A restaurant order guide is the list you order from: every item you buy from a vendor, in a fixed order, with the pack size, the par level, and space to write what you have and what you need. One guide per vendor. Someone walks the walk-in with it before the order cutoff, fills in on-hand counts, subtracts from par, and that's the order.
It's the single most load-bearing document in restaurant purchasing, and most of them are a photocopy of a photocopy with prices from two years ago. This guide shows how to build one properly, gives you a template to copy, and covers the part nobody talks about: keeping the pars honest after demand changes.
What goes in an order guide
One guide per vendor, because that's how you order. Each line is one item you actually buy — the vendor's item, not your menu's ingredient. Columns:
| Column | Why it's there |
|---|---|
| Item (vendor's name for it) | So the order reads back to the vendor without translation |
| Vendor item # / SKU | Kills the "which mozzarella?" phone call |
| Pack size (e.g., 6/#10, 25 lb bag, 4×1 gal) | You order in vendor packs, not kitchen units |
| Unit price (last paid) | Price creep is invisible without a written baseline |
| Par | What you need on hand to get to the next delivery, plus a cushion |
| On hand | Filled in during the count |
| Order |