Raw materials and recipes

(restaurants & salons):

1. Add a raw material in Inventory → «Raw materials» tab → «New raw material» (or from inside an item's recipe): name, unit (piece, kg, g, litre, ml, box), cost of one unit, quantity on hand now and reorder level. Raw materials are not shown at the till. If you added raw materials as normal items and they show at the till: in Products select them → «Make raw materials»: they leave the till and stay in stock and recipes.
2. Recipe: Products → the item → «Recipe» → «Add material»: pick the material (the list shows raw materials; «Show all products» shows the rest), type the quantity and pick its unit — e.g. rice 250 g of a material kept in kg takes 0.25 kg. The cost shows under the recipe. An item with a recipe does not keep its own stock («Track stock» turns off by itself) — the raw materials are the stock, so it never shows «out of stock».
3. Buying: on the purchase invoice (and purchase order) the list shows a «Raw materials» group first, each with its unit, then «Products»; quantities take decimals (e.g. 2.5 kg). If a material is missing press «New raw material» under the lines — it is created and dropped into the invoice (its «Quantity bought» fills the line — typed once, stock not doubled). Saving raises its stock in its unit; every sale then takes them from stock by the recipe (sizes take their share).
4. Count: Inventory → Raw materials → «Print count sheet» (no quantities on it), then «Raw materials count» and type what is really there; the difference is booked at cost.
5. Report: Reports → «Raw materials use & variance»: opening, purchased, used by recipes, wasted, count difference, closing and variance % (over 5% → check the recipe or record waste as write-offs), plus each material's use by item sold.