Inventory Reconciliation Checklist

Stop all deliveries, transfers between locations, and back-of-house product movement before the count starts. Counting against a moving target is the single biggest source of false variance — schedule the count for after close or before open, when the line is cold and the walk-in is settled.

Export the count sheet from MarginEdge, R365, or your inventory tool — organized by storage location (walk-in, dry storage, bar, freezer) and walk-path order. A sheet sorted alphabetically wastes hours; a sheet sorted by where items physically live cuts count time in half.

Two-person teams per zone: one counts, one records. Assign the bar to the bar lead, walk-in produce to the sous, dry storage to the prep lead. Counters should never count their own ordering zone — pair them across to keep the count honest.

Count proteins by weight, not by piece — a half case of ribeye is a weight, not 6 portions. Note any product approaching its use-by date so it can be 86'd or featured. FIFO-reorder while you count; this is the one moment in the week the walk-in is fully audited.

Pull cases forward to read counts on partial pallets. Note any product without a date label — undated freezer product is a food-safety flag for the next line check.

Count whole cases plus partial cases as a decimal (e.g., 2.4 cases of fryer oil). Include to-go containers, deli wrap, and chemicals if the inventory system tracks them — paper and chem are common silent cost-creep items.

Liquor counted in tenths of a bottle by eye, or weighed on a Bar-i scale for higher accuracy. Beer kegs counted as full / partial (estimate by weight against tare). Wine by bottle, including the BTG opens behind the bar — opened wine still counts as inventory until poured.

Theoretical usage = beginning inventory + purchases − ending inventory, compared to POS sales mix × recipe yields. Variance over 2% on a single item — or over 1% at the category level — is the threshold most operators investigate. Bar items above 5% variance almost always indicate over-pour or comp leakage.

Pull Sysco, US Foods, PFG, and produce-vendor invoices for the period. Common errors: case-pack changes (vendor switched from 4/1gal to 6/64oz and the system kept the old conversion), unposted credits, and short-shipped items signed for at full count. These show up as phantom shrinkage.

Flag any line where the recorded count differs from theoretical by more than the kitchen's set threshold (typically 2% by item, 1% by category, 5% on bar). If everything is within tolerance, skip the investigation step and proceed to posting.

Enter the waste log into the inventory system separately from the count adjustment — they are different signals for food cost analysis. A protein tossed for being out of temp is waste; a protein you can't find is shrink. Conflating them hides the operational problem.

Enter the reconciled counts in MarginEdge or R365 so the closing food cost calculation reflects actual on-hand. Lock the period once posted — reopening to edit counts after the fact corrupts trend reporting.

Tie the ending inventory value and computed COGS to the QuickBooks or Restaurant365 general ledger. Food cost percentage on the P&L should reconcile to the inventory system within a dollar. If it doesn't, the adjustment journal entry catches the difference and the variance gets investigated next period.

One named owner per finding. Over-pour at the bar gets the bar lead; recipe drift on new specials gets the sous; receiving short-counts get the manager who signs deliveries. Findings without an owner repeat next period.

If theoretical was off because the recipe in the system doesn't match what the line actually cooks, the recipe is wrong — fix it in MarginEdge or R365. Same for pars that consistently produce shorts or excess: adjust them now, while the data is in hand.