How to Set Par Levels in a Restaurant

Par levels are the quiet engine of good ordering. Set them well and you rarely run out, rarely overbuy and spend less time guessing. Set them badly and you either 86 items in the middle of service or throw away spoiled product. Figures here are illustrative examples.

What par means

A par level is the quantity you want on hand after a delivery arrives. It covers what you expect to use until the next delivery, plus a safety cushion. You then order the difference: order quantity = par minus on hand.

The formula

Par = (average daily usage x days to cover) + safety stock

"Days to cover" is the gap until the next delivery arrives. If you get two deliveries a week with unequal gaps, you may need two pars.

Step 1: Measure real usage

Do not guess. Usage over a period is beginning on hand + received - ending on hand. Divide by the number of days. Use several weeks of data if you can, because one week can be unusual.

Step 2: Map your delivery days

Write down when each supplier delivers and how many days each delivery has to last. Illustrative supplier: deliveries Tuesday and Friday.

• Tuesday to Friday: 3 days
• Friday to Tuesday: 4 days

Step 3: Add safety stock

Safety stock covers a late truck, a busy weekend or a bad estimate. Think about two things: how reliable the delivery is, and how much it hurts to run out. A small percentage of usage is a common cushion for perishables; critical, hard-to-replace items deserve more.

A worked example

Chicken thighs, average use 12 kg per day, with a 10% safety cushion.

If you count 22 kg on Friday morning before the delivery, you order roughly 31 kg to bring stock up to the 53 kg par. Where an item is delivered once a week, you have one longer par.

Perishables vs dry goods

• Perishables (fish, greens, dairy): short pars, frequent orders. Excess becomes waste. See how to reduce food waste.
• Dry goods and frozen: longer pars, limited by storage space and cash tied up.
• Seasonal or event items: temporary pars you raise before a known busy period and lower afterward.

Signs a par is wrong

• Too high: product close to its date, cramped coolers, repeated waste of the same item.
• Too low: emergency runs, items 86'd, frequent rush orders at higher prices.

Review on a schedule

Pars are not set-and-forget. Review monthly at first, then quarterly, and whenever the menu, season or sales volume changes. If your prep list is built from par, bad pars cause bad prep too.

Common mistakes

• Setting par from memory. Use measured usage.
• One par for every day. Weekends and events differ.
• Ignoring delivery gaps. The longest gap sets the par.
• Never revisiting. Menu changes quietly make old pars wrong.

Where software can help

ChefMind AI lets you set a low-stock level on each ingredient and shows alerts for items running low, alongside quantities and expiration dates. See inventory management. It does not set your par for you; you still decide the level.

The short version

• Par = usage until the next delivery + safety stock.
• Measure usage, map delivery gaps, and set a separate par if gaps differ.
• Review regularly; wrong pars show up as waste or 86'd items.