After entering inventory, the next step is to check theoretical costs and review.

After inputting inventory, what is the next step?

• A. Immediately order new supplies
• B. Check theoretical costs and review
• C. Create vendor orders
• D. Train employees on inventory practices

Answer: (B)

The next step after inputting inventory is to check theoretical costs and review. This step is crucial as it ensures that the inventory data aligns with your pricing structure and cost expectations. By analyzing theoretical costs, you can assess whether the projected costs associated with your inventory match the actual costs you anticipate based on your sales and procurement strategies. This review can help identify any discrepancies or areas for improvement in your inventory management process, allowing for better financial planning and forecasting. While ordering new supplies, creating vendor orders, and training employees on inventory practices are important, they typically follow the review of theoretical costs. Checking theoretical costs allows the business to make informed decisions that can influence these subsequent steps, ensuring that new orders and employee training are aligned with the current financial realities.

Outline:

• Hook: A quick kitchen moment—inventory is in, what comes next?

• Core idea: The next step is to check theoretical costs and review, not to rush into orders.

• Why it matters: Align costs with pricing, protect margins, spot discrepancies, and set the stage for smarter purchasing.

• What “check theoretical costs and review” means in practice:

• Compare theoretical costs to actuals

• Break down cost components

• Use simple reports and checks

• Look for mismatches in units, pricing, and waste

• A practical workflow with Jersey Mike’s vibes:

• How to run the check

• What you’ll do with the findings

• How this informs the rest of the cycle (orders, vendor setup, training)

• Common pitfalls and quick fixes

• Real-world tips for perishable items, seasonal shifts, and team collaboration

• Quick recap and motivation to keep the numbers honest

Next-step clarity after inventory: why the costs matter as much as the counts

Here’s the thing about inventory in a busy sandwich shop: you can fill out a spreadsheet, scan barcodes, or tick boxes on a screen, and still feel like you’re guessing if you don’t connect the numbers to money. After you’ve entered all the counts, the real work isn’t in the tally itself—it’s in the story the numbers tell about costs, pricing, and future decisions. The next step is to check theoretical costs and review. It sounds a little nerdy, but this moment is where you turn raw counts into financial insight that keeps sandwiches affordable, profits healthy, and the team aligned.

Why is this step so important? Because inventory is more than “how much we have.” It’s a mirror of your cost structure. For a shop that handles perishables like meats, cheeses, bread, and fresh produce, the daily rhythm depends on how well you understand cost as it relates to what you actually stock, move, and sell. If theoretical costs don’t line up with what you expect to pay, you might be over-ordering, underpricing, or letting waste sap your margins. The review acts as a checkpoint that prevents minor misalignments from snowballing into real problems during a busy lunch rush or a slow Wednesday.

What does “check theoretical costs and review” actually look like day-to-day?

Think of it as a quick, disciplined audit right after you input inventory. You’re not trying to punish the numbers—you’re giving them a chance to speak clearly about a price reality that affects every sandwich you sell. Here’s a practical way to approach it:

• Start with the basics: theoretical cost versus actual cost

• Theoretical cost is what your system predicts you should pay for the inventory you’ve counted, based on current purchase prices, usage rates, and standard costs.

• Actual cost is what you’ll experience in the real world when you buy, store, and move that inventory.

• The goal is to see whether these two figures line up. A small variance is normal; a big one is a red flag.

• Break down the cost components

• Purchase price: what you’re paying per unit from suppliers.

• Freight or delivery: the cost to bring items to your door.

• Spoilage and waste: items that spoil or go unused.

• Shrinkage: discrepancies due to theft, miscounts, or mis-tagging.

• Handling and storage: extra costs tied to how you manage the item (repackaging, temperature control, etc.).

• This is not a blame game; it’s about understanding where money leaks might be hiding.

• Use simple, actionable reporting

• A variance or cost-check report is your friend. It shows where the theoretical line and the actual line diverge.

• Look at both per-item and category-wide numbers. A single mispriced item can skew a whole category, like lunch meats or bread bags.

• Check unit-of-measure consistency. If you count by pounds but price by kilograms, or count bags but price per loaf, you’ll chase ghosts.

• Identify discrepancies and why they happen

• Incorrect unit of measure on the item in your system.

• Wrong purchase price due to a recent supplier quote not updated in the system.

• Misapplied taxes or freight charges.

• Miscounts during input (a misread parcel, a missing carton, a mis-scanned item).

• Spoilage or waste that isn’t booked against the right period.

• Tie it back to pricing structure

• If costs are higher than expected, you’ll want to understand whether you need to adjust menu pricing, negotiate with suppliers, or tighten waste controls.

• If costs are lower, you’ve got room to review promotions, forecast more aggressively, or push for better supplier terms.

• Decide what happens next

• If everything lines up, you’re in a strong position to proceed with purchasing plans and staffing decisions confidently.

• If there are gaps, make a plan: adjust the next order, reprice certain items, or schedule a quick training touchpoint to reinforce correct handling and counting.

A practical workflow you can actually follow

Let me explain it in a simple, real-world workflow you could use in a Jersey Mike’s environment:

1. Run the post-input check

• Open your inventory ledger and pull the latest input data.

• Generate a “theoretical cost” view based on current prices and standard costs.

• Compare item by item to the actual costs you expect to incur.

2. Scan for big variances

• Flag items where the variance exceeds a small threshold (say, a few percentage points).

• Note whether the variance is price-driven (cost per unit) or quantity-driven (more or fewer units than planned).

3. Drill into the root causes

• For price variances, verify supplier pricing, any recent bids, and whether the latest invoice matches the purchase order.

• For quantity variances, check recent counts, unit conversions, and whether packaging sizes changed without a system update.

4. Align with the numbers you rely on in the kitchen and on the floor

• If a category like meats shows higher waste, check storage temps, prep standards, and discounting practices for near-expiry items.

• If bread or produce shows price drift, coordinate with the supplier team or check if there was a seasonal shift that wasn’t reflected in the cost base yet.

5. Decide on small, concrete adjustments

• Update any outdated purchase prices in your system.

• Adjust forecasted usage for the next few weeks if you expect demand to shift.

• Schedule a quick team huddle to reinforce counting accuracy and waste controls.

6. Move to the next steps with confidence

• After the review, you’re better prepared to place new orders that reflect current costs and to brief vendors on any changes.

• You’ll also be in a stronger position to train staff on the importance of precise counts and correct input procedures.

Tying it back to real-world kitchen life

Perishables don’t care about spreadsheets. They care about timing, temperature, and discipline. The step of checking theoretical costs isn’t a boring chore; it’s a safety valve that helps you avoid overcommitting cash to inventory you can’t turn into meals in time. It helps you prevent the “stock pile that never serves” scenario, where you end up with too much of the wrong thing and not enough of what actually sell well during the lunch rush.

When you’re managing a line of sandwiches, you’re balancing speed, quality, and cost all at once. The theoretical costs review is the moment you pause long enough to ensure those three levers stay in harmony. It’s a practical habit that pays off in more consistent margins, clearer supplier relationships, and less stress when the rush hits.

A quick note on common missteps—and how to avoid them

• Rushing to order or approve vendor purchases before you complete the costs review. The result can be overstock or mismatched pricing that complicates the next cycle.

• Not updating prices after a supplier change. Prices drift; you drift with them if you don’t keep the system current.

• Ignoring waste data. Spoilage is a money story too. If you don’t count it, you won’t fix it.

• Treating the numbers as fixed truths rather than living data. The market changes; your costs change too. Keep the checks regular and honest.

A few practical tips that fit into a busy day

• Keep it light but precise. Use simple thresholds for variances so you aren’t drowning in data. A quick glance can spotlight the items that need attention.

• Pair counting with cooking rhythms. Do the review after a morning count or after the nightly close—moments when the team isn’t juggling dozens of orders.

• Use real-world language. Talk about costs and waste in terms the crew can act on: “We need to adjust the order on turkey by two cases,” or “Let’s tighten the discard process for lettuce.”

• Involve the right folks. A quick huddle with procurement, kitchen management, and the shift supervisor can prevent miscommunications and speed up the fix.

• Keep a simple log. A one-page note that records the variance, the cause, and the action helps you spot patterns over time.

Closing thought

Inventory isn’t just a checklist; it’s a living plan for how money moves through the shop. The moment after inputting stock is when you translate counts into costs, and costs into decisions. Checking theoretical costs and reviewing is the bridge from counting to commanding costs, from stocking to selling with purpose. When you treat this step as a routine, you’re not slowing down—you’re making the pace smarter, steadier, and better for the team and the customers.

If you’re curious about how this plays out in a real shift, notice how the kitchen team talks about day-to-day adjustments. You’ll hear phrases about staying within budget, aligning with supplier terms, and keeping the line moving smoothly. That’s the sweet spot where numbers meet the human side of running a hungry, fast-paced operation. And that, more than anything, is what sustains a great sandwich shop through lunch rushes, weekend crowds, and the occasional curveball from the delivery schedule.