Eliminate overproduction

Prepping ingredients that are never used or creating food that goes unordered will increase the COGS. Avoiding overproduction is a vital step towards optimising ingredient usage and reducing waste. There are some important steps you can take.

Common challenges for restaurants

Overproduction presents a pervasive challenge in the food industry, resulting in increased costs, lost revenue and environmental concerns. Issues such as inefficient inventory management, imprecise demand forecasting and a lack of real-time insights into customer preferences can add to the problem.

Clear signs that overproduction is an issue

Do any of these issues sound familiar?

  • Excess food waste:
    Consistently disposing of a substantial amount of unused ingredients is a clear signal that overproduction is happening.
  • Increased unsold inventory:
    If production consistently exceeds demand, leading to a surplus of unsold or uneaten food, then forecasting isn’t working.
  • Challenges in maintaining consistent quality: Overproduction often poses difficulties in sustaining consistent quality across menu items, indicating that production is failing to align with actual demand.

How to eliminate overproduction

Inventory tracking: Precision in production planning

Accurate inventory tracking is paramount as it provides real-time insights into the quantities and consumption rates of ingredients. By having a comprehensive understanding of inventory, you can align production with actual demand, reducing excess, unsold food and minimising waste.

Syrve’s Inventory Tracking ensures real-time insights, helping you to identify fast-moving items and adjust ordering and production accordingly.

Demand forecasting: Optimising inventory levels

Accurate forecasting provides a reliable and forward-looking guide for production planning. By aligning production with expected demand from diners, restaurant managers can optimise their inventory levels and minimise the risk of overproduction. This is a must-have capability for restaurants today.

Syrve Demand Forecasting uses advanced analytics to generate precise predictions based on sales patterns, seasonal trends and other influencing factors. This allows you to accurately anticipate the quantity of food needed, saving chefs from producing more than necessary. This not only contributes to cost savings but also supports sustainability goals by reducing waste and environmental impact.

Customer-facing technology: Anticipating demand across channels

Data on customer orders and preferences across various channels needs to be collected and analysed if you want to accurately anticipate demand, reducing the likelihood of overproduction.

Syrve offers multiple integrated order channels, such as POS, online ordering, self-service kiosks and mobile apps. The ability to collect and analyse data in one place provides valuable insights into customer behaviour allowing you to make informed decisions about production and menu planning – at speed and scale.

Menu analysis: Insightful decision-making

Smart menu analysis is key to identifying and mitigating overproduction by giving you actionable insights into the sales performance of each menu item. With the ability to fine-tune the menu based on data-driven insights, you can optimise your offerings, reduce overproduction and enhance overall efficiency.

Syrve’s Data Analytics go a step further by enabling you to identify which ingredients are being used the most frequently, providing valuable information for proactive inventory management. By leveraging usage data and sales patterns, you can make informed decisions about adjusting your menu to align with customer preferences, demand and profitability. This granular understanding helps you to optimise production every day.

Batches and portion sizes

Regulating batches and portion sizes is essential for eliminating overproduction.

Syrve’s integrated scales and portion control devices ensure that each dish is prepared with accurate quantities, avoiding unnecessary waste. By closely monitoring and controlling the amount of food produced in each batch, restaurants can align their production with actual demand.

The bottom line

In the fiercely-competitive restaurant market, eliminating overproduction is crucial. Syrve’s suite of features equips you with the tools needed to minimise waste and create a more successful kitchen.

Let's talk. We can help.

CONTACT

We're passionate about your success.

CONTACT US