Strategic Inventory Management and Operational Cost Minimisation Efficiency of Contemporary Eateries in South-South Nigeria

Strategic inventory management which is a comprehensive approach that integrates long-term planning, control and optimisation of inventory-related activities with organisational cost objectives plays a vital role in enhancing operational cost optimisation. Despite its important and optimal benefits, considerable number of contemporary food service operators continue to experience rising operational costs driven largely by inefficient inventory practices, including excessive spoilage, poor storage conditions, uncoordinated sourcing, and irregular replenishment decisions. This study examined the effect of strategic inventory management on operational cost minimisation efficiency of contemporary eateries in the South-South, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to ascertain how strategies such as supplier base diversity, inventory source strategy, supplier concentration level, supplier switching flexibility, modern storage infrastructure, inventory level planning policy and systematic replenishment planning levels affect waste cost minimisation attainability. A survey research design was adopted, primary data were obtained through 5-point Likert scale structured questionnaire, administered to 150 respondents from among owners, storekeepers, procurement officers, accountants, and branch managers/supervisors across 34 renowned eateries in the zone, census sampling technique was employed, data were analysed using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) multiple regression analysis, and SPSS version 21 was employed as the statistical tool. Findings revealed that inventory level planning emerged as the most influential variable with a strong positive and highly significant effect, supplier base diversity, supplier switching flexibility, modern storage infrastructure, and systematic replenishment planning had positive and statistically significant effect, inventory source strategy and supplier concentration level showed positive but statistically insignificant effect The study concluded that strategic inventory management had a positive relationship with operational cost minimisation efficiency, which strongly support Resource-Based View Theory the anchoring theory. This study recommended that management of eateries should institutionalized strategies with positive and statistically significant, reduce excessive dependence on a limited suppliers and re-evaluate and optimize their inventory source strategies.