Item counts for service - Square for restuarants plus

[BlasphemyBBQ]

Is there an easy way to update/add item counts that isn't through the inventory system? I have dug through the forums and have not found an answer to this. The inventory system is not a great way for food service users to make sure that we don't oversell an item. I don't need to add inventory, I need to have real time counts that resets everyday (because we either make more or buy more so we can sell it). This is a huge issue for my business because we are a BBQ place and we have a finite amount of things we can sell per day but sometimes we won't know exactly how much until mid service.

This is a basic function of all restaurant POS systems, and I am actually considering finding a new one because the way it functions on square is abysmal (and we just opened so I would be throwing away my square startup costs, but this is a huge issue). I specifically upgraded to Square for Restaurants plus because I was told that it had what I needed (it does not). I am unable to open up my online ordering until I can get a way to do this properly and efficiently.

I'm not sure if you need to hire a restaurant manager/owner to explain to your programmers how this is a very important function THAT EVERY OTHER POS SYSTEM IN MY 30 YEARS IN THE INDUSTRY HAS BEEN ABLE TO DO!!! Or if you need to steal a senior programmer from aloha or micros to explain how to do it but this is ridiculous.

Please please please tell me I've just missed something and there is an easy way to do this, that doesn't involve the retail inventory system.

[TheRealChipA · Accepted solution]

You’re welcome, of course.  I think we can get you there.  For the rest of this post I’m going with the obvious assumption that you are using the Restaurants POS.

When you “press and hold” an item you’ll see “Update availability.”  If you select that, the edit item screen will come up at the Variations section.  Here you can click Manage Stock beside each variation and then either mark as sold or use a stock adjustment reason (stock received or inventory re-count).  Note that you can also do this from your POS > More > Items to edit from an item list rather than the grid.

For your online store, you will need to edit it.  Then, in Shared Settings you’ll see “Item Preferences.”  Here you will be able to toggle on “low inventory” and “out of stock” indicators.  You’ll also be able to decide if you want out-of-stock items to show or be hidden from your online store.

Note that out of stock items on your POS will be marked as such.  But, in cases where you have just a little more than you thought, it will warn you an item is out and you can decide right then whether to add it or not.

Obviously, this is not perfect but I believe it will do what you want.  However, please keep coming back here and asking questions if you run into issues as you are trying this out for yourself.

Also, lastly, I’d strongly recommend that you go to the Ingredient Cost Tracking beta, which also includes item inventory tracking, and ask to join.  You might not be able to use it right away as, like I said earlier, it is in its infancy.  But it sounds like you are very close to being able to use this and help guide its development.  From what I can tell, this is the first baby steps toward Square having its own in-house restaurant/bar costing/inventory functions rather than relying on third-party apps.  I’ve been involved in tons of betas over the years and the ability to influence and give real-world perspectives on new functionality is definitely a plus, in my book.

Anyway, try over my suggestions above and come back here if we need to refine them more.

[JTPets]

You could use a purchase order to add inventory daily to your system with a formatted csv template. 

I am in retail and manage a lot of moving inventory pieces. The most important thing for me aside from spot checks on inventory accuracy is receiving accuracy. For me as an item enters my store for sale it goes into a purchase order which is then added to inventory.

[BlasphemyBBQ]

Unfortunately retail and restaurant inventory work in vastly different ways and we don't receive items in individual pieces (like shirts or trinkets would come). We have to break down whole pieces of meat, there is often loss when that is done and there is often loss when you cook things, plus we get in things that will not all be cooked on the same day. I really need to have a place where I can just go in and put in how many I have right this second on the fly, and then it should reset to available the next day. But if say I sell out of something the night before the only way to make it available is to put a random number as received in the inventory, which is not efficient or the way this should work for restaurants. This was sold to me as something the restaurants plus software could do, but it cannot. Basically I need this to work the way every other restaurant POS system does, the retail attributes are actually counterproductive.

[JTPets]

Let me tag some restaurant peeps and see what they do:

@indianathomas@makedonas@TheRealChipA@vinesandrushes@sashakanno@saydad@mksavage@jjsmeatshak1@PerroneTech@pigsnoseinn@timberhillwine@PerroneTech@Sam_400º@Donnie-M@JamesSandbar@StevenCheech@AimeeJ@namastewatford@LukeNieuw@dimo10

[JTPets]

and some more: @lawnbrook @artizansty @vladslavskii @tulanejeff @SSB_YVR @kinoscoffee @SVLFever

[BlasphemyBBQ]

Thanks, I appreciate that!

[SVLFever]

@BlasphemyBBQ .   To my knowledge, it is not posisble to have the inventory levels "reset" every day automatically.   But, before we get to that...let me ask..have you turned on "tracking" in the item description?

This is where Square tracks the item quantity, and every time you sell one, the number will decrease.  You would be able to add the number that you have on hand after enabling the item to be "tracked" and then modify your stock quantity.

If you really want to reset them every day, you could export your item library at the start of every day (using the filters in the far left box in the image below) and then exporting it to a CSV spreadsheet.  Change the values in the inventory on hand column to whatever you want, and then reimport the library.   Depending on how many things you want to reset, it could go quickly, or take a bit, but you wouldn't have to edit each individual inventory in Square that way.

 Would that work fo you?

Officially @JTPets , I believe he is asking for a feature that to my knowledge doesn't exist.   @BlasphemyBBQ , you can put in a feature request here if you would like - https://community.squareup.com/t5/Feature-Requests-Ideate/ct-p/Beta-Feature-Requests

Let us know if this helps address your issue.

[BlasphemyBBQ]

That is what I was afraid of! I don't understand why it's not an option to work like other restaurant POS systems. This isn't a new feature I'm talking about, Micros and Aloha have been able to do this properly for decades. I will put in a request but I am pretty sure other people have done it already and square has not done it yet (there are several years older threads of restaurant folks asking this question). I appreciate your time and help.

[tulanejeff]

@BlasphemyBBQ wanted to ensure you saw my reply above.  

[BlasphemyBBQ]

You are the hero I needed! This is exactly what I was looking for thank you so much!!

[tulanejeff]

Awesome. It was essential for us too. Let me know if you have any other questions.

The workflow on Square for Restaurants is very similar. Happy to share more photo examples from the POS if you need them.

[tulanejeff · Accepted solution]

The item tracking has recently improved -- so YES you can manage inventory by choosing the 'track by availability' in the item detail.

This restores the functionality that existed in earlier Restaurants app versions. You can sell out an item, or add a count to track remaining, on the fly.

See screenshots for a food & beverage item below.

This can be managed via the dashboard, or directly from the Square for Restaurants POS by 'long-hold' on the item button.

The count can also be reset at the end of day, or a future date/time.

Hope this helps!

Jeff

Flour Moon Bagels

[BlasphemyBBQ]

Hey one more question. I don't have that inventory option on my items (I sent a question to my square rep so if you don't know that is ok). I am using square for restaurants plus (I think lol), is there something I need to toggle on for me to have that option?

[BlasphemyBBQ]

So I just spent 45 minutes on the phone with customer support and I still don't have this function. They have no idea what they are talking about or how to do anything, and I sent them your screenshots. To say I am frustrated is the understatement of the century. Guess I'm flushing my hardware investment down the drain and moving to a POS system that can actually act like a restaurant POS system.

[tulanejeff]

That's frustrating. It looks like you may need to be part of the beta program for Item Availability. 

I'd go ahead and request to join here: https://community.squareup.com/t5/Item-Availability/gh-p/ItemAvailability

[tulanejeff]

@AdrianaSQ can you help provide some insights on this feature. Is it approaching full roll-out?

[BlasphemyBBQ]

Somehow you know more about this than anyone at square! You're a lifesaver. I really appreciate all your help.

[tulanejeff]

@BlasphemyBBQ were you able to get this feature enabled?

[BlasphemyBBQ]

Yes Finally over the weekend they added me to the Beta and now I have the options I needed. I also worked with some of the team and reiterated someone else's suggestion for having mod counts too. I really appreciate your help with this, I thought I was going to have to scrap it all lol!

[tulanejeff]

Glad to hear you now have these features!

[JTPets]

k_atie, issara, AdrianaSQ, nika - This is needed for retail as well - I have dry dog and cat foods that let me order and have free samples almost available - we hand them out like candy for free but do not want to sell them or scan each one. We also do not have room for each one either and would love to be able to quickly change it's status  I have tried to join the beta since January please push this forward as a use case advocacy!