Run a stocktake

A stocktake is a physical count of what you actually have on hand. Invinite compares your count against theoretical stock (receipts minus sales and transfers) to surface variance — the gap between what you should have and what you do have.

Before you start: stations and sections

Stocktakes in Invinite are organised to match your physical layout:

• Stocktake station — a counting area: main bar, back bar, cellar, walk-in fridge.
• Stocktake section — a group within a station: spirits shelf, mixers fridge, wine rack.

Set up stations and sections once. They persist across stocktakes so your team counts the same way every time.

For each section, assign the item variants that live in that physical location. When counting, your team only sees items relevant to where they are standing.

Starting a stocktake

1. Open Stocktakes for your team.
2. Create a new stocktake for the count date.
3. Your team counts each station and section in turn.

Multiple team members can count different sections simultaneously.

Counting

For each item variant in a section, enter the quantity you physically counted. Invinite accepts decimal quantities — a half bottle is 0.5.

Work through every section until all assigned variants are counted. Progress is tracked so you can see what remains.

Completing the stocktake

When all sections are counted, complete the stocktake. Invinite calculates:

• Theoretical stock — what the system expected based on GRNs, sales, transfers, and adjustments since the last stocktake
• Actual stock — what you counted
• Variance — the difference, expressed as quantity and value

Positive variance means you have more than expected (under-recorded sales or over-recorded receipts). Negative variance means you have less (shrinkage, waste, theft, or over-recorded sales).

Interpreting variance

Variance is normal — no operation hits zero every time. What matters is the trend:

• Consistent small variance (< 2–3%) — healthy; focus on high-value items
• Spiking variance on specific items — investigate: pour sizes, comp policy, receiving errors
• Team-level variance differences — one team consistently higher? Training or process issue

Use category and item-level variance reports (next chapter) to prioritise where to act.

Frequency

How often you stocktake depends on your operation:

Operation type	Typical frequency
High-volume bar	Weekly
Restaurant kitchen	Weekly to bi-weekly
Low-volume / storage	Monthly
Full group audit	Monthly or quarterly

More frequent stocktakes mean fresher variance data but more staff time. Invinite's mobile-first count flow is designed to reduce that time.

What's next

Turn your stocktake results and daily transactions into actionable reports and analytics.