Inventory, Recipes, Suppliers, And Purchase Orders

Inventory answers three daily questions:

1. What do we have?
2. What are we running out of?
3. What did we sell consume from the pantry?

On eligible plans, the Stock Operations Desk groups counting, purchasing, receiving, and verification in one place. Smaller outlets may use simpler stock screens—same data, fewer guided steps.

Raw materials

Create each ingredient or supply you track:

Unit discipline: mixing kg and g without conversion breaks recipes and reports.

Recipes

Recipes link menu items (or variants) to raw materials and quantities.

Why recipes matter

• Projected stock — "how many burgers can we make with current chicken?"
• Consumption on sale — optional automatic deduction when orders complete
• Void/refund choices — restore ingredients or keep consumed

Recipes are estimates. Review after menu changes or portion drift.

Projected stock

When recipes are maintained, Zesty estimates servings possible from current stock.

Treat this as a signal, not gospel:

• kitchen waste may not be logged instantly
• substitutes happen in real life
• new shipments may arrive mid-service

Managers should glance before 86'ing items or placing emergency orders.

Stock movements

Log changes with a clear reason:

Good notes make Shift Desk stock stage useful.

POS void and inventory

When voiding a POS sale, staff choose:

• Keep ingredients consumed (default—food already made)
• Restore mapped ingredients (sale cancelled before prep)

Train counters on which option matches reality.

Suppliers

Maintain supplier records for:

• contact and lead time
• preferred order quantities
• which raw materials they supply

Accurate lead time helps purchasing decisions—not just price.

Purchase orders

Purchase orders (POs) support approval and receiving workflows:

1. Create PO with lines and expected quantities
2. Manager approves (if your process requires)
3. Receive against PO when goods arrive
4. Stock increases; variance noted if short shipment

POs create an audit trail separate from ad-hoc adjustments.

Invoice and landed cost

A received PO can carry its supplier invoice and the extras that come with it — freight, handling, duties. Those are distributed across the lines to give a landed cost: what the stock actually cost you standing in your kitchen, not what the price list said.

Landed cost is what feeds recipe costing and the Menu Profit Matrix. Skipping it makes every margin figure downstream optimistic.

Lots and cost history

Received stock is tracked in lots, each with its own cost and, where relevant, its expiry. Consumption is FEFO — first expired, first out — so the batch closest to expiry is used first.

Because each lot remembers what it cost, Zesty keeps a cost history rather than one current price. That is what makes "our chicken cost went up 14% this month" answerable.

Stock counts

Run physical counts on a schedule that fits your outlet:

• weekly for high-value proteins
• monthly for dry goods
• after major events or theft suspicion

Counts reconcile system stock to physical reality. Large variances need investigation before next service.

A count can require approval before it is applied, so a miscount or a deliberate cover-up does not silently rewrite your stock position. Until approved, the count is a proposal.

Transfers (multi-branch)

When stock moves between branches:

• dispatch a transfer from the sending branch
• receive it at the destination branch
• both locations keep accurate stock

Dispatch and receipt are separate steps, so stock in transit is visible as in transit rather than vanishing from one branch and appearing in another. A discrepancy between what was dispatched and what arrived is recorded at receipt.

Do not "fix" branch stock with manual adjustments when a transfer is the truth.

Low-stock alerts

Alerts fire when current stock crosses minimum or reorder point.

Tuning thresholds

Early values are guesses. After one to two weeks of service:

• lower thresholds that cry wolf
• raise thresholds for items that run out mid-rush

Alerts appear on dashboard widgets and operational alert feeds when configured.

Stock Operations Desk (plan permitting)

Central workspace for:

• scheduled counts
• PO creation and receiving
• verification steps
• exception handling

Use it when volume justifies process—not every café needs full PO workflow on day one.

Relationship to menu and shifts

• menu changes → update recipes
• busy shifts → log waste promptly
• Shift Desk stage 5 → note variances for next manager

Common questions

Stock did not drop after sale
Recipe may be missing, item unlinked, or consumption disabled for that path.

Two branches show same SKU wrong
Check branch scope; use transfers not duplicate materials.

Alert every day for salt
Threshold too high or unit wrong.

Related guides

• Menu and QR ordering
• Shift Desk
• Branches
• POS — void inventory choice