Raw goods are sub-items that allow you to track the components that make up basic inventory items, and assemblies are inventory items with raw goods attached. For example, if a restaurant sells a “large coffee” item, creating and attaching the raw good “large coffee cup” allows you to track how much packaging is used when the “large coffee” assembly item is sold. Learn when you should use raw goods and how to enable, add, and attach them to items.
Raw goods are an additional inventory option you can enable at your discretion. They allow you to track components that are used when you sell a basic item, but which are not sold directly to customers. For example, if you sell a “large coffee” item, creating and attaching the raw good “large coffee cup” helps you track how much packaging is used when that item is sold.
Raw goods are imperfect and do not always report 100% accurately as factors such as spillage, waste, etc. can affect raw good levels. We recommend running the Sales by Item report to track sales of individual items and using this information to manually calculate quantities of raw goods consumed.
When to Use Raw Goods
Here are some times when you should consider using raw goods with your items.
When the raw goods do not expire, such as with paper products.
When the same item is sold several different ways.
EXAMPLE: If you sell a specific wine by the glass and also by the bottle, you can track exactly how much is used. When you sell a glass, .2 of a bottle is removed from the wine raw good, and, when you sell a bottle, 1 full bottle is removed from the wine raw good.
When a menu item does not have modifiers, such as different sizes or add-ons.
To use raw goods effectively, each item variation must be set up as a separate inventory item, like a small regular coffee, small vanilla coffee, and medium black coffee.
When selling a pre-made set, kit, or gift basket of items that are also sold individually.
EXAMPLE: A gift basket is made of different bags of ground coffee, but each bag is also sold individually according to flavor and size, such as “Large Bag Sumatra”, “Medium Bag Breakfast Blend”, or “Small Bag French Roast”. Vape shops and retail boutiques also typically benefit from using raw goods in this way.
Menu items that are made to order with no on-the-fly modifications.
When Not to Use Raw Goods
Here are some instances when you should consider not using raw goods with your items.
When tracking modifier items is important to your inventory.
If consumed items are not tracked at the register.
EXAMPLE: When a customer orders a burrito and selects ingredient options, the cashier does not ask for all ingredients in the burrito, but instead charges based on menu item, size, and premium add-ons, such as guacamole.
If the item may be lost, spoiled, or thrown out if not used during its lifespan.
EXAMPLE: Chopped tomatoes are prepared at the start of the day. These are discarded whether used or not, but raw goods only pull from inventory as sold and, as a result, will often be underreported.
When you calculate the exact amounts of a batch for inventory and ordering.
EXAMPLE 1: With a pre-made item like cookies, ingredients (milk, eggs, etc.) are calculated and portioned before the item is sold. Raw goods, however, only pull the components from inventory as an item is sold.
EXAMPLE 2: If 2 lbs of butter, sugar, and flour are used when making one batch of cookies, but you don’t sell the entire batch, the Raw Good Value report will be incorrect. The system will only deduct raw goods for the sold cookies, but in reality, 1 batch worth of ingredients was used.
Setup Tips
Before setting up raw goods, consider the suggestions below.
Use the same unit of measure or an easily-convertible set of measurements (e.g. metric system) for each raw good, if possible.
Note that Manage Assemblies requires inventory items to be tracked, but because tracking raw good inventory can cause item quantities to update incorrectly, we recommend not tracking items with raw goods attached, disregarding Manage Assemblies, and updating raw good inventory counts from the Update Inventory screen.
If possible, create raw goods first, then create the associated stock items, to avoid extra work.
By default, raw goods are not enabled and must be manually turned on in BackOffice.
In BackOffice, click ‘Settings’ and select ‘Inventory’.
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Check the 'Enabled' box and click ‘Save’ to save changes.
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Add a New Raw Good
Raw goods exist separate from sellable inventory items. They are created with their own tracking and management information and must be manually attached to items.
Changing the name of a raw good after creating it will also update this information in some historical reporting. To learn more, visit the Raw Goods Value Report section below.
In BackOffice, click 'Items' and select 'Raw Goods'.
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Raw goods use ‘Last Cost’ (the most recent cost entered when receiving inventory) instead of weighted average cost. Learn how to disable weighted average cost for inventory items, here.
Follow the steps below to attach the raw good to an inventory item.
Attach Raw Goods to Items
Since you cannot sell them on their own, attach raw goods to basic inventory items to begin tracking them.
In BackOffice, click ‘Items’ and select ‘Item List’.
Attaching raw goods to items cannot be done from the Retail POS (S-Series) app.
Enter a 'Quantity' and search for a raw good to attach.
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Click ‘OK’ to confirm attaching the new raw good.
Tracking Raw Goods
Since raw goods are not like other items, use the Raw Goods Value Report to see the state of all raw goods at a glance and use Update Inventory to replenish them.
Raw Goods Value Report
Run the Raw Goods Value report to see the current value of all raw goods in inventory or to check the quantity on hand, cost, and value of specific raw goods.
Looking for inventory item value? Visit our Inventory Value Report article to learn more.
The Raw Goods Value report shows only the current value of raw goods. Historical values cannot be retrieved. To get date-specific values, you must manually run the report in BackOffice on the day needed (i.e. if you need the report for December 31, you must run it on December 31).
In BackOffice, click ‘Reports’, then 'Raw Goods Value Report'.
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Click ‘Raw Goods’ to view the value of raw goods in inventory.
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The report displays the current total value of all stock items and raw goods followed by the quantity on hand, cost, and value of individual raw goods.
Description | Name of the raw good as it is currently entered in BackOffice. Quantity on hand | Total count of the raw good in stock. Cost | Amount paid to acquire the raw good based on the last cost entered. Total | The raw good’s value. Quantity on hand multiplied by Cost.
Updating Raw Good Inventory
Adjust the inventory levels of raw goods in BackOffice like you would with any inventory item.
In BackOffice, click ‘Items’ and select ‘Update Inventory’.
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Select ‘Count Inventory’ from the drop down menu.
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(Optional) Click '+ Add another item' and repeat steps 1 - 5 to add additional raw goods to the page or use the search bar to quickly add raw goods.
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Click 'Update' to finish adjusting the raw good(s).
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Manage Assemblies
After setting up raw goods and attaching them to inventory items, use the Manage Assemblies page in BackOffice to quickly update the quantities on hand of assemblies (inventory items with raw goods attached). Note that these quantities are for the inventory item, not the raw goods associated with them, and raw good quantities will not be updated. Additionally, items with raw goods that are not tracked will not show up on the Manage Assemblies page. We recommend updating item and raw good quantities from the Update Inventory screen instead.
In BackOffice, click ‘Items’, then ‘Manage Assemblies’.
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Select from the list of items.
Only items with raw goods attached to them will be listed on this page.
