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The Best Inventory Software for Restaurants 

The Best Inventory Software for Restaurants 

Picture of Clarissa Buch Zilberman
Clarissa Buch Zilberman

Ready to ditch the spreadsheets, streamline ordering, and say goodbye to wasted ingredients? From specialized tools to all-in-one options, explore the best inventory management software for restaurants. 

From rotting produce to inaccurate ordering, poor inventory management is a recipe for disaster. It doesn’t help that restaurants are the culprit of 48% of all food waste in the U.S., translating to $162 billion in lost revenue. 

That’s where modern inventory software comes in. The right solutions equip restaurants with the tools to take control of stock, optimize purchasing, and maximize profits.  

Below, explore seven of the best restaurant inventory software options in 2024 to determine which one is best for your operation. 

Restaurant365

Restaurant365 isn’t just another inventory software. It’s an all-in-one command center for mastering your restaurant’s back of house, from accounting to workforce management. 

Its inventory management empowers restaurant owners to make smarter purchasing decisions, optimize their inventory flow, and watch profits skyrocket. Key features include: 

  • Mobile inventory counts: Still relying on old-school clipboards and manual entry? R365’s mobile app lets teams conduct inventory counts quickly and efficiently from their smartphones or tablets, which means more accurate data and less time wasted on tedious tasks. 
  • Automated ordering: Never run out of key ingredients again. R365 analyzes historical usage and predicts your needs, generating automated shopping lists and purchase orders so you always have the right amount of stock at the right time. 
  • Waste reduction: Stop throwing money in the trash. R365 helps you pinpoint and eliminate sources of waste with detailed tracking and reporting. From the dashboard, monitor spoilage, identify over-ordering patterns, and adjust purchasing to minimize losses. 
  • Recipe costing: R365 breaks down ingredient costs and helps analyze menu profitability, empowering you to make pricing decisions and dish changes rooted in data — no more relying solely on your gut.  
  • Real-time data and reporting: Access up-to-the-minute inventory data and generate custom reports to better understand your inventory performance. You can also track key metrics, identify trends, and make informed decisions to improve efficiency and profitability. 
  • Seamless integration: R365 integrates seamlessly with POS systems and other essential restaurant tools, breaking down data silos and giving you a complete view of your operations. The result? Smoother communication, fewer errors, and a more streamlined workflow. 

Toast Inventory

Toast offers inventory management tools through the xtraCHEF by Toast platform. This integration allows operators to seamlessly connect their Toast POS sales data with inventory data, providing insights into best-selling items, popular modifiers, and overall inventory performance. 

TouchBistro Inventory

TouchBistro is another familiar name in the restaurant world, known for its user-friendly POS system and built-in inventory management tool. Track ingredients down to the teaspoon, build recipes with a few taps, and know the exact cost of every dish on your menu. 

Craftable Inventory

Craftable stands out with its precise recipe and plate costing tools. It’s not just about keeping track of what’s in your pantry. It’s also important to understand the details of your ingredients, recipes, and costs, so you can craft a profitable menu down to the garnish. 

Craftable’s precision goes beyond individual dishes: It connects directly to thousands of food service vendors, automatically updating ingredient costs and streamlining the ordering process. With a few clicks, you can generate purchase orders and dispatch them instantly via EDI, API, or your vendor’s preferred method. 

For those who manage a bustling bar, Craftable’s Bevager module provides specialized tools like bottle sliders, pour calculators, and keg credit tracking to give you control over your beverage program and minimize liquor losses. 

Case study

Bavarian Bierhaus Managers Save Nearly 30 Hours Per Month with Restaurant365

MarginEdge Inventory

Designed to simplify and optimize the entire inventory process, MarginEdge helps you take control of your food costs and minimize waste. Complete inventory counts quickly thanks to its mobile counting capabilities and automated product updates. 

For bars and restaurants with extensive beverage programs, MarginEdge offers Freepour, a tool that uses image recognition to measure liquor levels for proper inventory management. 

Revel Inventory

Revel Systems might be known for its sleek POS terminals, but don’t underestimate its inventory management system. Like the others on this list, Revel helps you ditch the guesswork and make informed ordering decisions, ensuring you always have the right amount of everything on hand. 

Revel also takes security seriously, making it perfect for bars and larger restaurant operations needing granular inventory tracking. It offers tools to combat theft and shrinkage, like detailed user permissions, blind inventory counts that prevent employees from fudging the numbers, and comprehensive reporting that helps identify discrepancies. 

MarketMan Inventory

While many platforms on this list try to be everything to everyone, MarketMan takes a different approach: They’re laser-focused on inventory management alone. Designed for restaurants that are serious about optimizing their food costs and streamlining their supply chain, MarketMan goes beyond the basics, offering powerful automation that transforms the inventory process.  

For example, when supplier prices change, costs are automatically updated, ensuring recipe costing and profits are always accurate. When you set order thresholds, the system will proactively alert you when it’s time to restock, preventing those dreaded last-minute shortages. 

Take control of inventory management

Ready to ditch the spreadsheets, streamline your ordering, and say goodbye to wasted ingredients? With Restaurant365, you’re not just managing inventory, but you’re also gaining complete control over your restaurant’s financial health.  

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Restaurant365 bridges the gap between accounting and operations by centralizing all data, helping restaurant operators to become more efficient, accurately forecast, and tackle any challenge or opportunity with speed and accuracy.