Inventory par levels
Turn what you sold into how much of each ingredient you use, with par levels, count sheets and the order to place with each supplier.
Inventory par levels works out how much of each ingredient you go through from what you actually sold, and turns that into how much to keep on the shelf and how much to order from each supplier.
A par level is the amount of an ingredient to have on hand when a delivery arrives. GetSetReply shows it as Stock up to: enough to last until the next delivery after that, plus a buffer for a busy day. It works your pars out from your sales, so they move as your sales do, and you can set any of them by hand instead.
Before you begin
- Access. Inventory is switched on account by account while it is in beta. Once it is on, Inventory appears in your sidebar.
- Your menu cost model. Inventory reads your recipes to know what goes into each dish, so your ingredients, recipes and menu items need to be in the menu cost model, with your point of sale's item names matched to them on POS mapping. Inventory reads the cost model and never changes it.
- Your suppliers. To build an order for a supplier, inventory needs to know the days you order from them and how long delivery takes.
How your par levels are worked out
- Every dish you sold is broken down through its recipe into the ingredients that went into it. Extras rung up as add-ons count too, because they use ingredients. Lines that take something away, such as "No Beans", never add anything.
- That gives each ingredient's Usage / day, with busy and quiet days of the week taken into account. Days you are closed are skipped.
- Stock up to is what you will use between the next delivery and the one after it, plus a buffer, plus an allowance for trim and spoilage.
- Order is the stock up to level minus what is on the shelf and what is already on its way, rounded up to whole packs.
What is on the shelf only ever comes from a count or a delivery you record. Inventory never guesses it from sales, and placing an order does not change it. So until you count, the Stock screen shows Count to see where the order would be.
Some ingredients cannot be forecast from sales, for example one that nothing using it has sold, or one whose pack lasts longer than any ordering cycle, like a big tub of salt. They are listed separately, and you can set their pars by hand.
Set up inventory
Open Inventory in the sidebar and choose the Setup tab. It lists five steps, each with a link to where it is done. Every step is open at any time.
- Cost model built: your ingredients, recipes and menu items are in the cost model.
- Register names mapped: your point of sale is connected, assigned to the store, and its item names point at menu items.
- Suppliers and delivery days: each supplier you order from, with its order days (see Add your suppliers).
- Ingredients assigned and zoned: each tracked ingredient has a supplier, and a zone, which is where it is stored, so a count walks the kitchen in order.
- First count: you have counted what is on your shelves.
Setup also lists the register names that are not counted yet, so you can map the ones that matter.
Add your suppliers and order days
- In Inventory, press the gear beside Start a count (Inventory settings) and open Suppliers.
- Press Add a supplier and type the Supplier name.
- Tick the Order days, the days of the week you place an order with them.
- Type the Days from order to delivery and the Cutoff time for getting an order in. Who you call, Email, Phone and Notes are there for your own reference.
- Press Save.
A supplier with no order day is a cash and carry run. That is a real answer, it just never produces a scheduled order. Suppliers belong to a store, so with more than one store you set them up for each one.
Read the Stock screen
Stock is your par list: every tracked ingredient, grouped by what needs doing.
- Short before the next delivery: at the rate you are using it, it runs out before the next delivery arrives.
- Order today: you are below its stock up to line, so it needs ordering.
- Already ordered: an order for it is on its way.
- Not counted: nobody has counted it yet.
- Stocked: you have enough.
For each ingredient you see its category and supplier, a bar comparing what is on the shelf with its Stock up to line (and the day it runs out, when that is soon), its Usage / day, what to Order in packs, and Days used: how many of the days in its history it was used on.
Stock
What to order, worked out from what sold.
Short before the next delivery (1)
Order today (2)
Stocked (2)
- Usage a day is what your sales say you burned, not what you bought.
- On hand is your last count, aged forward by what has sold since.
- Stock up to is how much to have on the shelf when the truck comes, not how much to keep.
Count your stock
A count tells inventory what is really on your shelves, which is what turns a par into an order.
- In Inventory, press Start a count.
- Under What are you counting?, choose a zone, the ingredients For an order from one supplier, the things that look short, or Everything.
- Walk the list and type what you find for each one. Next uncounted jumps to the next one left.
- Press Finish.
You do not have to count everything at once: each ingredient keeps the date it was last counted. A count in progress is saved on the phone you are using, so you can leave and come back to it. Counting regularly also lets inventory check its own arithmetic against your shelves, and its numbers get better each time.
Place an order
- In Inventory, open Orders and press Start a followed by the supplier's name and order. Or press Build the order on the Today tab.
- The order sheet lists each ingredient with its Stock up to, what is On hand, the Suggested order in packs and what you will Order. Change any quantity you like. Ingredients worth a second look are listed first, under Check these first.
- Send it to your supplier yourself: Copy as text to paste it into a message, Email to open it in your email app, or Export CSV.
- Press Mark as placed. The order now counts as on its way, so it is not ordered twice.
- When the delivery arrives, open the order and press Record what arrived. That updates what is on the shelf.
GetSetReply never sends an order to a supplier for you. Where your ingredients have prices in the cost model, the sheet shows a rough total.
Get an order reminder
On a supplier's order day, inventory can email you a reminder with a draft order already built.
- In Inventory settings, open Defaults.
- Under Order reminders, turn on Message me when an order is due.
- Pick the Hour. It is read on your store's own clock.
On each order day you get one email at that hour for each supplier you order from that day. It names the supplier, how many lines are on the order and roughly what it comes to, with a button to Open the order. Nothing has been sent to your supplier: the order is a draft you can change. The reminder is an email only; there is no text message version. Reminders start once a supplier has order days.
Change a par level
Click any ingredient on Stock to open its panel. It shows how its numbers were worked out, what it has been doing, and what your counts say.
- To carry more or less buffer, pick Less, Normal or More under How much buffer to carry.
- To set the par yourself, open Advanced and change Where this number comes from to You set it, then type How much to keep on hand. Per order works it out from how many orders you take instead of from what sold.
- Also under Advanced: Trim and spoilage, as a percentage for what is lost between the case and the plate; Add for untracked use, as a percentage, which asks you to say what that extra use is; Shelf life, in days; Where it is stored; the Supplier and Backup supplier; and Lead time, in days. Untick Track this ingredient to leave it out of inventory.
Press Save these settings. The pack size comes from the cost model, so the panel links you there to change it.
In Inventory settings, Defaults also holds the trim and spoilage figure used for every ingredient without its own, and The days you are shut, which are left out of the forecast. Corrections lists everything inventory has learned from you, such as a usage you corrected, and lets you undo it.
If something goes wrong
The Order column says Count to see. Nothing has been counted yet, so inventory does not know what is on the shelf. Start a count.
An ingredient says Pack size? The cost model does not know how much one pack of it holds. Fix the pack size on the ingredient in the cost model.
An ingredient is missing from the Stock screen. It is either not tracked, or nothing that uses it has sold. Check that the dishes it goes into are built from it in the cost model and that their names are mapped on POS mapping.
I did not get an order reminder. Check that Message me when an order is due is on and that the supplier has order days. The reminder is sent on your store's own clock, and a store whose time zone we have not worked out yet is skipped rather than emailed at the wrong hour. If reminders still do not arrive, email support@getsetreply.com.
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