Waste Tracking helps you understand where money is being lost in the kitchen. Without it, your food costs may appear artificially high, and inventory may show items that are no longer on the shelf. Entering waste regularly ensures that reciProfity aligns with your physical inventory.
For more on how Waste Tracking affects Variance Reports, click here.
Types of Waste You Can Track
Some waste is expected in food service operations. reciProfity allows you to track these adjustments so your food cost and inventory remain accurate.
Employee Meals
If you provide free meals or drinks to employees and don’t use a POS key to track them, this adjustment accounts for the food and beverages consumed. Recording these items creates a paper trail that may be useful for tax reporting.
Free Food
You may occasionally offer free food to customers—for example, a dessert to compensate for a poor experience, a “Two for One” promotion, sampling plates for banquet prospects, or complimentary peanuts at the bar. If these items aren’t tracked through the POS, this adjustment accounts for inventory consumed without corresponding revenue.
Waste That Should Be Minimized
Some waste results from operational errors or inefficiencies. Tracking these adjustments helps managers make informed decisions and identify areas for improvement.
Waste
This adjustment covers inventory items not used according to recipe or procedure. For example, if a chef cuts ribeyes into 16 oz steaks instead of 12 oz, then re-cuts them to the correct size, the resulting 4 oz of trim is considered waste—unless it’s repurposed. Other examples include over-trimming produce or using excessive chemicals in the dishwasher.
Tracking waste helps you identify when and where it’s happening. You may need to retrain staff, revise recipes, or update kitchen procedures. If waste isn’t recorded in reciProfity, food costs will trend higher and may affect yield and ordering calculations.
Spoilage
Spoilage refers to food that goes bad before it can be served. Tracking spoilage helps prevent recurrence and may reveal issues with vendor supply dates, receiving practices, or storage procedures such as temperature control and rotation. Like waste, spoilage should be recorded and adjusted to avoid inflated food costs.