How do I merge items of multiple suppliers / sizes

What is it doing?

MarketMan allows you to manage a few purchasing options of the same item, as ONE big item. So when you're counting your inventory or building recipes you'll be able to look at one "potatoes" item, but when you place an order or receive an invoice, you can pick the specific size/supplier you bought this from.

Why should I use it?

1. This is the right way to control and follow your on-hand levels.
   MarketMan will keep depleting the inventory based on what you have in stock.
   More on this you can read here
2. Compare prices on the ordering screen- with merged items, you'll always see the cheapest option (based on UOM of course) highlighted in green. Yay for savings!

Notes:

• Main = The main purchase item you use. This is the cost that shows up on the HQ Level if you have multiple locations
• Local = The last purchase you received. MarketMan uses this for inventory count value, and all recipe costing and menu profitability. 

HOW TO merge 2 EXISTING items - Step by Step

1. Go to "Inventory" > "Inventory items"
   Then select the items you'd like to merge, and click on "Actions" > "Bulk update"
   
2. From the drop-down, select "Merge items"
   and click "Continue"
   
3. MarketMan will ask you which of the items is the "main" one - which is the one you use the most?
   (that's the that will be used for recipe pricing as well, so selecting the one you usually buy will keep your recipes up to date at all times)
   You can easily change the "main" item later on.
   
4. The new merged item will open in a pop-up.
   You can edit the name at the top to show your internal name, but we suggest keeping the purchase names exactly as the supplier has them!
   
5. Scroll to the "inventory" part and make sure you select the count options for the new sizes
   of this item (if any)
   
6. Don't forget to hit "save"!
   If you click "close" the new item you just merged will NOT be saved.

HOW TO add new items into an existing item - Step by Step 

1. Click on the item you want to add a new purchase option for
2. Click on "Add a new purchase option" and enter the details of the new item
   
3. You can also merge items using the Excel upload options. Check out this article for more details

Mastering Merging - Merge items of different UOMs

1.  Follow steps 1-3 of either merging existing / adding new items to merged
2. Your "main" item's UOM is automatically selected as the UOM for the merged item.
   For example, if I'm merging these bacon items and one is in EA and one is in LB, MarketMan will automatically set the merged item UOM to the main item you chose. You'll then need to tell MarketMan the conversion information! So in this case how many EA = how many LBs. 
   
   
   Once you type in the correct amount make sure to press update! 
   
   You can also change the inventory UOM under the "Advanced item definition" part of the merged item, where you'll be able to select the UOM for use - this will be used in counts, recipes, and reports.
   
   You can also set a custom on hand UOM to see your on hand of that item by this UOM!
   
   
   

Extra tips - from the experts!

• You can change the "main" item at any point by clicking into the purchase option by clicking the arrow on the right hand side. Then click into the Additional settings section so you can update the main, for orders, and see if that item was local (aka the last purchase received):
  
  You can also see this from the main summary page of the item on the right-hand side:
  
   
• If you get an error that your item is in use, check out the article here!
• Merged something by mistake? you can easily split it back!

  VIDEO TUTORIAL

FAQ

I merged an item by mistake, what do I do?

We've all been there once. Just split it right back. No harm done!

What happens if when I merge items it says "in use"?

The following error message will appear when merging items if both items are in a recipe.

We'll need to make sure ALL recipes are using only 1 of those.
This is a little bit of manual work, which is why we strongly recommend merging items before you start with recipe building

1. Check which recipes the item is in by going to the inventory item and clicking the recipes tab. Take a screenshot of this so you can refer back to it later!
   
   
   
2. Go to those recipes and delete the item from the recipes first. We suggest looking at both the items you are trying to merge and choosing the one that is in the least amount of recipes to delete! 
3. Once the item has been deleted from recipes, you can then go back and merge it. 
   ***Don't forget after merging to go back into the recipes and re-add the item!