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Ready to take inventory with Garde? Let’s go.

Garde gives you a straightforward way to manage inventory across your operation. Here’s what you can do:
  • Decide what products and/or recipes to inventory, and how to count them
  • Create, organize, and print one or multiple count sheets
  • Enter counts from your computer, phone, or tablet as you walk the restaurant
*Scroll to the bottom to download a PDF guide to walk you through taking you first Garde inventory*

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Getting Your Items Into Garde

Before you can count anything, you need products in the system. Garde offers several ways to get items in quickly:
  • Upload a file — Import items from a CSV, XLSX, PDF, image, or TXT file. Garde’s AI parses the contents and creates items for you to review. For large lists, you may need to upload in batches (the parser handles roughly 100 items per upload).
  • Type items manually — Enter one item per line with its count unit (e.g., “Chicken Breast 1lb”). This is a fast option if you have a short list or want precise control.
  • Add items one at a time — Use the ”+ New Item” button to create individual products as needed.

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Primary and Secondary Count Sizes

When setting up each item, you will define its Primary Count Size — this is the smaller unit you typically count in (e.g., 1 bottle, 1 lb, 1 each). You can optionally set a Secondary Count Size, which represents a larger packaging unit (e.g., 1 case = 6 bottles). This is useful when you count individual units on the shelf but receive product in bulk packaging.
Only toggle “Track in Inventory” for items you actually need on your count sheets. Services like HVAC, linen, and pest control should generally not be tracked in inventory.

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What you’ll need before starting

Before diving in, make sure you’ve got these basics squared away:
  • Products set up in Garde — You’ll need your products (and optionally recipes) entered in the system. No products, nothing to count.
  • Count sheets created — At least one count sheet should be built and organized. We’ll cover how below.
  • Team trained on the mobile app — If your crew will be counting from their phones, make sure they’ve downloaded the Garde app and know how to log in.

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Before you get started, here are some things to know:

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1. “Inventories” vs “Count Sheets”

In Garde, “Count Sheets” are the customized lists of products and recipes you’ll use when physically counting your inventory. You can use one big count sheet for everything, or break it into multiple sheets — Food and Bar, for instance. You could also create smaller sheets for things like a daily hot-list of high-value items or a weekly protein count. “Inventories” are the results of your counts. These are the numbers and dollar values from any date you took inventory, regardless of which count sheet(s) you used. All count sheets from the same date roll up into one inventory total.

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DOWNLOADING AND PRINTING

To print your Count Sheets, go to Inventory > Count Sheets and click “Print Count Sheets”, then select the one you need. To print your completed Inventory, go to Inventory > Count Sheets, select the inventory you want to view, then click “Export as” and choose PDF or CSV.

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2. Products you want to inventory

For any product or recipe in Garde, you first decide: do I want to inventory this? It’s a simple yes or no. For the ones you mark as yes, you then choose which count sheet(s) should include them. Bonus: you can also inventory your recipes!

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3. Automatic Inventory Prices

Inventory prices are set automatically based on the last purchase price of each product on the count sheet. If you haven’t purchased a product through Garde yet but still want to inventory it, you can enter the price manually.

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4. When finished, CLOSE your Inventories.

Once you start a count in Garde, it stays “open” (shown as “Saved” status) until you close it. After closing, you’ll see a “Closed” status. You can select any closed inventory to view final counts and see how product values changed from your last inventory to the current one. Heads up — you generally need two closed inventories before reporting is fully accurate.

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5. Only have ONE person in ONE Count Sheet at a time!

For any specific count sheet, only one person can enter counts at a time. If two people are in the same sheet simultaneously, they’ll overwrite each other’s work. Want multiple people counting at once? Split your inventory into multiple count sheets so each person has their own. The totals all roll up for the day.

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6. Specify how you count.

Restaurant Admins can specify how each product gets counted. When you count in different units than you purchase, Garde handles the conversion automatically (when possible). If the conversion isn’t obvious, we’ll ask for your help. Example: You buy Swiss Cheese by the 10lb case and count it by the pound. We’ll handle that price conversion — 1 pound is 1/10th of a case. Pretty straightforward. But if you count Swiss Cheese by the “pack,” we’ll need to know how many packs are in a 10lb case. Bonus: if you want to count it multiple ways, you can do that too! Ready for more details? Grab the PDF manual at the bottom or jump right in: