What this is
aPOS stores catalogue rows as one Product record with an Item Type:
| Type | Label in aPOS | On the till | You buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Product | Retail Product | Yes | Yes |
| Finished Product | Finished Product | Yes | No |
| Ingredient | Ingredient | No | Yes |
| Semi Finished | Semi Finished | No | Yes |
Item Type decides purchasing, till, recipe, and True Cost. Product Category (for example Baked Treats) is only a grouping label.
When you would use each
- Retail Product — bottled water, a can of Coke, a phone charger, a bag of rice you sell as-is. Enter a real purchase price and selling price.
- Finished Product — latte, burger, Babka Bun, croissant you make. Add a recipe for one item. You do not buy the finished bun as a SKU, so do not invent a purchase price — enter 0 if the form still asks. Direct cost comes from the recipe (or from a production batch if you stock what you bake).
- Ingredient — flour, milk, cups, recipe water. Bought and stored. Never sold on Sale New.
- Semi Finished — dough, syrup, cooked filling you produce in Production batches, then use in recipes.
If the kitchen card is for 10 buns, divide the ingredients before you type. See Recipe batch yield.
Common mistakes
- Putting milk on the till as a Retail Product when you only pour it into drinks — use Ingredient.
- Expecting an Ingredient to appear on Sale New — the till only lists Retail Product and Finished Product.
- Using fake stock such as 9999 on a menu item. Leave Track physical stock? off for items you do not count.
- Typing a made-up purchase price on a Finished Product so “cost looks right”. True Cost uses the recipe instead.