Restaurant Inventory Count Sheet (Free Template) and How to Use It

To do a restaurant inventory count, walk your storage areas in the same order every time and write down how much of each item is on the shelf, in the unit you've agreed to count it in. The count sheet should follow that walk. List items shelf by shelf, not alphabetically, and give each one a count unit, the last count, a blank for today's count, and room for notes.

The sheet does most of the work. If it matches the room and the units are clear, anyone on the team can count. If it doesn't, the count takes twice as long and the numbers are hard to trust. Below is how to set one up, how to count partial units, how to use the count when you order, and a blank Excel template you can download. For how the count feeds pars, orders, and purchase orders, see our complete guide to restaurant purchasing and inventory management.

What a restaurant inventory count sheet needs

Keep it to six columns. Each one has a job:

Put a short header on top with the date, the time the count started, and who counted. When a number looks wrong later, that's the first thing you'll want to know.

Organize the sheet by storage location, not alphabetically

An alphabetical list looks tidy, but it makes the counter walk back and forth. Anchovies are in the walk-in, all-purpose flour is in dry storage, and arugula is back in the walk-in. That walking adds time, and it's how items get skipped or counted twice.

Instead, list items in shelf walk order:

1. Pick a starting point, for example the walk-in door, and a direction, for example left to right, top shelf to bottom.
2. Write items down in the order you reach them.
3. Move to the next area (freezer, dry storage, chemicals, bar, line) and repeat.
4. Group the sheet by area with a header for each, so it can be split between two people.

A few tips to make this hold up:

• Label the shelves to match the sheet ("Walk-in, shelf 3"). When product moves, the sheet and the shelf label should both change. The same labels make FIFO stock rotation easier, because the oldest product always sits in the same spot.
• Give every item one home. If cream is in the walk-in and on the line, either list it twice by location or decide that line product is pulled back before the count. Don't leave it to the counter to remember.
• Put new items where they live, not at the bottom of the sheet. A list of "new stuff" at the end is how a sheet slowly stops matching the room.

Count unit vs purchase unit

The unit you count in doesn't have to be the unit you buy in. You might buy chicken thighs in cases but count the 10 lb bags inside them, because nobody keeps full cases on the shelf.

Pick the unit that's easiest to count accurately on the shelf, write it on the sheet, and record how many count units are in one purchase unit. Then convert only when you build the order. Our guide to restaurant inventory units explains this in more detail, with a worked conversion.

The main rule is to stick with one count unit per item. If one person counts cream in cases and the next counts it in quarts, the numbers can't be compared, and the order will be wrong.

How to count partial units

Partial units are where most counting disagreements come from. Pick a rule for each kind and write it at the top of the sheet.

• Partial cases. Break them into count units. Two full cases of cream (12 qt per case) plus 7 loose quarts is (2 × 12) + 7 = 31 qt. Don't write "2.5 cases" and leave someone else to work out what it means.
• Open bags, tubs, and jugs. Estimate in simple fractions: quarter, half, three-quarters. Three full jugs of olive oil and one that's about half full is 3.5 jugs. If an item is expensive enough that the difference matters, weigh it instead.
• Open bottles at the bar. Some bars estimate open bottles in tenths, and others weigh them. Either can work if everyone uses the same method.
• Prepped food. Decide whether you count it. Many kitchens count raw product only and leave prepped items off the sheet. If you do count prep, give it its own line ("Braised short rib, qt") instead of trying to convert it back into raw product during the count.
• Damaged or unusable product. Don't count it as stock. Write it in the notes so it's handled separately.

How often to count: full counts vs short daily counts

There isn't one right frequency. Most kitchens end up with some mix of two kinds of count.

When you're choosing items for a short count, look at:

• Order frequency. Items you order every delivery need current numbers on order day.
• Cost. Proteins, seafood, and some liquor are where a miscount costs the most.
• Shelf life. Produce and dairy can go from enough to not enough in two days.
• Run-out history. If you've 86'd something twice this month, it belongs on the list.

Time each count to the order it feeds. A count that's done after the vendor's cutoff doesn't help that order. Our guide to building a vendor ordering schedule shows how to work count times backward from each cutoff.

Who should count, and when

Keep the counter consistent. The same person, or a small group trained on the same sheet, will count partial units the same way from week to week. The tradeoff is that nobody checks their work. A common middle ground is to have one regular counter and an occasional spot check of a few high-value items by someone else.

Two people can be faster. One counts and calls out numbers while the other writes. It also makes it more likely that someone will notice an odd number.

Count before the delivery is put away. If the truck arrives halfway through your count, new cases end up on shelves you've already counted, or get counted on top of what you already wrote down. Either finish the count before the delivery, or stage the delivery to one side, finish the count, and add the received product separately. Check the delivery against what you ordered as part of receiving, not as part of the count.

Count at the same point in the day. A count before prep and a count after lunch service give different numbers for the same item. Pick one and keep it.

How the count feeds your order

A count tells you what's on hand. For ordering, you also need to know how much you'll use before the next delivery after this one arrives. For each item:

1. Work out recent usage. Usage = last count + received since last count − current count.
2. Turn it into a daily rate, and multiply by the days this order has to cover.
3. Subtract what's on hand to see how much you're short, in count units.
4. Convert to purchase units and round to what the vendor actually sells.

If you've already set target levels, steps 1 and 2 are replaced by your target. Our guide to setting restaurant par levels covers that approach and how to add a buffer.

Blank restaurant inventory count sheet template

Enter your email to download the Excel file. Replace the sample areas and locations with your own, in shelf walk order. Add a new column for each count date so last count stays in the column to the left. The same template is also on the inventory count sheet download page.

Worked example: a Monday morning count

This is an illustrative example. The restaurant, items, and quantities are made up to show the method. They aren't typical figures for any restaurant or vendor.

Setup:

• A made-up 60-seat neighborhood restaurant, open 7 days.
• Its broadline distributor delivers Tuesday and Friday mornings, with a 4:00 PM cutoff the day before.
• The kitchen manager does a short count of high-use items on Monday and Thursday mornings, before prep.
• The Monday order arrives Tuesday and has to last until Friday's truck, so it covers 4 days (Monday through Thursday).

Part of Monday's count sheet

The cream line shows a partial case being broken down: (2 × 12) + 7 = 31 qt. The olive oil line shows an open container estimated to the nearest half.

Turning two lines into an order

The manager checks the invoice from Friday's delivery. It brought 2 cases of cream (24 qt) and 2 cases of chicken thighs (8 bags).

Chicken thighs:

Usage Thu–Sun:      9 + 8 − 5 = 12 bags over 4 days
Daily usage:        12 ÷ 4 = 3 bags per day
Needed Mon–Thu:     3 × 4 = 12 bags
Short:              12 − 5 = 7 bags
In cases:           7 ÷ 4 = 1.75 → order 2 cases (8 bags)
On hand after truck: 5 + 8 = 13 bags, 1 more than needed

Heavy cream:

Usage Thu–Sun:      26 + 24 − 31 = 19 qt over 4 days
Daily usage:        19 ÷ 4 = 4.75 qt per day
Needed Mon–Thu:     4.75 × 4 = 19 qt
Short:              19 − 31 = −12 qt → nothing to order

The count shows that the kitchen is long on cream. Ordering the usual 2 cases out of habit would have put 55 qt in a walk-in that only needs about 19 before Friday.

This math has no buffer for a busy night or a late truck. In practice, the manager might round up or add a little extra on high-risk items, like the chicken here, where running out mid-service is worse than carrying a spare bag.

Common inventory count mistakes

• An alphabetical sheet. It makes the counter crisscross the kitchen, and items get skipped.
• Mixing units. "3" means nothing if one person counted cases and the next counted bags.
• Writing partial cases as decimals of a case. "2.5 cases" of something with 12 per case is easy to misread. Write 30.
• Counting during or after a delivery. New product gets counted twice or missed.
• Counting at a different time each day. Usage between counts stops making sense.
• No date or name on the sheet. When a number looks wrong, nobody knows when it was taken or who to ask.
• Letting the sheet fall behind the shelves. Menu changes, new products, and moved shelves should be reflected on the sheet the same week.
• Counting after the cutoff. If the count is finished after the order is due, that order was built from old numbers.

Doing your daily count in Proteus Kitchen

A paper sheet or spreadsheet works fine as long as someone keeps it current. If you'd rather count on a phone, Proteus Kitchen has a Daily Count. You choose the items your team counts every day, start a count, and enter quantities with a plus/minus stepper. A progress bar shows how many items have been counted out of the total. When you complete the count, inventory is updated.

Each item has its own count unit and a conversion to the unit you order in, so your team counts what's on the shelf and the conversion is already stored on the item. Proteus doesn't need a POS integration. If you already have an inventory spreadsheet or vendor list, Free Restaurant Setup means you can send it over to be imported instead of entering items by hand. There's also a 30-day free trial.

Restaurant inventory count FAQ

Should I count in cases or individual units?

Count in whatever unit you actually find on the shelf. If you usually have partial cases, count the units inside them and store the conversion so you can order in cases.

Should I count before or after the delivery?

Before, if you can. If the delivery is already there, keep it to one side until the count is finished, then add it separately so nothing gets counted twice.

Do I need to count everything every day?

Usually not. Many kitchens do a short count of the items that drive each order and a less frequent full count of everything. Which items and how often depends on your menu, your vendors' delivery days, and how much time you have.

Do I count prepped food?

That's up to you, but be consistent. Either leave it off and count raw product only, or give each prepped item its own line and unit.

Paper, spreadsheet, or app?

Any of them can work. What matters most is that the sheet follows your storage layout, the units are clear, and the count happens before the order is due.

Next step: rebuild your count sheet this week

1. Walk your storage areas with a blank sheet and write items down in the order you reach them.
2. Set a count unit for each item and write the conversion next to it.
3. Write your partial-unit rules at the top.
4. Pick a short list of items to count before each order, and schedule that count before the vendor's cutoff.
5. After two weeks, check which items still surprised you, and fix those lines first.