COGS-Well’s ROI Explained

Reducing Costs and Increasing ROI 

All restaurant operators want a smarter way to run the back of house. Those who use COGS-Well don’t just manage inventory and recipes – they reduce costs. Our customers report a strong Return on Investment (ROI) driven by improved efficiency, enhanced controls, and new operational insights. Let’s take a closer look at how they achieve this. 

Efficiencies that Save Time and Improve Accuracy 

Automated invoice processing saves managers and the accounts payable (AP) team time while increasing accuracy. There is no manual recording or mailing invoices for managers, and the AP team will not need to enter or code expenses for invoices. Automated invoice processing can save 1 or 2 hours per week per restaurant.  

COGS-Well’s Receiving Audit Service eliminates the need to add or update inventory items. A new item is automatically added and can be counted the same day it is received. Each new item is also reviewed by our auditors to ensure accuracy. This unique COGS-Well service can save managers or system admins 1 to 2 hours per week.

“COGS-Well’s invoice scanning and audit service saves each of our managers 2 hours per week. It is also saving us 4 hours per week at the home office.” – Billy Williams, IT Manager, Collier Restaurants 

COGS-Well’s inventory count feature is faster, easier, and more accurate than spreadsheets. Enabling operators to count the same item in multiple storage locations and use a tablet is more efficient. Inventory on-hand valuations are quickly and accurately calculated and ready to share with the accounting team.  

COGS-Well’s ability to export inventory valuation and transfer adjustments to a General Ledger in an accounting system also saves significant time and improves accuracy, especially for multi-location restaurant operators or if you do transfers. These exports can save several hours per week.

“Our old inventory system did not have a General Ledger export, so the ending inventory adjustments were entered manually. Due to the COGS-Well export to NetSuite, we save an hour per week, our reporting is timelier, and our accuracy is improved." – Linda Liu, Director of Finance and Accounting, Impact Kitchen

“The COGS-Well transfer features are increasing accuracy. The export of transfer adjustments to NetSuite is saving me 2 to 3 hours per month.” – Erica Raihala, Administrative Support and Logistics Manager, Bambuza 

COGS-Well’s transfer feature saves managers significant time. The transfer request feature eliminates the need for one manager to call another. When a manager fulfills a request, the item information does not need to be reentered. Both managers can feel confident that adjustments are automatically made to item costs and quantities for each location.

“Our managers like the transfer feature in COGS-Well. They like that they can make requests to the commissary and review fulfillments via COGS-Well.” – Jennifer Posner, Controller, Bambuza Vietnam Kitchens & Bars 

Tighter Controls that Reduce Your COGS 

Inventory control systems have been proven to reduce a restaurant’s cost of goods sold (COGS) by 2-5%. For a restaurant location making $1 million in annual sales, a 2% reduction translates to $20,000 in savings annually per restaurant.   

“We use COGS-Well to manage the restaurant and the bar at Padre Hotel. With COGS-Well, we've seen our entire kitchen operation become more organized and our food cost has dropped 3 points over the last year.” – Jennifer Johnson, General Manager, the Padre Hotel 

COGS-Well tracks the purchase history for every vendor, invoice, and inventory item. Managers can make more informed purchasing decisions by reacting to cost alerts and reviewing COGS-Well's cost trends reporting. More informed purchasing decisions will reduce costs.  

Counting inventory lets staff know the inventory is being monitored. This added visibility alone will typically reduce waste, giveaways, over-portioning, and theft. The combination of counting inventory and tracking purchases results in knowing actual inventory usage and a more accurate cost of goods sold (COGS). Adding credit for inventory on hand value improves the P&L. 

“Before COGS-Well, no one knew their Cost of Goods Sold until well after the end of a period. Now, our corporate team and managers can monitor their purchases and actual COGS on a real-time basis.” – Danielle Panikiewsky, Director of Finance, Playa Bowls 

“Our managers are taking inventory counts every two weeks. We export the adjustments to our NetSuite General Ledger shortly after that. This enables us to generate bi-weekly operating Profit and Loss statements for each location.” – Rich Ortiz, Director of Finance, Buzz Hospitality, dba Ri Ra Group 

COGS-Well can suggest inventory quantities to order and recipe quantities to prepare. The suggested quantity can be based on Par levels and/or projected usage. More accurate ordering or prep will result in reduced spoilage and fewer disappointed customers.

Data-Driven Insights that Increase Profits 

Knowing what a menu item costs is essential to optimizing your price, portion sizes, and ingredient choice. Once a recipe is created, COGS-Well continually updates the cost. Target costs and profits are configured so the system can automatically calculate ideal price points (Menu Modeling). It is also easy to model the impact of using different ingredients or portions.  

COGS-Well’s Menu Engineering combines the popularity of a menu item (based on the sales mix) with its profitability (based on its price and recipe cost) to determine what items contribute the most or the least to overall profits (Stars vs. Dogs). Better menu management can decrease costs and increase revenue. 

“With COGS-Well’s menu modeling tools comes the power of making better decisions about our menu. We had no way of getting at this data before.” – Jennifer Beougher, CFO at Ruby Slipper Restaurants 

For inventory control, the term “theoretical” means the inventory usage and cost of goods sold that should have occurred based on the menu items sold and their associated recipes. COGS-Well enables operators to compare theoretical to actual to isolate variances and determine if an operation is as profitable as it could or should be.  

“We strongly believe that tracking theoretical costs is essential. Especially when you are using seasonal, largely organic ingredients, where fluctuating prices are the norm. The added insight into food cost in real-time is critical.” – Noah Kopito, Director of Kitchen Operations, All Parts Considered (Mamahuhu)

“By shifting our focus to theoretical versus actual variances, the managers know that regardless of inventory cost changes, we are evaluating them based on what they can control. They realize that variances only occur from things like waste, over- or underportioning, theft, etc.” – Jennifer Beougher, CFO at Ruby Slipper Restaurants 

The Outcome: Lower COGS and a Higher ROI 

COGS-Well users are reducing costs by freeing up resources, improving controls, and making more informed decisions. Our customers report benefiting from: 

• 2 or more hours per week saved per restaurant. 

• 2 or more hours per month saved in accounting (more restaurants = more savings)  

• A 3-5% reduction in the cost of goods sold per restaurant.

With these savings, COGS-Well customers are improving profitability and making smarter business decisions – all thanks to the power of the system.