Plain-English summary#
Inventory in Foodops is three connected things: Items (everything you sell or use, with SKUs and stock levels), Stock Adjustments (manual corrections like waste, theft, or stocktake results), and Stock Transfers (moving stock between warehouses). Together they answer "how much of X do we have, where is it, and how did it get to that number".
When you'd use this#
Every restaurant needs to know what's in stock. You'll work with these screens when:
- Adding a new menu item or raw ingredient (Items)
- Doing a monthly count and the books don't match reality (Stock Adjustment → Stocktaking Results)
- A delivery is fine but a kitchen ran out (Stock Transfer between warehouses)
- A walk-in freezer fails and you write off MVR 800 of fish (Stock Adjustment → Damaged Goods)
- A regulator asks "how did this stock level change last month" (the history across all three)
Stock moves automatically with sales through Recipes and Ingredients — these screens cover everything outside normal sales.
How to access#
- Sidebar: the inventory/stock area of the Foodops sidebar (icon varies by plan), with Items, Stock Adjustments and Stock Transfers.
Key concepts#
- Item / Product — anything you sell or use, identified by SKU. Two kinds: Inventory (stock-tracked, with a stock-on-hand count per warehouse) and Service (not tracked — a pure sale, never runs down).
- Warehouse — a physical place stock is kept. Each outlet has at least one (Primary Warehouse). Organisations with several outlets may have central warehouses on higher plans.
- Stock-on-hand — the current quantity at a specific warehouse. Three things change it: PO receipts (up), sales deducted through recipes (down), stock adjustments (either way). Transfers move it between warehouses without changing the total.
- Low-stock threshold — set per item, per warehouse. Stock at or below it appears on the Low Stock tab and in dashboard alerts.
- Stock Adjustment — a recorded manual change to inventory, with a reason and a history. Never edit one — correct it with a new adjustment.
- Stock Transfer — moving stock between warehouses, with approval and tracking steps. The source loses stock at "In Transit"; the destination gains it at "Received".
- Service item — the opposite of an inventory item: never runs down, never appears on Low Stock. Use for delivery fees, surcharges, gift cards, deposits.
- Modifier item — an item/variant marked Set as Modifier on the item form. It marks the item as linked to a modifier option (e.g., "Extra cheese", "No onions") for inventory and reporting, rather than a stand-alone menu line. This is separate from Inventory/Service — an item can be stock-tracked AND a modifier.
- SKU — Stock Keeping Unit. Numbered automatically or set by you. The main reference across recipes, POs, and reports.
Common questions#
Q: I see "STOCK ON HAND" as - for all items. Why isn't anything tracked? A: Items aren't tracked unless you turn on inventory tracking for each item. For an item to show stock numbers, it must be type Inventory AND have an opening stock value on at least one warehouse. Edit the item and check both.
Q: What's the difference between an adjustment and a transfer? A: An adjustment changes total stock (waste, theft, count corrections). A transfer moves existing stock from one warehouse to another — total stock across your organisation stays the same.
Q: Can I edit a stock adjustment after it's approved? A: No. Approved adjustments can't be changed, so the history stays reliable. To fix a wrong adjustment, create a new one that reverses or corrects it — both records are kept.
Q: Why does my Stock Transfer have so many statuses? A: Real-world transfers pass through several hands: someone prepares it (Draft), a manager approves (Pending → Approved), the driver picks it up (In Transit), the driver hands it over (Transferred), and the destination signs for it (Received). Each step records who did what and when. In Foodops every transfer goes through approval.
Q: What if I don't have multiple warehouses — do I still need transfers? A: No. With a single warehouse you can ignore the Transfers screen. Add stock through PO receipts, correct it with Adjustments, and it runs down through sales (recipes).