Inventory Items - The backbone of your MarketMan account

What is it doing?

Inventory items are the first thing you'll be adding to MarketMan: those are the items you'll order, count, waste, and use in recipes.
Every item has many settings options - we can add items one by one, or in bulk. We can also edit items manually, or in bulk. Read more about bulk updating here.

If you're working with a commissary/CPU/Central Kitchen  -check out this article!

Why should I use inventory items?

This is what MarketMan is all about - managing your inventory items in a way that will help you:

• Control spending
• Control costs and profitability
• Avoid waste
• Save time
• Delegate tasks easily, with full control from wherever you are
  
  

HOW TO CREATE / EDIT ITEMS - Step by Step

1. Go to "Inventory" > "Inventory items"
   Then click on "Add" at the top right corner, and "Add" once again.
   For the Excel import instructions, check out this article.
   
2. First- we'll type in the inventory item name and select the category. It is important to have categories for all your items for EVERYTHING you do later in MarketMan.
   
3. Then we are going to enter in the purchase information! This includes the supplier, product code, size of the item, pack nickname (optional), and price.
4. A few tips:
   • When entering the name, make sure the purchase name is exactly what appears on your invoices.
   • The size describes the way we purchase this specific item from the supplier. See the list of our available UOMs on the FAQ on the bottom. Don't forget you can also add a nickname here- such as bottle, case, etc. in the nickname field right below Pack Qty.
   • You can set the price to be per case or per unit - the available unit is the selected UOM
     
     
5. Don't forget to also mark the item for inventory count and add the places the item is stored. You'll need to create storage areas first, but then you can add as many as you need!
   
6. Then you can click on "Advanced item definition" to add even more details like the inventory UOM, min on hand, and par level. You can even set a custom on hand UOM so you see all your on hand in a specific UOM.  
   • Inventory UOM is the UOM we use for recipes and reporting. 
   • Min on hand is the level you want to get alerted at when you drop below
   • Par level is the ideal amount of inventory you want to have on hand when you are fully stocked. Please note setting the par here is per UOM. It might be easier to do it on the ordering screen later on. Read more about it here.
7. You'll also notice there are a few tabs up at the top of the item! Check out details on each below:
   • Recipes- this tab will tell you all about the recipes this item is used in!
     
     
   • Allergens- this tab allows you to set and then view the allergens on the item. Click the arrow on the right hand side to define the allergens right from here.
     
     
   • Accounting- this tab allows you to set up an expense account at the inventory item level. This isn't necessary unless you did not set up the expense accounts at the category level, or this item's expense account differs from the category expense account.
   • Stock Change-this tab shows you more details about the on hand of the item and how that's changed! Remember you have to have an inventory count to start the on hand calculation. 
     
     
     
   • About item tab- This new tab allows you to add to 3 images or files and a 4,000 character description. Click Add 'About' Tab to activate this feature for your inventory item

     

     

     Note: This is on the inventory item level, not one specific purchase option or supplier
     
     

8. There are even more details you can see about the item like whether the item is available for ordering if it's the main purchase option, and if the purchase option is the local.
   
   Main: The brand or size most commonly purchased. 
   Local: The most recently purchased brand or size. The price is used for the inventory count value, Purchases, waste events, and recipe costing
   
   Note: If you have a Head Quarters muti-location account, the HQ recipe costing will reflect the main item cost but the location level recipe costing will reflect the local cost as each location may purchase and price different. 
   
   
   

HOW TO CREATE ITEMS - On the app!

The app isn't the best way to enter new items- it's not designed for it, and it will be much easier to add them on the web, where you can set up all the item details in one shot.
But if you urgently need to add 1 or 2 items, and all you have around is your phone- we got you covered! You can easily add new items in and enter just the basic details for fast and smooth adding on the go.

• Adding from the ordering screen
  Quick-access and setup for new items on the fly when you order and just need one more item!
  Once you select a supplier, you'll have a large + button on the bottom right at all times.
  Just click it and enter the basic item's details:
  
  
  
  
  
  

Extra tips - from the experts!

• Adding mass of items is probably a lot easier when you use our Excel upload option!
  Check out this article about how to do this step-by-step
• If you're buying the same item in a few sizes or from, multiple suppliers, you should add separate items for each of those purchase options and merge them  
  
• Quick access to the price change report! See the fluctuation of price over time for each item. 
  
  

FAQ

Click on the questions to view the answer and step-by-step how-to!  

What is UOM?

UOM stands for Unit Of Measurement.
Check all the details about our UOMs HERE!

How do I export inventory items?

1. Go to "Inventory" > "Inventory items", and click the arrow down on the top right.
   
2. The second way to export inventory items is through the Suppliers tab.
   Go to "Suppliers" > "Suppliers" and click on "Actions" > "Download supplier catalog"
   

What does it mean "Missing info" on inventory items?

This is all about allergens setup! It is not a mandatory field, so unless you need/want to set your allergens, you can ignore it :)