Why Excel isn't enough for your restaurant admin

Stock, orders with suppliers, food cost and the staff roster: in a lot of restaurants that sits in four separate Excel files that nobody keeps up to date on a regular basis. As long as things are quiet, you don't notice.

On a busy evening, you feel it straight away when nobody's sure which file is the latest. This article covers where Excel actually breaks down for a restaurant, and what changes once those separate files come together.

Where it breaks down: four files that don't talk to each other

A stock list, a template for ordering from suppliers, a food cost sheet per dish, and a roster in its own tab. In most restaurants, that's four different files, kept up by different people at different times.

As long as the place is running quietly, you don't notice. It's only on a busy evening, when the chef wants to know if there's enough stock left and the owner is trying to finish next week's roster at the same time, that it turns out nobody's sure which file is the latest.

The problem isn't Excel itself, it can do the sums fine. The problem is that separate files know nothing about each other: a change to the stock list doesn't change the order list, and an updated roster doesn't automatically reach whoever you'd scheduled for that evening.

Stock and orders: two lists, one reality

If you keep stock in one file and order from another, someone has to keep retyping what's left into what needs ordering. Miss that once, and you'll order too much of one thing and too little of another.

You only notice once the delivery arrives, and by then it's Thursday with the weekend bearing down. At that point, whether a dish stays on the menu or gets struck off comes down purely to whichever file someone last updated.

Food cost that only adds up after the fact

A food cost sheet is only as good as the last time someone updated the buying prices in it. If a supplier changes prices in the meantime, you'll be costing dishes against a price that's no longer right for weeks.

Meanwhile, your selling price on the menu stays the same. Your margin quietly drains away, with no bell going off anywhere. Usually you only spot it at the end of the quarter, once the money's already gone.

The roster as its own little island

A roster that's disconnected from how busy you expect a shift to be is mostly guesswork. You plan by feel, instead of by what's actually coming in that evening in bookings and expected covers.

And if someone calls in sick at the last minute, you have to go through the file by hand to get everything straight again. That's exactly the hour you don't have on a day like that.

• Stock and the order list are kept apart, so you type the same numbers in twice.
• Food cost is worked out with buying prices nobody updates on a regular basis.
• The roster gets adjusted by hand with every change, instead of shifting on its own.

What changes once it comes together

Once stock, orders, food cost and staff sit in one place, nobody has to remember which file is the latest. A change in stock feeds straight through into what you still need to order.

An updated buying price changes your food cost per dish straight away, and the roster takes into account what's actually booked in that day. That's not a matter of working harder with Excel, it's a matter of picking something where those four things are already tied together.

Excel isn't the problem as a tool. It becomes a problem when it's the only place your whole restaurant admin rests on. Once stock, buying, food cost and staff start drifting apart, that costs you more time every week than it saves.

Frequently asked questions

Is Excel necessarily bad for a restaurant?

No, Excel can do the sums fine. The problem is when stock, orders, food cost and staff sit in separate files that don't update each other, so you end up having to remember which file is still accurate.

When do you actually notice that separate Excel files are a problem?

Usually on a busy shift, when several people need something from a file someone else has just changed. In a quiet week it barely shows.

How do I keep my food cost calculation up to date?

By updating buying prices in one place as soon as a supplier changes them, instead of in a separate file nobody checks. That way you're not costing dishes on last season's prices for weeks on end.

Do I need to move everything out of Excel in one go?

No. Start with whichever part is causing the most mistakes or double work right now, usually stock and orders, then move on to food cost and the roster.

What do I do with the history in my old files?

Leave those as they are and start clean with the current period. You rarely need the numbers from two years back, and retyping them costs more evenings than it ever gives back.

My chef doesn't like working on a screen. Is that a problem?

As long as he can tick off stock and the order list on his phone, usually not. The resistance is almost always to entering data, not to reading it. Make sure the kitchen only has to tick off what's already set up for them.

Catermonkey keeps stock, buying and food cost tied together, so a changed buying price feeds straight through into your cost price per dish, instead of sitting in a file someone still has to update.

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