Restaurant inventory management that actually works.

Yes, where a recipe exists. Link a menu item to its ingredients once and every sale draws those quantities down, so a flat white takes milk and beans off the shelf without anyone keying it in.

You count what is actually on the shelf and Brewster shows the variance against what it expected. That gap is the useful number - it is where wastage, over-pouring and shrinkage show up, and it is recorded rather than absorbed.

Yes. Wastage is recorded as its own movement with a reason, so a dropped tray and a slow Tuesday do not look identical in the numbers at month end.

They flag stock that is trending towards being written off - moving slower than it was bought for - while there is still time to feature it, discount it or stop reordering it. It is a prompt to decide, not an automatic action.

No. Start with the lines that actually cost you money - the top sellers and the expensive perishables - and add the rest as you go. Categories keep it navigable once the list grows.