Suppliers and restocking

A low-stock warning is only half useful if the next step is asking someone which supplier that item comes from. Linking suppliers to items turns a warning into an action.

This is a five-minute job that pays back the first time you are short of something on a Sunday.

Add a supplier

Under Suppliers, add each one with:

• Supplier Name — required.
• Contact Person — the individual who actually answers.
• Phone and Email.
• Address — useful for pickups and for delivery expectations.
• Notes — the practical details that live in people's heads: delivery days, minimum order, whether they take a Viber message, who to ask for when the usual person is off.

That notes field is worth more than it looks. It is the difference between any staff member being able to reorder and only you being able to.

Link items to suppliers

When adding or editing an item under Inventory, set its Supplier. The supplier list then shows how many items each one covers, and a low-stock item carries its supplier with it.

If an ingredient has two suppliers, record the one you actually use most and put the alternative in the supplier's notes. Kasenso holds one supplier per item on purpose — a single obvious answer beats a list nobody maintains.

A restocking routine that works

1. Open Inventory, sorted by least recently restocked, and scan the LOW STOCK and REFILL NEEDED badges.
2. Group by supplier so you place one order per supplier rather than five scattered messages.
3. Order to your threshold plus your lead time, not to a round number. If a supplier delivers weekly, you need a week plus a margin.
4. Update stock when the delivery lands, not at the end of the week. Stock entered late makes every figure in between wrong.
5. Check the unit cost while you are there. Supplier prices move, and a cost you entered six months ago is quietly making every margin on your recipe screen optimistic.

That last point is the one shops miss. Your food cost percentage is only as honest as your most recently updated unit cost.

Check what a supplier is costing you

Two views are worth pairing:

• Inventory → Daily Item Activity shows what each item is actually consuming day to day, which tells you order sizes better than instinct does.
• Reports → Most Used ranks items by consumption — the highest are the ones to restock regularly, and the lowest are the ones you are over-stocking.

An item near the bottom of that list with money tied up in it is worth either buying in smaller quantities or dropping from the menu.

Frequently asked questions

Can one item have several suppliers?

Kasenso records one supplier per item. Set the one you normally buy from and keep alternatives in that supplier's notes — it keeps the reorder decision unambiguous for whoever is doing it.

Does Kasenso send purchase orders to suppliers?

No. Suppliers are a contact record and a link from your stock, not a purchasing system. You still place the order however you normally do — call, message or visit.

Will deleting a supplier delete my inventory items?

No. Removing a supplier removes the contact record; the items remain, simply without a supplier attached. You can assign a new one at any time.

How often should I update unit costs?

Whenever a supplier's price changes, and at minimum whenever you review your menu pricing. Every margin figure in Kasenso is calculated from unit cost, so a stale cost makes every dish look more profitable than it is.

Can cashiers see supplier details?

Only if you give them the Inventory or Suppliers pages under staff permissions. Suppliers is an admin page by default.

Next: report wastage and spoilage.