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Ask a questionRestaurant owners, comparing notes
Questions about running a restaurant on Get Menu, answered by the team and kept public so the next person finds them. Also see the help centre.
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The margin on my biryani is shown in amber. Do I have to raise the price?No. Amber means the margin is under fifty per cent, and it is a nudge to look rather than a rule. Some dishes are meant to be cheap and bring people in. Before touching the price, check the recipe on AnsweredWill I get a WhatsApp when an ingredient goes below its par level, like I do for a dish?Not today. The WhatsApp warning belongs to dish counts: set an alert level on Menu → Inventory and your managers group is told once when the count drops past it. Ingredients work differently. A par le AnsweredWhich of my dishes actually make me money? The best sellers list only tells me what sells most.Open Menu → Recipes & food cost. The Every dish table lists each dish with its menu price, its food cost, its margin in money and as a percentage, and how many ingredients its recipe uses. Read down i AnsweredIs the margin on the recipes page before or after VAT?Like for like. Your menu prices include VAT, and the cost you type for an ingredient is what you paid with VAT inside it, so the margin on Menu → Recipes & food cost compares a price with VAT in it ag AnsweredDo I need a barcode scanner for stock?No. There is nothing to scan in stock. A dish count is a number you type on Menu → Inventory, an ingredient count is a number you type in the Stock-take panel, and a delivery is received by typing wha AnsweredCan I do the stock-take on my phone standing in the cold room?Yes. The dashboard works in a phone browser, so open Menu → Ingredients & suppliers and go to the Stock-take panel. The number already on the shelf is shown in grey beside each box, so you see the dif AnsweredThe supplier dropped off a case I never ordered and I want to keep it. How do I get it onto the shelf?Write it its own purchase order. On Menu → Purchase orders create a new order for that supplier with just that line, the quantity and the price on the invoice. Mark it as sent, then receive it straigh AnsweredI buy from a wholesaler and the price changes every week. Will my food cost keep up?Yes, as long as you receive deliveries through purchase orders. When a delivery arrives, open it on Menu → Purchase orders and type the cost per unit from the invoice beside each line before pressing AnsweredI cancelled a purchase order by mistake. Can I bring it back?No. Once an order is received or cancelled it is closed, and a closed order stays closed so that a delivery can never land on the shelf twice. Create a new one instead. Open Menu → Purchase orders, ch AnsweredWe go through hundreds of takeaway boxes and bags. Can I track packaging as well as food?Yes. Add boxes and bags as ingredients on Menu → Ingredients & suppliers, counted in pieces, with the price you pay per piece and the supplier you buy them from. Then add one box to the recipe of each AnsweredFriday is our big delivery. How do I know what to order on Thursday without walking round the store?Do the stock-take first, so the shelf is honest. Open Menu → Ingredients & suppliers on your phone, go to the Stock-take panel, type what you counted beside each ingredient and press Save the count. T AnsweredI run a small bar. Does bar and restaurant inventory management work for spirits I pour by the measure?Yes. Add each bottle as an ingredient on Menu → Ingredients & suppliers and count it in millilitres, not in bottles, so a 700 ml bottle goes on the shelf as 700. Then on Menu → Recipes & food cost giv AnsweredI am looking for free restaurant inventory software. Is stock an extra charge with you?No. Dish counts, ingredients, recipes, food cost, suppliers, purchase orders, stock-takes and waste are included in every plan, from the smallest upwards, and there is nothing to switch on. During the AnsweredCan the POS refuse a sale when the shelf says an ingredient has run out?No, and that is deliberate. A dish that you count runs out properly: at zero it greys out on the selling screen and sells out on your ordering page. But an ingredient going to zero does not stop anyth AnsweredWe bake twelve cheesecakes every morning. Can I type the number once and let the page sell them out on its own?Yes, and that is exactly what dish counts are for. Open Menu → Inventory, find the cheesecake, type 12 into Initial count and press Track stock. From then on every order takes one off, and at zero the AnsweredDoes the stock sheet I download include my ingredients or only the dishes?Only the dishes. Stock sheet (CSV) at the top of Menu → Inventory has a column for the category, the dish, the price, whether it is counted, how many are left, the alert level, how many sold today and AnsweredMy supplier delivered half the chicken I ordered. What do I type when I receive the purchase order?Type what actually arrived, not what you ordered. Open Menu → Purchase orders, open the order, and under Receive the delivery put the real quantity and the cost per unit from the invoice beside each l AnsweredA whole tray of lasagne got burnt. How do I write off a dish, not just an ingredient?It depends on what you count. If the lasagne is a counted dish, open Menu → Inventory and use Set on its row to write the new lower number. The change is written under Stock movements with the reason AnsweredAn online order was cancelled after the kitchen had already cooked it. What happens to my ingredients?Cancelling on the orders board puts the recipe's ingredients back on the shelf once, and puts any counted dish back too. That is right when the food was never made. When it was already cooked, the she AnsweredA customer put my last two portions in their cart and then never ordered. Is my stock stuck?No. A cart holds nothing. The count only comes down when an order is placed, and the order is checked against the live count at that moment. So those two portions stayed on sale for everyone else the Answered
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