Outdated stock information significantly affects the operation of your location. For example, you can run out of disposable packaging or coffee beans during the peak hours of attendance. This issue leads to losses, sorting errors, and a bad experience for customers.
The biggest disruptions in the inventory operations are caused by settings that are either incorrectly made or not made at all.
We have prepared a list of the most popular customer inquiries and their solutions, to ensure that you always have accurate information about your inventory and your operation runs smoothly without any interruptions.
✔️ All settings need to be inspected and configured in the Poster management console.
Incorrectly linked storage locations
When a storage location with ingredients in stock isn't linked to the location, it becomes difficult for the system to track from which storage products and ingredients should be deducted during sales.
To check the settings and link a storage location to your location:
Go to Access → Locations in the management console.
Click Edit next to the location name.
Scroll down the page to add Storage locations into the Inventory field.
Unconfigured deduction rules
In case the location has multiple storage locations, but the deduction rules by stations were not set up Poster deducts sold ingredients from the storage location that most recently received a supply or transfer of that specific ingredient.
This issue can be identified by the following signs:
The quantity of the ingredient at one storage location does not decrease, even though dishes containing that ingredient are being sold. Meanwhile, another storage location shows a negative quantity of the same product
To confirm and correct this error:
Go to Access → Locations in the management console.
Click Edit next to the location login.
Scroll down to the Inventory section.
Select Configure each station separately in Settings.
Scroll down to Station section.
Assign storage locations to each station.
Click Save.
For example, disposable packaging might be used simultaneously in the "Kitchen" and "Bar" stations. Multiple storage location can be assigned to each station.
☝️ For deduction rules to work it's important to assign specific stations to your products and dishes.
Unassigned stations
In case your products and dishes have no station assigned to them, selling such items would not result in deducting them from the storage locations.
To fix this, edit all menu items that need a station to be assigned:
Go to Menu → Dishes/Products in the management console.
Select filter Station → Without station.
Click Edit next to a dish or product name.
Select a required Station.
Click Save.
☝️ Previous deductions that appeared as a result of sales are not affected by assigning new stations or changing them.
Missing supplies
No products and ingredients were supplied to the certain storage location. In this case selling products or dishes containing such ingredients would result into negative stock balance.
To see if product/ingredient has been supplied:
Go to Inventory → Stock in the management console.
Find the required item and click Supply next to its name
Check if the item has any supplies.
☝️ Supplies can be added or edited retroactively.
Ingredients stored in a wrong storage location.
Sales deductions are being made from a different storage location. Poster still has these items in stock, but they're stored elsewhere. To correct this, add a transfer in the inventory to move the products to the correct storage location.
To locate which storage location holds the ingredients:
Go to Inventory → Stock in the management console.
Find a required ingredient or product.
Click the Columns button at the top right.
Enable Storage box.
To add transfer between storage locations:
Go to Inventory → Transfers and click Add.
Choose the transfer date and time.
Choose from which storage to which storage to make a transfer.
Choose products and write quantity.
Click Save.
Duplicated menu items
The system has several identical items with minor differences in their names. For instance, 'Leaf of lettuce' and 'Lettuce leaf' – supply was added for the first item, but unlike the first one, the second is added to the dish recipes.
We recommend checking inventory items by category or name using the quick search bar. In such cases, typing 'lettuce' in the search field will immediately show all products containing this word in their name.
Next, an inventory check should be conducted where one of the duplicate items is zeroed out, and the actual quantity is set for the other.
☝️ Remember, a product name starting with an uppercase or lowercase letter represents two different items.
Incorrect dish recipes
Initially, dishes were set up with incorrect gross weights for their ingredients
If you're experiencing recurring shortages of certain ingredients, it's important to inspect their quantities in your dish recipes. Changes in supplier or ingredient consumption could be leading to higher usage and significant discrepancies in the inventory.
To identify dishes that contain a particular ingredient:
Go to Menu → Ingredients in the management console.
Click Details button next to the ingredient name.
This will reveal the list of all dishes and preparations containing such ingredients.
Check these dishes and make sure their recipes are correct.
☝️ To change the dish recipe in previous sales use retroactive dish editing.
Feel free to contact our customer support if you have any questions or concerns. We're available in chat @joinposter.com and email contact@joinposter.com
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