Orderzy Inventory Tracking
Common questions, answered plainly.
Twelve of the questions restaurant owners ask most often about how the spend-and-count model actually works. Each answer stands alone; skip to the one you need.
How do I add a vendor invoice, do I need to photograph it?
No. Open the log purchase screen on your phone or tablet. Pick a category chip, type the total, save. Thirty seconds. If the vendor emailed you an Excel, CSV, or PDF bill you can attach it for GST audit, but that step is optional. You never point a camera at the invoice.
Can I upload a whole week of invoices at once?
Yes. Download the Excel or CSV template from the log purchase screen. Fill one row per invoice with date, category, total, and optional vendor and invoice number. Upload the file. Orderzy shows a per-row review with any parse errors before anything is saved, and you commit the good rows.
What file types can I attach to a purchase?
Excel .xlsx files, .csv files, .pdf files, and .png or .jpg image files. Up to five megabytes per file. Excel and CSV cover accountant slips. PDF covers most vendor bills. PNG and JPG cover a picture of a paper slip you take separately. The file is kept forever in the outlet's private storage for GST audit.
Do I need to enter a recipe for every dish?
No. Orderzy Inventory works on spend and count, not on recipes. If you want to know what one signature dish costs to plate, Layer 2 lets you enter a bill of materials for that one dish and see the margin. Ignore Layer 2 if you do not want it. Nothing on the main dashboard needs a recipe to work.
How long does the weekly count take?
Around ten minutes for a mid-size kitchen counting about twenty watch items. The tablet screen lays items out in walk-order (fridge, then dry store, then freezer) so the chef does not backtrack. Numeric keypad only, no dropdowns. Tap a number, move to the next item.
Does inventory touch the payment or order flow?
No. Zero. Orderzy Inventory does not read order data, does not fire on paid orders, does not hide dishes when a category runs low. It is a parallel product surface that shares a login and an outlet, and nothing else. Your POS keeps working exactly as it does today.
What if my staff forgets to log an invoice?
The dashboard shows a nudge when a week goes by without a logged purchase. You can also enable a weekly email digest that lands in your inbox every Sunday evening with the week's spend, on-shelf value, and food cost percent. Every ops email is also BCC to Orderzy's founder inbox for support.
Which roles can use inventory?
Owner and Manager see everything. Kitchen sees the dashboard and can run the weekly count, but cannot log purchases. Cashier and Accountant do not see inventory. Roles are set once per staff member on the outlet's Role Privileges screen and can be adjusted anytime by the owner.
Does it work on the same device the kitchen already uses?
Yes. The dashboard is mobile-first for the owner's phone. The weekly count screen is tablet-first so the chef can hold it one-handed while walking storage. The purchase log works on both. No new hardware, no app install, opens in the browser you already have.
What does food cost percent mean here?
It is your food-related consumption for the week divided by revenue from paid orders on Orderzy for the same week. Consumption is calculated as last week's on-shelf value plus this week's purchases minus this week's on-shelf value. You need at least two completed counts before the food cost tile shows a number.
Is inventory really free?
Yes. Orderzy Inventory is included with your Orderzy account at no extra fee. No paid tier, no per-outlet upcharge. Orderzy earns money through a small platform fee on each order that the diner pays, not through modules the restaurant subscribes to. Turn inventory on or off anytime.
Can I try it before turning it on for a live outlet?
Yes. Ask us to enable Inventory on a demo outlet first, or run it dry for a week on your quietest branch. When you are comfortable, flip the per-outlet toggle on your main outlet from the Inventory Settings screen. No long-term commitment and you can turn it off anytime.
Ready to try it?
Free with Orderzy. Turn it on in five minutes on one outlet, no risk to the rest.