Baikely
TL;DR
- A bakery has two inventories: ingredients (flour, butter, dairy) and finished goods (what is on the shelf today). They need different routines.
- Ingredients: count weekly, order to par levels, rotate first in, first out.
- Finished goods: count leftovers per product at close and note sell-out times. That is the inventory that drives waste.
- Most bakery waste is a production problem, not a storage problem.
What is bakery inventory management?
Bakery inventory management means knowing what you have, so you can order and produce the right amount. In a bakery that covers two very different things:
| Ingredients | Finished goods | |
|---|---|---|
| What | Flour, butter, sugar, dairy, eggs, fillings, packaging | Bread and pastry made today |
| Shelf life | Days to months | Hours to a day |
| Question it answers | "What do we need to order?" | "Did we make the right amount?" |
| How often to count | Weekly (daily for dairy) | Every day at close |
Most guides cover only the first. The second is where a bakery's margin is won or lost.
Managing ingredient inventory
Set par levels
A par level is the quantity you want on hand after a delivery. Set it from your usage between deliveries plus a safety buffer. Illustrative: if you use 150 kg of flour a week, get deliveries weekly, and want two days of buffer, flour's par is roughly 150 + 43 = 193 kg. Each order brings you back up to par.
Count on a schedule
- Weekly for dry goods and packaging.
- More often for dairy, eggs and anything perishable.
- Count in the same order every time, shelf by shelf, so it takes minutes, not an hour.
Rotate first in, first out
New deliveries go behind or under existing stock. Label opened items with the date. It is basic, and it prevents most ingredient waste.
Watch prices as well as quantities
Ingredient prices change your product costs. When butter goes up, the margin of every laminated product goes down. Our guide on recipe costing covers how to keep costs current.
Managing finished goods inventory
This is the daily inventory: what you made, what sold, what was left.
Count leftovers per product at close
Every day, before anything goes to a discount shelf, staff or the bin. "We threw out about a bin" cannot tell you which product or day to fix; "9 baguettes de campagne on Monday, 0 on Saturday" can.
Record the sell-out time
When a product runs out, note the time. Selling out at 5:45 means the quantity was about right. Selling out at 11:00 means you lost sales. Without the time you cannot tell the difference.
Feed both back into tomorrow's production
Leftovers and sell-out times are the inputs for the next production plan. Our bakery production planning guide shows how to use them.
How Baikely handles finished goods
In Baikely, staff mark sell-outs and leftovers in a few taps during the day. The surplus report shows the week product by product, and the next production suggestions take sell-outs into account:
Frequently asked questions
How often should a bakery do inventory?
Finished goods every day at close; perishables several times a week; dry goods and packaging weekly. A full stock count for accounting monthly.
What is the best way to track bakery inventory?
Ingredients: a count sheet in shelf order and par levels for ordering. Finished goods: leftovers and sell-out times per product per day, ideally recorded in the same system as your sales.
How do I reduce bakery inventory waste?
For ingredients, rotation and par levels. For finished goods, which is where most waste is, planning production per product and weekday. See bakery waste.