The average restaurant wastes 4-10 percent of their purchased food, according to a study by the National Restaurant Association. Foodservice operators who conduct weekly inventory turnover calculations tend to uncover sources of waste, save time and boost their bottom line – and automated inventory management is becoming a commonly used tool to help with this process. But before operators can draw reliable information about their inventory, they need to first understand their menu inside and out – what equipment they need for each item, what ingredients are critical and which can serve as substitutes, how to standardize recipes across locations where specialty ingredients may differ, and where there might be opportunities to innovate, for example. Technology is helpful here too. Modern Restaurant Management reported recently that the bakery chain Le Pain Quotidien adopted an AI tool that serves as a clone of its founding chef, Alain Coumont. The tool, which they call Alain.AI, is used by the bakery’s locations around the world to standardize recipes and get help developing the menu. It has compiled the bakery’s 10,000 historic and current recipes into a closed database that the team can use to develop new recipes more efficiently. Going forward, they plan to plug food and beverage trends into the database so they can develop recipes that reflect those trends, as well as create clones of consumers to better understand and support their food and drink preferences. Tech-driven tools that support recipe consistency and menu management are becoming increasingly common – and can help you ensure that your business prepares a dish to the same high standard each time, all while providing the foundation for you to better manage inventory costs from there. Looking at your database of recipes, how consistently do you include elements such as your yield, portion size, ingredients, mise en place, cooking instructions and methods, plating instructions, photos and other information that ensures consistency?

If there is a silver lining to the past couple of years in the restaurant industry, it could be that operators have become significantly more nimble. Technology has supported this transition, enabling restaurants to monitor and measure everything from ingredient waste to menu profitability. Expect even more fine-tuning as restaurants continue to manage steep operating costs. That will include greater precision when it comes to not just ingredient use, but also the prediction of exactly what ingredients a restaurant will need in the near future. Chipotle, for one, is piloting a “cook-to-needs” kitchen management system in select California stores that provides demand-based cooking and ingredient preparation forecasts, according to a Restaurant Technology News report. The goal of the system is to help each restaurant make the most of its ordered ingredients, maximize freshness and minimise food waste. The report said the system uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to monitor ingredient levels in real time, then notifies the team how much to prepare, cook and when to start cooking. This information then feeds data collection that supports real-time production planning for each restaurant.