How to Set Restaurant Par Levels and Turn Them Into a Prep List

Most pars fail in one of three ways. They are copied from what the kitchen already orders, so last month's over-ordering becomes policy. They are one number for the whole week, so the Monday order is too big and the Thursday order runs out on Saturday. Or the safety buffer is a percentage somebody read once, not a measure of how much this item's usage actually swings. Each step below replaces a guess with a count.

Step 1: Measure usage, not orders

Count the item at the same point each time — after close is the easiest — and total what was received in between. A few weeks of counts give you a usage profile by day. If covers vary a lot, divide usage by covers to get a usage rate per cover, then multiply by forecast covers; that version survives a busy month better than a flat daily average.

Step 2: Cover the days until the following delivery lands

Suppose chicken arrives Monday and Thursday mornings and you count and order after close the night before each truck. The Sunday-night order has to last Monday through Wednesday: 10 + 10 + 12 = 32 lb. The Wednesday-night order has to last Thursday through Sunday: 14 + 20 + 22 + 16 = 72 lb. A single par built from the weekly average — 104 ÷ 7 × 3.5 = 52 lb — leaves 20 lb extra sitting through the quiet half of the week and falls 20 lb short going into the weekend, before any buffer at all.

Step 3: Size the buffer from your busiest cycle

The buffer exists for the cycle that runs hotter than average, or the truck that arrives late. Your own counts already show how far a cycle can swing. Take the recent history for the same cycle and use the gap between the busiest one and the average.

Add to the buffer when a supplier's deliveries are unreliable or a local event is on the calendar; take from it when you can get a mid-week drop. With no history yet, a written percentage is a starting assumption to replace after a month of counts. In the par level calculator, enter the average daily usage for the days the order covers (72 ÷ 4 = 18 lb), the number of days (4) and 12.5 in the safety stock field to reproduce the 81 lb par.

Step 4: Convert the par into an order

A par is also cash. At a hypothetical $3.40 per pound, the 81 lb Thursday par is $275.40 of chicken, about 4.5 days of Thursday-to-Sunday usage at 18 lb a day. Multiply par by unit cost across your top twenty items and you have the money a full walk-in holds on a delivery morning; days on hand is the same idea measured in days, and inventory turnover by category shows where that cash sits.

Step 5: Cap the par at shelf life

A par that outlasts the product is not a buffer; it is scheduled waste. For raw perishables, the ceiling comes from the supplier's dates and your own quality standard. For ready-to-eat food you prepare, there is also a legal ceiling. The FDA Food Code 2022, §3-501.17 says refrigerated ready-to-eat, time/temperature control for safety food held more than 24 hours must be marked with the day it must be consumed, sold or discarded, for a maximum of 7 days at 41°F (5°C) or less, and "the day of preparation shall be counted as Day 1."

The same section says an ingredient combined with other foods keeps the date of the earliest-prepared ingredient, so pico de gallo made from tomatoes cut two days ago starts on day three, not day one. The Food Code is a model: the FDA describes it as the basis local, state, tribal and federal regulators use to develop their own food safety rules, so check the version your health department enforces. Many kitchens hold items to a shorter house standard for quality; a prep par can never be more than you will use inside the stricter of the two limits.

Turn pars into a daily prep list

A prep list is the same calculation run on prepared items instead of purchases. The prep par is the forecast use until the next time you make the item, plus a buffer, capped by the hold limit. The amount to make is the prep par minus what is on hand, usable and in date. Sort the list by lead time, so the four-hour braise starts before the thirty-minute salsa.

The short rib prep par comes from sales, not habit. In this example the dish sold 0.075 portions per cover over the last month, and Friday plus Saturday are forecast at 440 covers: 440 × 0.075 = 33 portions. The busiest recent Friday–Saturday sold 40, so the buffer is 7 and the prep par is 40. Making 28 portions at 6 oz cooked is 168 cooked ounces. At USDA's mean braised yield for boneless short ribs, 66.07%, that needs 168 ÷ 0.6607 = 254.3 oz, or 15.9 lb raw — but USDA's own samples ranged from 44.9% to 97.3%, so use the yield you measured. The cooking yield guide shows how.

Review pars on a schedule and after every 86

• —After an 86. Check whether usage rose, the delivery was late or the count was wrong before raising the par. A par raised after one bad night stays raised.
• —After date-expired discards. Repeated discards mean the par is too high for the shelf life, or deliveries are too far apart for the item. Ordering more often usually beats carrying more.
• —After a menu, season or supplier change. A new dish, a new case size or a new delivery day changes the days each order must cover.
• —On a fixed schedule. Recalculate from the latest eight weeks of counts once a month, even when nothing seems wrong.

Marji does not count inventory or set pars; the counts and the order stay with your kitchen, and the free par level calculator does the arithmetic. Where Marji helps is the menu side: when an item runs out, the free hosted menu's sold-out switch keeps the menu guests see honest while the next delivery is on its way.