F&B Management Software for Hotel Groups: Why a PMS Alone Isn't Enough
Hotel groups need more than a property management system: how to run purchasing, recipes, and inventory across breakfast, restaurant, bar, and...
INVENTORY SOFTWARE FOR CHAINS · 650+ SITES · MADE IN VIENNA
Inventory and Purchasing for Restaurant Chains and Hotel Groups
One item master for every location, 1,000+ suppliers with their data in the system. L'Osteria runs more than 200 restaurants in Germany and France on it. Worthwhile from a single site with around €1 million in revenue.
1,000+ suppliers with data in the system200+ restaurants at L'Osteria50+ a&o hostels across Europe650+ sites across Europe
Stock count: done in minutes, not hours
What is FoodNotify?
One item master for every site. Purchasing, stock counts and food cost run on top of it.
FoodNotify is the inventory management system for operators with many sites. Supplier catalogues, prices, documents and POS data come together in one central item master. Every site orders, counts and costs with it; items with a GTIN or supplier number exist only once, and head office sees every site in the same numbers.
Sources1,000+ suppliers (catalogues, prices) · Your POS (sales) · Documents via BEAM (invoices, delivery notes)
↓
One item master, matched and enrichedWeights · Pack sizes · Allergens · Nutrition · CO₂ · GTIN/EAN
↓
For every sitePurchasing with forecast · Count and book · Steer with actual vs. theoretical per site
Order from over 1,000 suppliers, with a suggestion.
Smart Lists per storage location, the forecast suggests quantities per item, you confirm or change. The order goes straight to the supplier, prices come from their catalogue, not from a spreadsheet.
With 126 suppliers, prices and order confirmations come via interface. Over 900 more deliver their catalogues regularly as files, we load them. Suppliers without a catalogue you create yourself; BEAM takes their prices from the invoice. As of September 2026
See procurement →
Stock count by app, invoice by camera.
Count with barcodes and partial quantities, no paper. BEAM reads invoice and delivery note and proposes the goods receipt. The site confirms at a glance; deviations from the order and from the catalogue price are flagged.
a&o Hostels completes stock counts in half the time; at Wilma Wunder (Concept Family) it went from 2 people × 3 hours to 1 person × 1 hour. Individual results from customer projects
See inventory management →
Actual vs. theoretical food cost per site.
Recipes give the theoretical usage, POS and stock count the actual. The variance is shown per site and per item. Recipes with costing, allergens, nutrition and CO₂. For hotel groups: restaurant, bar and banquet as separate cost centres per property, stock transfers between outlets included.
The actual-vs-theoretical analysis was a prerequisite for L'Osteria with over 200 restaurants. Lightspeed, LINA, APRO and other POS systems run as standard; others we connect via our open API, feasibility and effort are clarified before signing. Individual result from a customer project
See analytics →
And on top: AI forecast in every Smart List, and your data is directly available to AI assistants such as Claude or ChatGPT (MCP server). The AI is only as good as the item master underneath. AI at FoodNotify →
Impact calculator
Run the numbers with your own figures.
Three levers, each one traceable on its own. You set the assumptions yourself, the sources are listed below. The third lever deliberately gets no number.
1 · Close the food-cost gap
per year
The difference between actual and theoretical food cost that only becomes visible once recipes, POS and stock counts sit on one item master. At a chain with over 200 sites there were more than 4 percentage points between them after roll-out (individual result). We calculate with the value you set above.
2 · Time for ordering and stock counts
per year, at € per hour
Ordering in 9 instead of minutes a day, stock counts in half the time. This is time going back into operations, not automatically saved payroll.
3 · Accuracy and focus
not quantified
Price changes show up when the invoice is read, not at month end. Order suggestions prevent overstock and emergency orders. Head office sees all sites in the same numbers and steps in where it pays off. This is the part nobody can seriously put in euros, and the part that changes the most in daily operations.
Calculated per yearLevers 1 and 2, based on your inputs
Check my with an expert
20 minutes, with a chain of your size as reference. We take your slider values with us, nothing to retype.
One e-mail with your calculation and the booking link. No newsletter, no call.
Sources: lever 1 from the actual-vs-theoretical analysis at a chain with over 200 sites after roll-out, measured over 3 months with 3 complete stock counts; prerequisite: recipes maintained, POS connected, goods receipt and stock counts in the system. Lever 2: ordering time 52 → 9 minutes per day (same chain), stock-count time −50 % (a&o Hostels), opening days and hourly rate as you set it. No guarantee, your value depends on recipe maintenance and POS connection.
Concept Family
Wilma Wunder · 12 restaurants
Stock count from 2 people × 3 hours to 1 person × 1 hour.
Individual result from the customer project
Individual result from the customer project
Roll-out
4 – 6 weeks for 5 sites
Pilot at the first site, then roll-out. We handle master data and POS connection.
After the click
You pick the slot in the calendar
20 minutes with your numbers, no call beforehand, no newsletter.
Calculated per year
Check with an expertImplementation
From the spreadsheet to a running system in four to six weeks.
For five sites. You provide one contact person and your supplier list; we handle the rest. These phases are written into every quote.
Kick-off and onboarding management
Goals, sites, suppliers and POS are recorded. A dedicated contact at FoodNotify leads the implementation and keeps the schedule.
Item master built by FoodNotify
We import your suppliers’ catalogues and reconcile them: GTIN, pack sizes, prices. Suppliers without a catalogue are set up together with you, at a flat rate per supplier.
Training by role
Kitchen, purchasing and head office are trained separately: ordering and counting in the app, documents via BEAM, reporting at head office. Online or on site.
Pilot with POS acceptance
One site goes first: orders, goods receipt, first stock count, POS connected. The pilot is only signed off once the POS data reconciles.
Rollout
The remaining sites follow with the same templates and permissions. Support is based in Vienna and answers in English, German and French.
4 – 6 weeksfor 5 sites
Pilot before rolloutwith POS acceptance
Master databuilt by us
Support from ViennaEnglish, German, French
Perspective
Why not just use an AI tool?
Because the AI is only as good as the data underneath. A language model cannot reconcile an invoice with a supplier catalogue if there is no item master where both come together.
What FoodNotify is
The item master with catalogues, prices, documents and POS data, on which purchasing, stock counts and actual-vs-theoretical food cost per site run. Plus AI forecasting in every order list and an MCP server through which Claude or ChatGPT query your data.
What FoodNotify is not
Not a POS, not accounting, not staff scheduling, not a recipe generator. There are integrations for those systems; we do not replace them.
Where the difference lies
Compared with international providers such as Apicbase or MarketMan: over 1,000 suppliers from the German-speaking region with data in the system, POS systems such as Lightspeed, LINA and APRO as standard, support from Vienna. Since 2013, 650+ sites.
Head-office view · actual vs theoretical food cost
September, all sites
| Site | Target | Actual | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berlin Mitte | 28.1 % | 29.4 % | +1.3 pp |
| Hamburg | 28.3 % | 31.9 % | +3.6 pp |
| Munich | 27.9 % | 28.0 % | +0.1 pp |
| Vienna | 28.6 % | 30.2 % | +1.6 pp |
| Zurich | 28.0 % | 27.5 % | −0.5 pp |
Example data. Hamburg is flagged because the variance is above the threshold; that is where you look first.
References
Chains, hotel groups, contract caterers and event caterers run on it.
650+ sites across Europe. A few examples, with what actually changed there.
Restaurant chain
L'Osteria
More than 200 restaurants in Germany and France on one item master. Actual-vs-theoretical food cost per restaurant was the prerequisite.
Read more →Hotel group
Ruby Hotels
Every site of the group. Purchasing and stock counts per property, head office sees every property in the same numbers.
Hotel group
a&o Hostels
50+ properties across Europe. Stock counts take half the time, counted in the app instead of on paper.
Read the story →Restaurant chain
Wilma Wunder · Concept Family
12 restaurants. Stock count from 2 people × 3 hours to 1 person × 1 hour, implemented in phases with a pilot.
Read the story →Contract catering
Kärcher
Staff restaurants with recipes, allergen labelling and food cost per site.
Event catering
Rauschenberger
Goods requirements per event from the recipe; the supplier orders are generated from it.
Read more →“FoodNotify’s flexibility in running and piloting the project with us in several phases helped us a great deal in switching to a digital tool.”
Daniel Gantenberg · Concept Family
“What used to take a full working day, we now do with the digital stock count in half the time.”
a&o Hostels · Customer story
Over 4 percentage points
All customer stories →At a chain with more than 200 sites, actual and theoretical food cost were more than 4 percentage points apart after implementation, measured over three months with three complete stock counts. That is not an outlier but the order of magnitude we usually see at other customers at minimum. The customer prefers not to be named.
Frequently asked
What prospects want to know before the first meeting.
When is FoodNotify worthwhile?
From a single site with around €1 million in annual revenue. The Starter plan costs €174.90 per site and month; the impact calculator above shows what that compares with at your figures. The effect is largest for chains and hotel groups with many sites, because head office sees every property in the same numbers.
Which POS systems are integrated?
Lightspeed, LINA, APRO and other POS systems run as standard. We connect other systems via our open API; feasibility and effort are clarified before the contract is signed, and the POS integration is part of the pilot acceptance.
Are my suppliers already in the system?
More than 1,000 suppliers have data in the system. For 126 of them, prices and order confirmations come via interface; over 900 more deliver their catalogues regularly as files. Missing suppliers you set up yourself or we do it during implementation; BEAM takes their prices from the invoice.
How long does implementation take?
Four to six weeks for five sites: kick-off, item master built by FoodNotify, training by role, pilot at one site with POS acceptance, then rollout. You provide one contact person and your supplier list.
What is BEAM?
FoodNotify’s document recognition. Invoices or delivery notes are photographed or uploaded, BEAM reads the line items, proposes the goods receipt and flags deviations from the order and the catalogue price. The site confirms at a glance.
Does FoodNotify work for hotels?
Yes. Restaurant, bar, banquet and breakfast run as separate cost centres per property, including stock transfers between outlets. Head office sees every property of the group in the same numbers. Ruby Hotels uses it at every site.
What does the AI at FoodNotify do?
The forecast proposes quantities per item in every Smart List; you confirm or change them. Through the MCP server, AI assistants such as Claude or ChatGPT query your data directly, for instance food cost per site. The AI is as good as the item master underneath, which is why every implementation starts there.
Where is FoodNotify from and who supports us?
FoodNotify is a company from Vienna, on the market since 2013, with more than 650 sites across Europe. Support and implementation come from our own team, in English, German and French.
Your question is not here?Book a demo →
BLOG
All on digitalization in the hospitality industry
On our blog we give you exciting insights on digital topics and trends in the hospitality industry as well as updates from the FoodNotify team.
Allergen Labeling in Institutional Catering: Getting Compliance Right in Canteens, Hospitals and Schools
Allergen labeling requirements for canteens, staff restaurants, and institutional catering: what the law requires, where the biggest risks lie, and...
Sep 4, 2026
Recipe Management in Foodservice: Automating Allergen Labeling
Recipe management without manual overhead: how digital systems automatically derive allergens, nutritional values and CO2 data from supplier data —...
Sep 4, 2026
Let's get started together
Contact our team and see what FoodNotify can do for you. We would like to show you the possibilities FoodNotify's solutions offer for your business in a free demo.