Top 13 Best Restaurant Inventory Management Software [2024]

Running a restaurant in the current landscape is challenging. 75% of US restaurants struggle to improve profit margins due to high food expenses, and $20 billion is wasted due to pilferage. 

Therefore, investing in robust inventory management software has become the need of the hour. An efficient inventory management process ensures accuracy and reduces errors compared to manual inventory management. Opting for advanced inventory management systems can significantly enhance operational efficiency. Considering the best inventory management systems available will help streamline operations and keep your business competitive in today’s market.

What is Restaurant Inventory Management Software? 

Inventory management software is the backbone of your restaurant operation, which takes care of placing purchase orders, tracking ingredients, and overseeing the overall supplies of food and beverage items used. It helps you monitor the costs of your recipes and ingredients to minimize wastage and theft. Utilizing advanced inventory tools, you can effectively manage inventory and keep track of inventory data. 

Additionally, recipe costing is made easier, helping you control inventory cost. Integrating online ordering further streamlines the process, ensuring efficiency and accuracy in your restaurant’s inventory management.

A good restaurant inventory management software should help with the following functions:

1. Recipe & ingredient control: Streamlining operations by accurately calculating ingredient quantities for tracking food costs.
2. Maintaining PAR level: This includes monitoring stock, determining when it expires, and when to reorder stock to maintain accurate inventory levels.
3. Demand forecasting:  Using historical data to forecast demand ensures you always have enough stock and stock.
4. Identifying variance: Comparing the theoretical and physical inventory counts to help you identify discrepancies and prevent theft.
5. Supplier management: Handling suppliers efficiently by streamlining purchase orders, invoices, and vendor email communication for efficiency.
6. Efficient indenting: Use indenting for efficient outlet-to-outlet or store-to-kitchen inventory management.

How Can Restaurant Inventory Software Help Your Restaurant? 

Inventory management software helps streamline tracking, reduce food waste, and boost your profitability; it can help you with the following aspects of your business:

• Control cost: Real-time menu and ingredient level tracking help cut waste and unnecessary expenses.
• Operational efficiency: Streamlining the restocking processes can drastically reduce the time and effort required to manage vendors & make stock entries while eliminating the likelihood of human error.
• Increased profit margins: Accurate cost tracking and portion control ensure every dish contributes optimally to your bottom line.
• Informed decision-making: Getting deep insights into consumption patterns and inventory changes helps with strategic menu pricing and stock purchasing decisions.
• Theft deterrence: Rigorous stock monitoring prevents losses from theft and pilferage, reducing expenses and ensuring bottom-line efficiency.

Choosing the right inventory management software can transform your business. This decision requires a good understanding of your specific needs and challenges. You should start by addressing questions like: Are you or your team facing challenges with inventory that can be eliminated with better tools? Through thorough research and deep discussions with your staff about their daily hurdles, you should identify your current requirements. 

This blog has compiled a list of the top 15 inventory management software options, including their pros, cons, and industry ratings, to help you choose the software that best suits your business requirements. Dive in and analyze which tool suits you the most!

1. MarketMan

MarketMan, founded in 2013 and headquartered in New York, is a cloud-based inventory management and purchasing platform that simplifies back-of-house operations.

Key features: MarketMan helps with the following: 

• It provides easy ordering & receiving processes to help businesses save time and reduce errors.
• It offers real-time inventory tracking and cost analysis to improve efficiency and profitability.
• MarketMan facilitates integration with accounting software and POS systems.
• It provides supply management tools to help businesses maintain strong relationships with vendors.

Pros: Easy to use, integrates with major POS systems. It has multiple features, from real-time inventory tracking to forecasting. It automates tasks across various sectors of the restaurant.

Cons: Some customers have reported that the setup is tedious and time-consuming, and the mobile application needs more development. Some customers have complained about the lack of support, and while they mention real-time inventory reports, they only auto-sync the sales once a day. Moreover, It is not a unified solution; you’ll need a separate POS system.

Pricing: Its pricing is divided into three tiers:

• Operator: $239/ Monthly [ Control inventory, ordering, & receiving]
• Professional: $299/Monthly [More tools and insights to lower COGs]
• Ultimate: $429/Monthly [For sophisticated operators]

Industry Rating: Rated 4.7/5 on Capterra (based on 109 reviews)

2. Restroworks

Restroworks offers a comprehensive restaurant management platform with strong inventory management capabilities, such as inventory and variance tracking to control wastage and theft, efficient indenting for outlet-to-outlet or store-to-kitchen inventory management, and accurate forecasting and vendor management to maintain inventory levels. 

Key features: Restroworks helps with the following:

• Facilitate recipe creation with precise ingredients and track recipe costs to help you understand the food cost.
• Track stock transfers and minimize food waste accurately.
• Manage central kitchen inventory effectively to reduce the cost of goods sold and facilitate smoother coordination with multiple outlets at multiple locations.
• Accurately forecast the next day’s consumption with historical data and seasonal variations.
• Get a centralized PO management for optimal stock levels, track par stock levels, and auto-generate POs when running low.
• It is highly scalable and helps you manage multiple locations from a central location. It supports customizations basis your requirements. Moreover, getting new features is seamless and quick as compared to legacy software.

Pros: It provides end-to-end restaurant management, robust inventory tracking, and customizable reports. It is integrated with financial tools and ERPs, ensuring all financial bills and purchase orders are automatically synced to your accounting tools. Moreover, the training and support provided by Restroworks are highly praised by all customers. They have an online academy with certifications to ensure proper training of your team.

Cons: Complex for small businesses.

Pricing: Varies; quote-based pricing depends on needs and customizations.

Industry Rating: Rated 4.8/5 on Capterra (based on 290 reviews)

3. Synergy Suite

Synergy Suite provides cloud-based restaurant management software with inventory, purchasing, recipe costing, food safety, scheduling, cash management, human resources, and business intelligence.

Key features:  Synergy Suite helps with the following: 

• It provides a central platform for managing various aspects of a business, including finance, inventory, sales, and more.
• Users can customize dashboards to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics relevant to their business.
• It offers integrated modules for different functions, such as accounting, inventory management, sales, and customer relationship management (CRM).

Pros: It has comprehensive features that provide real-time data analytics, purchasing, and labor management.

Cons: It can be overwhelming for small operators, and there is a steep learning curve. Some customers have also reported that sometimes the volume of SKU maintenance could be an issue and slow the system down. Moreover, it is not a unified solution; you’ll need a separate POS system.

Pricing: Starts at $150/location/month.

Industry Rating: Rated 4.8/5 on Capterra (based on 8 reviews)

4. Restaurant 365

Introduction: Restaurant 365 is an all-in-one accounting and restaurant management software with integrated inventory management to control food costs and optimize labor scheduling.

Key features: Restaurant 365 helps with the following:

• Automate financial processes, from bookkeeping to advanced financial reporting.
• Keep track of stock levels and reduce waste to avoid overstocking or stockouts.
• Optimize staff schedules, manage labor costs, and manage staff payroll.
• Gain insights with reporting tools that help you make data-driven decisions.
• Streamline procurement process, manage supplier relationships, and track orders efficiently.

Pros: It integrates with major POS systems and has accounting, store operations, and workforce optimization features.

Cons: Restaurant365’s specialized focus on restaurant accounting results in needing more recipe management & supply chain features. 

Pricing: Starts at $469/ month per location, billed quarterly

Industry Rating: Rated 4.1/5 on Capterra (based on 65 reviews)

5. Margin Edge

Margin Edge offers an integrated restaurant management platform focusing on invoice processing, accounting software, accounts payables, and inventory management.

Key features: Margin Edge helps with the following:

• Streamline the inventory process & analyze food usage with your counts.
• Place orders through vendors directly by the system and track orders from start to finish in one place. You can also pay bills and sync all the data to your accounting software.
• Automate invoice processing to save time.

Pros: It offers real-time inventory updates and easy-to-use software with comprehensive reporting.

Cons: Some users report occasional bugs, especially with the mobile app, which lacks many features. Moreover, the product is not an all-in-one solution like many competitors. You’ll need separate POS and accounting systems to manage all restaurant operations.

Pricing: Starts at $300/month/location.

Industry Rating: Rated 4.6/5 on Capterra (based on 47 reviews)

6. Apicbase

Apicbase is a food management platform that provides tools for inventory management, procurement, analytics, accounting, and menu planning.

Key features: Apicbase helps with the following:

• Get tools for simplified recipe & menu management.
• Monitor stock levels and automate reordering to reduce waste and ensure availability.
• Track food costs to adjust pricing based on menu engineering.
• Get detailed reports & analytics for informed decision-making and improved business performance.

Pros: Apicbase is cloud-based, providing reasonable food cost control and menu engineering tools.

Cons: While it provides robust recipe management and insights, it has limited POS integrations and a steep learning curve.

Pricing: Apicbase offers four plans: starter, growth, professional, and enterprise. You will need to request a quote for information on pricing for each tier. 

Industry Rating: Rated 4.6/5 on Capterra (based on 33 reviews)

7. Crunchtime

CrunchTime is a restaurant management software known for automated sales forecasting and purchasing from vendors, faster inventory counting, recipe management, & reconciliation.

Key features: Crunchtime helps with the following:

• Control food costs and optimize inventory by automating ordering processes, tracking inventory in real-time, and comparing theoretical versus actual inventory to eliminate discrepancies.
• It streamlines scheduling, ensures labor law compliance, and optimizes staffing based on sales forecasts to reduce labor costs.
• It provides actionable insights into food and labor costs, enabling better decision-making and cost-saving opportunities.

Pros: It is scalable, provides reporting and analytics, and integrates with multiple POS systems.

Cons: Customers find it complex to set up and learn. Moreover, customer service problems are a repeated concern, and you’ll need a separate POS system to manage all your restaurant’s operations.

Pricing: Varies; quote-based pricing depends on needs and customizations.

Industry Rating: Rated 4.4/5 on Capterra (based on 15 reviews)

8. TouchBistro

TouchBistro is an iPad-based POS system with integrated inventory management features.

Key Highlights:

• Touchbistro helps in ingredient and recipe management.
• It lets you manually add items or by using a barcode scanner.
• It alerts you when an item runs out of stock and when to reorder supplies

Pros: It is comparatively easy to use and affordable and comes with POS.

Cons: It has limited features; for advanced inventory and vendor management features, you must integrate with other tools, which can create operational inconsistencies and lead to added costs. Moreover, it is only compatible with iOS, which creates many hardware-related challenges.

Pricing: It has two options for back-of-house solutions:

• The kitchen display system starts at $ 19/mo.
• Profit management begins at $ 330/mo 

Industry Rating: Rated 4.7/5 on Capterra (based on 396 reviews)

9. Lightspeed

Lightspeed is a versatile POS system with inventory management features that are suitable for various retail and hospitality businesses.

Key features: Lightspeed helps with the following:

• Lightspeed provides inventory tracking to help restaurants monitor stock levels accurately and ensure they never run out of crucial ingredients.
• It automates the ordering process by generating purchase orders based on inventory levels, reducing manual effort, and minimizing the risk of overstocking or stockouts.
• Provides detailed reports on inventory usage, costs, and wastage, helping restaurant owners make data-driven decisions to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Pros: It comes with multiple features and is user-friendly.

Cons: It is costly, and customers have to toggle between stores to control inventory since they cannot manage it from a centralized location; it doesn’t integrate with other POS systems.

Pricing: Inventory starts at $189/month.

Industry Rating: Rated 4.4/5 on Capterra (based on 204 reviews)

10. PeachWorks

PeachWorks is part of Get Beyond. It simplifies reporting, inventory management, employee scheduling, and recipe management.

Key features: It provides the following features:

• You can track your inventory in real time to reduce waste and avoid stockouts by ensuring you always have an exact count of your stock levels.
• Track ingredient costs and portion sizes to maintain consistency across all dishes and maintain profitability and quality.
• It provides extensive analytics and reporting capabilities.

Pros: It provides real-time inventory analytics and has step-by-step instructions for setup.

Cons: It can be pricey, and customers have reported issues with their support.

Pricing: Varies; quote-based pricing depends on needs and customizations.

Industry Rating: Rated 3.7/5 on Capterra (based on 33 reviews)

11. inFlow

Inflow is an inventory management software designed for various industries, including restaurants.

Key features: Inflow helps with the following features:

• Track stock changes and manage stock levels to maintain an optimal amount of inventory at any given time.
• Streamline sales and purchase orders.
• With real-time reporting and analytics, you can get up-to-date information on stock levels, order history, and sales patterns to help you make smarter decisions.

Pros: It is a user-friendly software that offers easy customizations and is relatively affordable.

Cons: It offers generic inventory solutions for various industries, including retail, manufacturing, and wholesale. It does not provide restaurant-specific solutions, and restaurants might have to adapt to these generic features to implement this software.

Pricing: inFlow inventory offers three pricing plans:

1. Entrepreneur: Cost: $89/month [ Features: Basic inventory management, 100 sales orders/month, online and offline access, email support.]
2. Small Business: Cost: $219/month [Features: Advanced inventory management, unlimited sales orders, serial numbers, barcoding, vendor management, integrations, phone support.]
3. Mid-Size: Cost: $439/month [Features: All features from the Small Business plan, multiple locations, API access, custom reports, priority support.]

Industry Rating: Rated 4.6/5 on Capterra (based on 470 reviews)

12. Food Maven

Food Maven offers a platform for managing surplus food inventory and reducing food waste in the restaurant industry by connecting data across the food system so everyone can make better decisions.

Key Features: FoodMaven helps with the following:

• Simplify the ordering process with an easy-to-use platform that allows you to order, track, and receive inventory.
• Reduce food waste by letting restaurants purchase surplus and imperfect food items that might get rejected by traditional retailers to ensure sustainable sourcing practices.
• Integrate with local food donation programs to manage and track the donation of unsold food items, reducing waste and supporting community initiatives.

Pros: It is a unique platform that focuses more on sustainability practices. It helps reduce waste and integrates with local food donation programs to facilitate the distribution of unused food items.

Cons: This software is limited to procurement, and its services might be limited to specific regions; hence, not all restaurants can access its solutions. 

Pricing: You can contact their team to get detailed information on pricing

Industry Rating: Not available.

13. Oracle Inventory Management Cloud

Oracle’s Inventory Management Cloud is an inventory management system for restaurants of all sizes. It offers multiple features for inventory control, order management, and business intelligence.

Key features: Oracle Inventory Management Cloud helps with the following:

• You can monitor stock levels & inventory changes in real time to reduce waste and theft and avoid shortages.
• It helps operators make informed decisions by providing detailed reports and analytics.
• It integrates smoothly with Oracle’s ecosystem for a unified management experience.

Pos: It is scalable and easy-to-use software.

Cons: The cost of the software can be quite high, not just for the initial purchase but also for ongoing maintenance, support, and potential upgrades. Moreover, the setup is complex.

Pricing: Price can vary, depending on the size of the restaurant and added feature requirements.

Industry Rating: Not available 

How to Choose the Right Restaurant Inventory Software?

Choosing the right restaurant inventory management software is crucial for optimizing operations, reducing costs, and improving overall efficiency. By integrating sales data, and menu items, and ensuring customer satisfaction, restaurant managers can streamline their processes with just a few clicks.

Here are some key considerations to keep in mind:

1. Features and Functionality

• Recipe and Ingredient Management: The software should allow you to manage recipes and ingredients accurately, helping you track food costs and streamline kitchen operations.
• Real-Time Inventory Tracking: This feature helps monitor stock levels in real time, reducing the risk of overstocking, stockouts, or thefts.
• PAR Level Maintenance: Make sure that the chosen software helps you set and maintain PAR levels, ensuring you always have the right amount of inventory.
• Demand Forecasting: The software should be able to utilize historical data to predict future demand and maintain optimal inventory levels.
• Variance Analysis: Ensure that the software accurately compares theoretical and actual inventory to identify discrepancies and minimize theft or waste.
• Supplier Management: See if the software helps you to efficiently handle suppliers, purchase orders, and invoices to streamline procurement processes.
• Indenting: The software should facilitate smooth inventory transfers between different outlets or from central storage to the kitchen.

2. Ease of Use

• User Interface: The software should have an intuitive, user-friendly interface so that your team can quickly adopt the new platform and run smooth operations.
• Integration: It should integrate seamlessly with your existing POS, accounting, and systems you require.
• Mobile Access: It should be mobile-friendly software that allows managers to oversee inventory from anywhere at any time.

3. Scalability

• Growth: Ensure the software can scale with your business, accommodating more locations or increasing inventory volume as your restaurant grows.
• Flexibility: The restaurant industry is evolving very quickly. New trends emerge, and old practices become obsolete. The software should be highly flexible and able to keep up with these trends. Adding new features should be easy and quick.

4. Cost

• Pricing Model: Consider whether the software pricing is subscription-based, per-user, or a one-time fee. Factor in the total cost of ownership, including setup, training, and ongoing support.
• Budget Alignment: Ensure the software fits your budget while providing the necessary features and functionalities.

5. Support and Training

• Customer Support: Look for software that offers robust customer support, including 24/7 availability, training resources, and a dedicated account manager.
• Training Programs: Ensure comprehensive live training programs and self-paced courses are provided to help your staff get up to speed quickly.

6. Reviews and Recommendations

• Industry Ratings: Check industry reviews and ratings on platforms like Capterra, G2, and Trustpilot to gauge the software’s reputation and reliability.
• Peer Recommendations: Take recommendations from other restaurant owners or managers using the software.

7. Security and Compliance

• Data Security: Ensure the software has strong data security measures and has a good data recovery plan to protect sensitive information.
• Compliance: The software should comply with local and international regulations, such as GDPR, for data protection.

8. Customization and Flexibility

• Customizable Features: The ability to customize features to fit your specific business needs can significantly enhance operational efficiency.
• Adaptability: The software should be adaptable to different types of restaurants, whether they’re single-location eateries or multi-location chains.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, robust restaurant inventory management software can streamline operations, optimize stock levels, minimize waste, and boost your bottom line. By integrating with existing systems, restaurant operators can ensure automated purchasing to control costs effectively. Choosing the right software depends on your specific needs and budget.

Consider the factors outlined in this guide and explore the featured options to find the perfect fit for your restaurant! Remember, a well-managed inventory is the recipe for success!