I spent $5,000 on an automation system that didn't solve my problem. Here's what I got wrong and what I learned.
The Situation
Running a high-volume kitchen with serious inventory challenges. Spending too much time tracking stock, constantly running short on some things and over on others.
The Wrong Solution
Bought an inventory automation system based on the feature list. $5,000 in. Weeks of setup time. The system tracked every item, every count, every location.
Why It Failed
I automated the wrong process. The system tracked inventory. The problem was food expiring before we used it. Better tracking didn't prevent waste -it just documented it more precisely.
The Real Problem
Food was expiring before we used it. No visibility into what would spoil when. No system to decide what to use first, what to redistribute, what to change in the production plan. Tracking existing inventory didn't solve the core issue.
The Lesson
- Understand root cause before investing
- Talk to the people doing the work before buying tools
- Automate the process that's actually costing you money, not the one that looks like it should be automated
- The most sophisticated tool for the wrong problem is worse than a simple tool for the right one
The Better Approach
Focus on waste prevention, not just inventory counting. Visibility into what's expiring when and decision support for what to do about it. This is what ShareTable eventually solved -not inventory tracking, but redistribution coordination.