FIFO (First In, First Out) and LIFO (Last In, First Out) are stock rotation methods. In hospitality, FIFO is compulsory: what comes in first goes out first, keeping produce fresh and reducing waste.
FIFO (First In, First Out) and LIFO (Last In, First Out) are two inventory management methods that determine the order in which stored products are used or sold. In restaurants, FIFO is the only acceptable method and is in fact required under food safety rules (HACCP), because it makes sure older products are used before newer ones, minimising the risk of them going out of date or spoiling. The FIFO principle applies at every storage point in the restaurant: cold rooms, freezers, the dry store, the bar and the kitchen office. When a new delivery arrives, it must go behind or below the existing stock, so that staff always use first whatever has been stored longest.
To make it easier, every product should be labelled with the date it was received or opened, and storage should be organised so that the oldest stock is the easiest to reach. LIFO, on the other hand, is used mainly in accounting to value stock in certain industrial sectors, but never in the day-to-day running of a kitchen, because it would mean always using the newest product and leaving the old one at the back, where it would inevitably go off. Correct FIFO practice is one of the things health inspectors check, because poor stock rotation can cause food poisoning, massive product waste and significant financial losses. Rigorous FIFO management is estimated to cut losses from out-of-date stock by 30-50% compared with poorly organised stores.
It is Monday and you receive an order of 10 kg of cod loin. In the cold room you already have 4 kg from last Thursday's order. Applying FIFO: you label the new 10 kg with today's date (Monday), put it at the back of the shelf, and leave Thursday's 4 kg at the front, within easy reach of the kitchen team. When a cook takes cod, they naturally take the piece at the front (Thursday's).
By Friday those 4 kg have gone into dishes and you start using Monday's. Now imagine you had done it the other way round (LIFO): you put the new 10 kg at the front because it is easier, and Thursday's 4 kg ends up at the back. The team uses the new cod all week, and when they finally reach the back, Thursday's cod is 8 days old and has to be thrown away. You have lost 4 kg × €18/kg = €72 in a single week, on a single product.
Multiply that across the whole cold room and the whole year, and you will see why FIFO is non-negotiable.
FIFO rotation is the basis of efficient stock management in hospitality for three fundamental reasons. First, food safety: always using the oldest product within its shelf life keeps food fresh and reduces the risk of serving spoiled food that could cause food poisoning, with all the legal and reputational consequences that brings. Second, less wastage: a well-run FIFO system drastically cuts waste from out-of-date stock, one of the main drains on restaurant profitability; industry studies estimate that poor stock rotation accounts for up to 4-6% of purchases in disorganised restaurants, money that goes straight in the bin. Third, legal compliance: HACCP rules require traceability and date control, and FIFO is the standard method for demonstrating it; during a health inspection, finding out-of-date products or stock hidden at the back of a cold room can lead to fines and temporary closure.
Putting FIFO in place takes daily discipline (label everything, store it properly, check dates), but the return in less wastage, more safety and peace of mind at inspections is huge.
Zindra lets you record the date each batch of product was received and alerts you when stock is close to its use-by date and should be used first, making FIFO easier even in teams with high staff turnover.
Tools and content to go deeper into this concept.
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, known in Spain as APPCC) is a mandatory preventive system in hospitality that identifies and controls food safety risks to make sure the food you serve is safe.
Wastage is the product lost between buying a raw ingredient and the customer finally eating it. It covers natural losses, processing losses and service losses.
A recipe costing sheet (escandallo in Spanish) is the technical document that breaks down every ingredient in a dish with its exact quantity, unit cost and total cost per portion. It is the foundation of cost control in a restaurant.
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