Inventory Specialist

Firebirds Wood Fired Grill is a polished-casual restaurant brand with 70+ locations across the 23 states. Our menu is distinguished by the craft of wood fire grilling, and our hospitality is built around turning ordinary nights into occasions. We’re a brand with genuine craft and a loyal following, at a moment of rebuilding how we tell our story.

The Inventory Specialist owns the accuracy of food and beverage inventory data across all restaurant locations. This person maintains the back office inventory system, works with the Bar and Culinary teams to build and cost recipes, and manages the actual vs. theoretical (AvT) Bar and Food cost process.

The role ensures monthly inventories are complete and accurate. It works closely with restaurant managers, chefs, supply chain, and accounting to find variances, explain them, and help fix their root causes.

Back-office inventory system

• Administer the back-office inventory platform (Data Central), including users, permissions, locations, onboarding new restaurants and settings.
• Maintain the item master: inventory items, units of measure, pack sizes, conversions, GL categories, and storage locations.
• Map POS menu items and modifiers to recipes so theoretical usage calculates correctly.
• Troubleshoot data issues and serve as the main contact with the software vendor.

Recipe management

• Work with Bar and Culinary to build and maintain recipes, prep recipes (sub-recipes), and plate specs for every menu item.
• Calculate and update recipe costs as vendor prices change.
• Track yields and trim loss so recipe costs reflect real usage.
• Partner with Bar and Culinary on new menu items, LTOs, and menu changes, and load them before launch.
• Provide plate cost and menu-mix data to support menu pricing decisions.

Actual vs. theoretical (AvT)

• Produce AvT reports by location and category.
• Investigate significant variances and identify likely causes such as waste, portioning, theft, receiving errors, or bad recipe data.
• Share findings with restaurant and area leaders and follow up on corrective actions.
• Track trends over time and flag locations that are consistently out of range.

Bi-Period inventory accuracy

• Review submitted inventory counts for completeness, outliers, and unit-of-measure errors before close.
• Reconcile ending inventory, purchases, and transfers to COGS

Purchasing and invoice data

• Ensure vendor invoices and credits are entered or imported correctly and on time.
• Review order guides and par levels with managers to reduce overstock and outages.

Reporting and analysis

• Deliver food and beverage cost reports after bi-weekly inentory is done
• Support budgeting and forecasting with cost and usage data.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

• 4+ years of experience in restaurant inventory, food cost, purchasing, or kitchen management.
• Hands-on experience with a restaurant back office or inventory system (e.g., Data Central, R365, CrunchTime, or similar).
• Working knowledge of recipe costing, yields, and unit-of-measure conversions.
• Proficiency in Excel: lookups, pivot tables, and basic formulas.
• Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation for restaurant visits.

Preferred

• Associate’s or bachelor’s degree in hospitality, accounting, finance, or culinary arts.
• Multi-unit restaurant experience.
• Experience integrating POS systems (e.g., Toast, Aloha, Square) with inventory software.
• ServSafe certification.
• Familiarity with month-end close and how inventory affects the P&L.

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