Restaurant inventory in Excel vs software.
A free stock sheet you can open in Excel or Google Sheets, a weekly counting routine that takes under an hour, and an honest look at when a spreadsheet stops being enough.
Updated 10 October 2026
For each item, track opening stock, purchases and the closing count. Used = opening + purchases − closing. Compare it with what sales should have used plus recorded wastage: the gap is your variance. Count your top 20 items every week. Excel works well for a small menu kept by one person; software helps once you want daily numbers and stock taken out automatically as you bill.
Download the free template
Download the restaurant inventory sheet (CSV). It opens in Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice. There is one row per item per week, and five rows marked “Example” to show how it works: delete them before you start.
What to track for each item
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Item, category, unit | “Paneer, Dairy, kg”. Count in the same unit you buy in, or write the conversion (1 box = 12 bottles). |
| Cost per unit | What you paid on the last purchase. Update it when the price changes. |
| Opening stock | Last week’s closing count. |
| Purchases | Everything received this week, from the supplier bills. |
| Closing stock | What you counted at the end of the week. |
| Used | Opening + purchases − closing. |
| Wastage recorded | Spoiled, burnt, returned or dropped, written down when it happened. |
| Expected use | Plates sold × quantity in one plate, added up for every dish that uses the item. |
| Variance | Used − wastage − expected use. The number that matters. |
| Variance value | Variance × cost per unit, so you look at rupees, not kilos. |
| Par level | The stock you want on hand before the next delivery. |
In the CSV, “Used” is column J, so in Excel you can type =G2+H2-I2 in J2, variance in M2 as =J2-K2-L2, and variance value in N2 as =M2*F2, then copy them down.
Example: one week
Example only. Made-up quantities and sample prices, the same as the example rows in the template.
| Item | Opening | Bought | Closing | Used | Wastage | Expected | Variance | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paneer (kg, ₹380) | 6 | 20 | 5.5 | 20.5 | 0.5 | 19 | 1 | ₹380 |
| Chicken (kg, ₹240) | 8 | 35 | 6 | 37 | 1 | 35.5 | 0.5 | ₹120 |
| Refined oil (litre, ₹160) | 15 | 30 | 12 | 33 | 0 | 31 | 2 | ₹320 |
| Basmati rice (kg, ₹110) | 25 | 50 | 30 | 45 | 0 | 44 | 1 | ₹110 |
| Butter (kg, ₹520) | 3 | 10 | 2.5 | 10.5 | 0 | 10.2 | 0.3 | ₹156 |
The unexplained gap here is ₹1,086 for the week. Paneer and oil are the ones to look at first: is the portion bigger than the recipe, is wastage being written down, is stock leaving the store? A gap of ₹1,000 a week is over ₹50,000 a year.
A weekly count routine
- Same day, same time. For example, every Monday before opening. Counting at different times makes weeks impossible to compare.
- Start with the costly items. Paneer, chicken, mutton, prawns, ghee, butter, cheese, oil, liquor and cold drinks first. Add the rest later.
- Two people. One counts, one writes. Rotate who counts.
- Count every place. Store room, fridge, freezer, the line, the bar. Half-used packets count too.
- Enter purchases from the bills, not from memory.
- Look at the three biggest variance values, not every row. Ask the kitchen about those.
- Rotate stock while you count. First in, first out: older stock to the front, dates on new boxes. FSSAI’s hygiene rules for licensed food businesses call for FIFO or first-expiry-first-out stock rotation.
When Excel stops working
| Excel or Google Sheets | Inventory in billing software | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Included in some billing software; sold as an add-on in others |
| Expected use | Worked out by hand from sales reports | Taken out of stock on every paid bill through recipes |
| How often you see numbers | When someone updates the sheet | Any time, from the stock screen |
| Who changed what | Hard to tell | Each count, correction and wastage entry carries a name |
| Food cost per dish | A separate calculation | Shown next to each dish as purchase prices change |
| Good fit | A small menu, one careful person, weekly counts | Busy kitchens, many dishes, several staff entering stock |
Signs you have outgrown the sheet: the weekly update takes longer than the count, nobody trusts the numbers, two versions of the file exist, or you only find out paneer is finished in the middle of dinner.
What software adds
- Stock by recipe. You enter a recipe once and every paid bill takes those ingredients out.
- Purchases that update cost. The cost per unit follows what you actually paid.
- Wastage and counts with names. Every adjustment is recorded with who made it.
- Food cost per dish. You see when a dish drifts from 30% to 40% food cost. Our food cost calculator does this for one dish by hand, and the food cost guide explains the monthly formula.
Inventory in Venditas
In Venditas inventory, you add a recipe to each dish and every paid bill takes the ingredients out of stock; a cancelled bill puts them back. Purchases add stock at the price you paid, wastage is logged with a reason, and a stock count shows the gap between what you should have and what is on the shelf. Each item can have a reorder level so you see what is running low. It needs internet, and it is included in the ₹3 per bill price after 30 days free. If you are happy with the sheet, keep using it: the weekly count is what matters most.
The figures in this guide are examples to show the method, not data from real restaurants.
Sources
- Restaurant India: how to calculate food cost (March 2025), for opening stock + purchases − closing stock as the measure of what was used. Checked 10 October 2026.
- FSSAI advisory, 16 December 2024, quoting Schedule 4 of the FSS (Licensing and Registration) Regulations, 2011, on FIFO and FEFO stock rotation. Checked 10 October 2026.
Quick answers
How do I keep restaurant inventory in Excel?
Make one row per item with its unit and cost. Each week, enter the opening stock, what you bought, and what you counted at the end. Used = opening + purchases − closing. Compare that with what your sales should have used and the wastage you recorded. The difference is your variance.
How often should a restaurant count stock?
Count your 10 to 20 costliest items every week, on the same day and at the same time, and do a full count once a month. High-value items like paneer, meat, seafood, ghee and liquor are worth counting more often if they keep going missing.
What is stock variance?
It is the gap between what you actually used and what you should have used (from sales and recorded wastage). A small variance is normal. A big or growing one means over-portioning, unrecorded wastage, wrong recipes or theft.
How do I work out expected use without software?
Take the number of plates of each dish sold that week from your billing reports, multiply by the quantity of the item in one plate, and add it up. For example, 127 plates with 150 g of paneer each is about 19 kg.
Is Excel enough for a small restaurant?
Often, yes, if one careful person keeps it and you count 20 to 40 items once a week. It gets hard when you want daily numbers, when several people edit the file, or when working out expected use from sales takes longer than the count itself.
What is FIFO in a restaurant store?
First in, first out: use older stock before newer stock, so nothing expires at the back of the shelf. Put new deliveries behind the old ones and write the date received on each box or packet.
See it with your restaurant in mind.
Ask the founders to show an order, a KOT and a bill on a call. Tell us your bill count and printer model; we’ll work out the cost and setup with you. 30 days free, then ₹3 per paid bill. First 100 restaurants: we set it up for you, free.