Restaurant inventory template.

By Jeremy Dudet, founder of Stockcount · Last updated 2026-05-21

How to use this restaurant inventory template

This template is a working inventory count sheet, already structured the way restaurants actually count: by storage area, one item per line, in walk-past order. It arrives pre-filled with example items so you can see the shape. Replace them with your own.

Each line has six columns. Here is what goes in each one:

• Item. The name you and your team recognize. Keep it short and consistent.
• Unit. The unit you count in: case, qt, bottle, lb. Count in the unit you store in, not the unit you buy in.
• Par. The full-stock target for that item. Leave it blank if you only want a count.
• On hand. The number you count. This is the column you fill during the count.
• $ / unit. The cost of one unit, taken from your most recent invoice.
• Value. On-hand times unit cost, calculated for you. The total at the bottom is your inventory value.

Use it as a printable count sheet

For a physical count, print the sheet blank. Edit the items to match your inventory, leave On hand empty, and press Print count sheet. You get a clean paper sheet grouped by area, with a line for the date and who counted. Walk the storage areas, write the numbers, then type them back in here to get the valued total. For a team that counts together, paper is still the fastest path.

What a restaurant inventory spreadsheet should include

A useful inventory spreadsheet is not a long list of items. It is a list organized so the count is fast and the numbers mean something. Three rules separate a spreadsheet that gets used from one that gets abandoned:

• Organize by storage area, not alphabetically. You count by walking. The sheet should match the walk: walk-in, then freezer, then dry storage, then bar. An alphabetical list sends you back and forth across the kitchen.
• Include par, not just count. A count tells you what you have. Par tells you what to order. The gap between them is the order. Without par the sheet is a record, not a tool.
• Keep unit cost current. The value column is only as good as the cost column. A spreadsheet cannot tell you a vendor raised a price. Update unit cost from invoices, or the inventory value drifts away from reality.

How often to count

A full count once a week is the operator standard. Count on the same day and time each week so the numbers stay comparable from one week to the next. Count high-value items like proteins and seafood more often, every day or every other day, because that is where shrinkage shows up first. Monthly counting is too slow: by the time the number is wrong, the cause is long gone. For the full method, see the restaurant inventory counting guide.

When the spreadsheet starts costing you

A spreadsheet is the right first tool, and this template is a good one. It stops being the right tool at a predictable point. The counting itself gets slow: typing forty items into a phone in a cold walk-in is the part nobody wants to do, so it gets skipped. Costs go stale because a spreadsheet cannot read your invoices. And the numbers live on one person’s laptop, so no one else can act on them.

That is the point Stockcount is built for. You count out loud and it writes the numbers down, so a full count takes minutes instead of an hour. Unit costs update themselves from scanned invoices, so inventory value stays accurate. And the count lives in one place the whole team can see. Same six columns, none of the typing. See how voice counting works.

Related restaurant tools

Free calculators that pick up where the count leaves off.

• Food cost calculator

  COGS and food cost % from inventory, purchases, and sales.

  Open calculator →

• Recipe cost calculator

  Cost out a single dish by ingredient and yield.

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• Menu pricing calculator

  Price a menu item against a target food cost percentage.

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• Pour cost calculator

  Beverage, cocktail, beer, and liquor cost in one place.

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• Labor cost calculator

  Track labor % alongside food cost for full prime cost.

  Open calculator →

Frequently asked questions

Is this restaurant inventory template free?

Yes, completely free. No signup, no email, no watermark, no usage limits. The template runs in your browser. Edit the items, print it, or download it as a CSV spreadsheet. If you want inventory counted by voice and valued automatically instead of typed by hand, Stockcount starts at $19 per month.

What should a restaurant inventory spreadsheet include?

At minimum: item name, the storage area it lives in, the unit you count it in, the quantity on hand, and the cost per unit. Par level is the useful sixth column, it tells whoever is counting what a full stock looks like. This template includes all six and multiplies on-hand by unit cost to give you a running inventory value.

How do I make an inventory count sheet?

Group items by where they physically sit: walk-in, freezer, dry storage, bar. List every item in the order you walk past it. Add columns for unit, par, and on-hand. Print it blank, count once per week at the same time, and write the numbers in. This page builds that sheet for you, already organized by storage area.

How often should I count restaurant inventory?

A full count once a week is the operator standard, on the same day and time each week so the numbers stay comparable. Count high-value items like proteins and seafood more often, every day or every other day. Monthly counting is too infrequent to catch waste or theft while it is still traceable to a cause.

Does this template work in Excel and Google Sheets?

Yes. Download as CSV and open the file in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers. CSV is the universal spreadsheet format, every spreadsheet app imports it directly. You can also use the template here in your browser without a spreadsheet app at all.

What is a par level?

Par is the target quantity you want on hand for an item at the start of service. It answers the question of how much is enough. Counting on-hand against par tells you what to order: order quantity equals par minus on-hand. Setting par per item is what turns a plain count sheet into an ordering tool.

Why does a spreadsheet stop working for inventory?

A spreadsheet works until the count itself becomes the bottleneck. Typing forty items into a phone in a cold walk-in is slow and error-prone, unit costs go stale the moment a vendor price changes, and nobody else can see the numbers. That is the gap Stockcount fills: count out loud, costs update from scanned invoices, and the whole team sees the same live numbers.