Coffee shop inventory that actually gets counted.
Most cafés skip weekly counts because the spreadsheet is too slow. Stockcount lets you count by voice in 15 minutes, scan the Sysco invoice from the dock, and stop finding out your cost is wrong at month-end.
15 minutes, not two hours.
Walk the walk-in, the back shelf, and the retail case. Say what you see: '2 bags whole bean Ethiopia, half gallon oat milk, 6 cartons eggs.' The count is done when you are.
- Covers dairy, whole-bean coffee, syrups, pastries, retail SKUs
- Par-level alerts so you know what to order before a Saturday rush
- Partial counts ("about half a bag") recorded as-is
One photo from the receiving dock.
Your coffee roaster emails PDFs. Your produce vendor hands you a printed invoice. Your dairy guy leaves a receipt on the shelf. Stockcount handles them all: photograph the paper ones, upload the PDFs.
- Parses line items, pack sizes, and per-unit costs
- Flags 15%+ price increases so you notice before the margin moves
- Updates ingredient cost → plate cost → food cost % automatically
Know what a 12oz latte actually costs.
Link espresso, milk, syrup, and cup to your menu item. The moment your dairy price changes, every milk-based drink re-prices. See gross margin per drink, not just aggregate COGS.
- Recipe builder with sub-recipes (espresso shots, brewed batch, syrups)
- Yield math for batch brew and steamed milk
- Suggested menu price based on target margin
From $19/month. No annual contract.
Food trucks, pop-ups, and single-location cafés fit in Starter. Growing? Pro adds credits and multi-location dashboards. No per-seat pricing, no per-SKU limits, no annual contract.
- Starter ($19/mo): ~1.5 hrs voice, ~60 invoice scans
- Pro ($49/mo): ~5 hrs voice, ~180 invoice scans, for busier shops
- Up and running in 10 minutes. Cancel anytime
Coffee shop inventory, the short version.
A coffee shop’s inventory problem is not complexity, it is frequency. You carry maybe 60 to 120 SKUs, but the expensive ones (dairy, beans, pastries) turn over in days. A monthly count cannot see a week of spoiled milk or a quiet price increase from your roaster. Healthy cafés run cost of goods at 25-35% of revenue. The operators who stay in that range count weekly and check the number against a target.
The habit only sticks if the count is fast. Track the 20-30 items that carry most of your spend, count them the same day every week, and let the software do the math from there. By voice that is about 15 minutes, short enough that weekly counting actually happens instead of staying an intention.
Want to sanity-check your numbers first? Run your revenue and cost through the free food cost calculator, or start counting on paper with the free inventory count template. When the spreadsheet gets old, the AI inventory management page explains how the voice and invoice side works.
What cafés ask
A few common questions.
- What is the best way to manage coffee shop inventory?
- Count a short list weekly instead of everything monthly. Track your top 20-30 items by cost (beans, dairy, alternative milks, pastries, cups), count them the same day each week, and let software turn counts and invoices into a food cost number. The usual failure is a system so slow you quit using it. That is why Stockcount uses voice: a weekly count takes about 15 minutes. Your phone stays in your pocket. Each item is confirmed on screen when you glance at it, so a misheard line gets fixed on the spot.
- How often should a coffee shop count inventory?
- Weekly for the items that move (dairy, beans, pastries, produce), monthly for slow movers like cups, lids, and retail merchandise. A weekly count catches waste, over-ordering, and price creep while you can still fix them. A monthly count tells you about a bad month after it already happened.
- Can I run coffee shop inventory on a spreadsheet?
- You can, and many cafés start there. We publish a free inventory template if you want one. The spreadsheet breaks down at data entry: someone has to type every count and every invoice line, every week. That is the step that kills the habit. Stockcount replaces the typing with talking and photos and keeps the math.
- Do I need a Square account?
- No. Stockcount works standalone with any POS: enter sales totals in chat when you want your food cost percentage.
- Does it handle whole-bean coffee waste?
- Yes. Track bean usage by shot count, batch brew yield, and retail bag sales separately. Spills, stale bags, and over-dosing show up as variance: the gap between what you used and what your sales say you should have used.
- What about retail inventory (mugs, merch)?
- Tracked as non-ingredient SKUs with their own cost basis. Counts the same way.
- Can my baristas count?
- Yes. Invite them as Counters. They can count but not see cost data.
More questions? Ask directly.
Try it in your café this week.
Set up your top 30 SKUs in 10 minutes and count the walk-in by voice tomorrow morning. Plans from $19/mo, cancel anytime.