Free inventory count sheet template

What it is for

A count sheet is the page you carry while you count. Its only job is to make sure every item gets counted once, in the order you meet it, so nobody walks back to the bar fridge because the sheet listed milk next to the paper cups.

This one is grouped by zone. Each zone is a place you stand: the bar fridge, the bean shelf, dry storage. Items sit under the zone where you find them, and the par column tells the counter what the target is, so low stock jumps out while they are standing in front of it.

The Excel file has two tabs, Cafe and Restaurant. The CSV holds the Cafe tab only, so the Restaurant layout is XLSX or print only. The items are examples, not a recommendation for your menu. Replace them with the things you actually stock. If you would rather start from your own zones and items, the count sheet builder lets you rename, reorder and print a custom sheet.

How to use it

1. Download the Excel file, or print this page. The CSV holds the Cafe tab only.
2. Delete the example items. Keep the zone column and rewrite it to match the places in your shop.
3. Put the zones in the order you walk. Walk it once with a pen and move any item that makes you backtrack.
4. Pick one count unit per item and write it in the Unit column. Count loose bottles as bottles, not as a mix of bottles and cases.
5. Fill in Par when you know it. Our par sheet template works it out from usage.
6. Print one copy per count, or share the file and count on a phone. Write each count in Count 1. Use Count 2 for stock stored in a second spot.
7. Add the boxes together at the bottom of the row and enter the total wherever you keep your records.

The columns, one by one

The formulas

These are the exact formulas in the Excel file, written for the first data row.

The sheet has no formulas on purpose. A count sheet that calculates is a count sheet someone edits halfway through the count. Keep this one blank and put the math somewhere else.

A worked example

Say you count whole milk in the bar fridge and find 4 gallons, then find 6 more in the back cooler. Write 4 in Count 1 and 6 in Count 2, and the item's on-hand is 10 gallons. If par is 28, the gap is 18 gallons, which is your order before rounding to cases.

These numbers are examples. Your par depends on your usage and how often you get deliveries, which is what the par sheet is for.

When the sheet stops being enough

A spreadsheet works while one person owns it and the item list stays small. It stops working when two people count at once, when invoices change your costs faster than you update the sheet, or when the order still has to be typed into a vendor’s site by hand. Our ShelfCount versus spreadsheets page is honest about where that line sits. Fill it in and upload it with the self-guided importer, which will ask you to confirm the columns before anything saves. The importing your data guide covers how.

Questions we get

Related

• Count sheet builder makes a custom sheet from your own zones and items.
• Par level calculator turns daily usage into a par for each item.
• Counting inventory covers counts in the app, including full and partial counts.
• Storage locations explains zones and walk order in ShelfCount.
• Par sheet Par, order quantity and cases to order from daily usage, delivery gaps and safety stock, with the formulas built in.
• Recipe costing template Ingredients, recipes and a modifier swap tab that roll up to cost per drink and the price that hits your target.
• Inventory spreadsheet Items, counts and usage in three tabs: opening plus purchases minus closing, priced out for the period.
• Coffee shops shows how the same counts feed par, orders and drink cost.

Written by the ShelfCount team. We run Stella Coffee in Los Angeles and built these for our own back office first. Last checked October 2026.