- Daily tasks
- Tasks before, during, and after inventory
- Other ongoing maintenance
For restaurants that count inventory monthly (or periodically)
A few minutes a day keeps the Garde doctor away. Use this cheat sheet to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.Daily Tasks
| Task | Why? | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upload invoices to Garde [Help Article] | Records your expenses so invoices can be processed and sent to your accounting system. | Daily, daily, daily! The more frequently you upload, the faster the system updates and the more current your data is. | |
| Record all internal transfers of goods (if you transfer products between restaurants) [Help Article] | Ensures costs are reflected in the correct restaurant. | Daily — as close as possible to when you physically moved the goods. | |
| Record waste [Help Article] | Tracks waste through the system so you can analyze total waste across the business. | Daily. You can log waste in the moment using the app, or download a printed sheet for a high-traffic area and enter it later. | |
| Approve invoices (only if using this feature) [Help Article] | Approving invoices is the final step to closing them out and making them available for reporting and exporting. | At least weekly, but preferably daily, so your accounting team can export and pay on time. | |
| Close out commissary orders (mark as shipped) (commissary users only) [Help Article] | We strongly recommend doing this on the day items arrive. There’s currently no way to bulk-change dates to backdate deliveries. (Ask us about enabling auto-ship.) | Daily! Timely management means accurate cost reporting. |
Monthly/Periodically (before and during inventory)
| Task | Why? | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Review your count sheet (only if using Sheet to Shelf) — drag any new items into the right categories. [Help Article] | Speeds up the counting process and ensures you don’t miss any new items. | Just before you start counting. Pro tip: Especially helpful after a seasonal menu change. | |
| Count inventory [Help Article] | Updates your inventory balances and keeps your COGS % accurate. | Monthly or at the end of each period. Date your inventory on the last day of the period — some tips on this in our best practices article. Make sure to close the inventory so you can view the Theoretical Usage and Inventory Summary reports. | |
| Input your Close Books date [Help Article] | You need to enter the new date for each closing period. Use the last day of your period. | Update this at least a few days before your period ends. The date should not be set retroactively. |
Monthly/Periodically (after counting inventory)
| Task | Why? | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Review the Inventory Summary Report | Key things to check: 1) Do the top 5 changes in inventory value make sense? You can look up a specific item on the Inventories page to verify the count. 2) Did you miss counting any items? 3) Does the overall change in inventory valuation make sense? (For example, if you’ve historically had ~20,000, there may be an error.) | Just after counting inventory. | |
| Review your reports [Help Article] | Once you’re confident your inventory is correct, check the results. Use the Usage Report and, if you’ve completed PMIX, the Theoretical Usage Report to compare actuals against targets. Pro tip: Use the “Difference Value” slider to filter for items with a variance above a specific dollar amount — it makes spotting issues much faster. | After closing inventory: check the Inventory Summary, then review reporting. |
Other Tasks
These are recommendations to keep Garde in top shape. How often you review them depends on your goals and how your business operates.| Task | Why? | Frequency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recipes audit | Recipes change over time — quantities get updated, presentations shift. A periodic audit makes sure what’s in Garde matches what’s actually leaving your kitchen. | Quarterly, or more often if your menu changes frequently. | |
| Use the purchasing export to check pricing across units [Help Article] | Great for multi-unit operators who want to compare product pricing across locations. Pro tip: Want to make sure all your units are buying the same chicken at the right price? This tool is especially useful for compliance checks. | Weekly (preferably Monday or Tuesday once the prior week’s invoices have closed), or monthly if that’s sufficient. | |
| Pricing audit | Confirms you’re paying contracted prices and flags any increases so you can react quickly. Pro tip: Set up Price Alerts in Garde to get notified automatically when a vendor invoices you above your threshold. | Check the Top Price Movers report on the Dashboard regularly — daily, weekly, or less often depending on how price-sensitive your business is. | |
| Review PMIX mapping** [Help Article] | If 100% of your POS sales lines aren’t mapped to a recipe, the Theoretical Usage report will show a “You may not be seeing the full picture” message. Don’t want to map everything? That’s fine — skip this one. Pro tip: After initial onboarding, PMIX mapping usually only needs updating when you add new menu items to your POS. We sometimes see it needing more frequent attention when POS users enter a lot of “Open Food/Beverage” items. | Weekly for the most accurate reports; monthly if you’re comfortable with less than 100% mapping. |