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Industry · Retail & Commerce
Restaurant ERP for groups that need control over food cost
For a single restaurant, a POS and a good chef may be enough. For a group with several sites and a central kitchen, food cost control becomes a system problem: recipes, purchasing, transfers, waste and sales must be connected to know theoretical versus actual cost.
- M01Inventory
- M02Purchasing
- M03Manufacturing (Recipes)
- M04POS Integration
- M05Accounting
- M06Reporting
Context
ERP in restaurants
The ERP sits behind the POS, handling recipes, inventory, purchasing and accounting across sites.
01Operational challenges
What usually breaks before the ERP project starts
01
Food cost variance
Actual food cost far above theoretical, with no way to see why.
02
Inconsistent purchasing
Each site orders from different suppliers at different prices.
03
Central kitchen transfers
Prepared items sent to sites without proper costing.
04
Waste not recorded
Spoilage and over-portioning invisible.
02Core flows
How the ERP should handle each part of the business
- Sales flow
- POS sales imported per site with menu item mix; catering orders handled in the ERP.
- Procurement
- Approved suppliers and price lists; site orders consolidated; deliveries checked against orders.
- Inventory
- Stock by site; periodic counts; central kitchen production and transfers.
- Warehouse
- Central store and kitchen inventory with expiry control.
- Manufacturing
- Central kitchen production using recipes with yields.
- Accounting
- Food and beverage cost by site; theoretical vs actual; supplier invoice matching.
- CRM
- Catering and event customers, loyalty via POS integration.
03Industry workflows
Workflows specific to restaurants
01
Recipe costing
Recipes with ingredient yields calculate menu item cost as prices change.
02
Theoretical consumption
POS sales exploded through recipes to compare with actual usage.
03
Central kitchen production
Batches produced and transferred to sites at cost.
04
Waste logging
Waste recorded by reason at each site.
04 — Reporting
Reports that should come out of the system, not a spreadsheet
- Theoretical vs actual food cost by site
- Menu engineering (popularity × margin)
- Supplier price changes
- Waste by reason and site
- Purchases by supplier and category
- Labour cost percentage via payroll integration
05 — Compliance
Compliance considerations
Food safety, allergen information and hygiene records. Recipe-level allergen data helps produce accurate menus.
Regulatory requirements vary by jurisdiction. We configure the system to support your obligations; confirm specific rules with your auditor or compliance advisor.
06 — Integrations
Systems the ERP needs to talk to
POS systems, delivery platforms, supplier ordering portals and payroll or scheduling tools are typical integrations.
07AI opportunities
Where AI is genuinely useful here
Practical uses that sit on top of clean ERP data. None of them replace getting the core transactions right first.
01
Invoice capture
Read supplier invoices and update ingredient prices.
02
Prep forecasting
Suggest prep quantities from sales patterns.
03
Menu cost alerts
Flag dishes whose margin fell after price increases.
08ERP modules
Modules a typical deployment includes
- M01Inventory
- M02Purchasing
- M03Manufacturing (Recipes)
- M04POS Integration
- M05Accounting
- M06Reporting
- M07Quality
- M08HR
09Roadmap
Implementation roadmap
- 01
Recipes and items
Ingredients, units and recipes defined.
- 02
Purchasing and inventory
Supplier ordering and site stock.
- 03
POS integration
Sales feeding theoretical consumption.
- 04
Cost control
Variance reporting and waste tracking.
10Common mistakes
Mistakes we see repeatedly
01
Recipes without yields
Ignoring trim and cooking loss understates cost.
02
Infrequent counts
Monthly counts hide weekly problems.
03
Unmapped POS items
Every POS item must link to a recipe.
04
Too much detail
Track key ingredients precisely; group minor ones.
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Do we replace our POS?
Not necessarily. Many groups keep a specialised restaurant POS and integrate sales into the ERP.
Can we compare theoretical and actual food cost?
Yes, by exploding sales through recipes and comparing with stock usage from counts.
Can the central kitchen be modelled?
Yes, as a production site with recipes and transfers to restaurants.
Similar industries
Industries with related workflows
RetailMulti-store retail ERP: POS, store replenishment, promotions, loyalty and unified stock across channels.eCommerceERP for online brands: multi-channel orders, marketplaces, fulfilment, returns and true unit economics.HospitalityBack-office ERP for hotels and hospitality groups: procurement, inventory, finance and property integration.
Next step
Food cost higher than it should be?
We will show how recipes, purchasing and sales connect.