Par level
Also called: par · par stock
A par level is the target on-hand quantity for an item at the start of each order cycle. It equals expected usage over the period between deliveries, plus a safety buffer for a busy week or a late truck. Set too high it creates spoilage; set too low it creates 86s.
Formula
Par = (Daily usage × Days between deliveries) + Safety stock
Safety stock is usually 20–50% of expected usage — higher for volatile items, lower for items delivered daily.
Worked example · Chicken breast, twice-weekly delivery
- Average daily usage
- 14 lb
- Days between deliveries
- 3.5
- Expected usage per cycle
- 49 lb
- Safety stock at 30%
- 14.7 lb
- Par level
- 64 lb
Round to a purchasing unit. If chicken comes in 40 lb cases, the practical par is 1.5 cases — and it's worth asking whether a third weekly delivery would beat carrying the extra half case.
Par levels are not one number
- By day. A Saturday par and a Tuesday par differ, often by 2×. One par for the week guarantees waste on the slow days.
- By season. Rebuild them at least twice a year. A par set in November is wrong in June.
- By shelf life. For anything perishing in under three days, order frequency beats par size every time.
Run the numbers
Par level calculator
The guide that works it through
Coffee Shop Cost Control: Cup Economics
Costing a latte properly — beans, milk, cup, lid — plus the alternative-milk leak, the waste nobody logs, and why a café's problem is almost never the coffee price.
Related terms
Usage rate
How much of an item you consume per day or per cover — the input behind every par level and order.
Prep list
The day's production plan — what to make, how much, and in what order — derived from par levels and a covers forecast.
Spoilage
Product lost to age, temperature or damage before it could be sold.
Inventory turnover
How many times you sell through your average inventory in a period — a direct measure of how much cash is sitting on shelves.
86
Kitchen shorthand for an item that is no longer available for the rest of service.