish sold out with one tap.
- Suggested orders bring each item up to its par level, and a purchase order goes from draft to received; the order is copied as text for you to send to your supplier.
Restaurant stock takes: short answers
How do you calculate stock variance in a restaurant?
Opening count plus deliveries minus closing count gives what you used. Subtract what the recipes say the dishes you sold should have used. The difference is the variance, first in grams, millilitres or pieces, then valued at the last invoice price.
How often should a restaurant do a stock take?
Weekly for expensive, fast-moving lines such as meat, fish, spirits and wine, and a full count at least monthly. Count at the same time each week so the numbers compare.
Should prepared items be counted?
Yes, if you count them every time in their own unit — litres of sauce, portions of braised meat. Otherwise count only raw ingredients and expect the variance to move with prep levels.
What price should I use to value stock?
The price you last paid, from the latest invoice. An old price makes stock on the shelf look cheaper than it is and hides part of the variance.
Sources (checked 4 November 2026)
Stock and recipe costing that follow the kitchen · Reports · Pricing