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      Stock: Purchase Formats and Suppliers

      Purchase Formats and Suppliers helps you track where ingredients come from, how they're packaged, and their cost. Learn more in this guide!

      Purchase Formats and Suppliers


      Welcome to our guide on creating Purchase Formats and Suppliers! 👋


      Purchase Formats help us track where each Ingredient comes from and how it’s purchased, which in turn will help to maintain accurate stock levels within our Stock system. Suppliers, as you may have guessed, help keep a record of which companies supply your Ingredients.


      In this guide, we’ll walk you through both, and show how they work together to make the Dines Stock system more precise and organised.

       

      Please Note: Currently, Stock is in its “Early Access” phase, and can only be enabled/disabled at account level by Dines. With this in mind, please contact us at care@dines.co.uk if you would like to use Stock, and we’ll be delighted to activate it for you. 


      Please Also Note: Purchase Formats differ from our newly added Purchase Orders feature. Purchase Formats define how ingredients are supplied and priced (which we will go through in this article). 

       

      Purchase Orders are heavily linked to the actual ordering process, tracking what has been purchased and received. We’ll have an article covering soon: when it’s ready, we’ll link it here!

       

      Without further ado, let’s get started on Purchase Formats!

       

       

      Creating a Purchase Format


      To get started, we must first select the Ingredient that we wish to add the Purchase Format to. We can find Ingredients by navigating to Stock > Ingredients, and then clicking on an Ingredient. Then, look towards the top of the page, where you’ll see a “Purchase Formats” tab. This is where we will find the Ingredient’s unique Purchase Formats.


      To create a new Purchase Format, click the green “New Purchase Format” button. This will open a pop-up featuring a handful of details you’ll need to fill in. We will go through each field below and explain what everything means. 


      Supplier: Here, you can input or choose where you get this specific Ingredient from. If you are setting up Stock for the first time, this will be empty, therefore you will need to choose the “Create New Supplier” option. As there is a lot of ground to cover here, we will cover this in our Supplier guide, which you can find later in this article. Or, you can click here!


      For example purposes, I have created a supplier called “El Verde Imports” 


      Stock Format: How is your Ingredient packaged upon delivery? For my example, Jalapeños, I will choose “Box,” because the 500g jars are delivered to me in a box containing six jars. 


      There are several options you can choose from for your own Ingredient, however. Clicking on the drop-down below Stock Format will give you plenty of alternatives from A-Z. Another example may be receiving a draught alcohol delivery, which would be likely delivered in a Cask or Keg. Or perhaps you receive large flour deliveries via Pallet. Whatever you need, it should be on this list, and if not, we also have a “Create New Stock Format” button to add your own! 


      Conversion Value: You now need to highlight how many units are delivered with the package. Following on from my example in the Ingredients article, a box of Jalapeños will contain six jars, so I will input “6” as a Conversion Value. 


      Cost ex VAT (£): Almost there! Now, enter the total cost of the Ingredient delivery, bearing in mind that this is the ex-VAT amount. Remember, this figure reflects only the cost of this particular Ingredient’s delivery, not the total cost of all items delivered. 


      My box of six 500g Jalapeño jars costs me £15.96 ex VAT, so I will input “15.96”. 


      Supplier’s SKU: Finally, log your Supplier’s SKU (Stock Keeping Unit). This unique identifier ensures you receive the correct product from your supplier. If your supplier has a specific code for the product, enter it here. For instance, the company who delivers my six jars of Jalapeños is called El Verde Imports, so to keep things simple, I will input “EVJAL6”. This field is entirely optional, however. 


      When you’re all done, your page should look something like the below; 


       

      And so, to review; my jars of Jalapeños are delivered by El Verde Imports (Supplier), in a Box (Stock Format) of 6 (Conversion Value) jars, which I pay £15.96 (Cost ex VAT) for. For record-keeping purposes, I log the above item as “EVJAL6.” (Suppliers SKU). 


      There is also a handy wrap-up beneath every purchase format in blue so that you can double-check everything looks right. Once you hit “Create,” you’re done! Please remember, however: every single Ingredient needs a Purchase Format in order to track usage.

       

      Creating a Supplier


      Now let’s focus on creating a Supplier, which you’ll need to do if you are adding a Purchase Format for the first time. You can do this directly from the Purchase Format screen (using the “Create New Supplier” option from the “Select Supplier” drop-down), or by navigating to Stock > Suppliers > New Supplier.


      When you do that, you will be presented with a screen with five sections; Supplier Details, Account Details, Financial Details, Ordering Details and Delivery Details.


       

      Let’s go through these in order, with explanations to what everything means. Please note however, the only fields here that are essential and must be completed are “Supplier Name,” “Supplier Type” and “Order Email Address.” Everything else is up to you if you wish to include it with your Stock system, but of course, we’d recommend keeping your records as detailed as possible!  


      A lot of the below may be self-explanatory, but just in case; 

      Supplier Details;

      • Supplier Name: The name of the Supplier. I’ll stick with my example from earlier, and call these folks “El Verde Imports.”

      • Supplier Type: The type of Ingredient that your Supplier provides. We have twelve options available here, plus an “Other” option which captures everything else. Since El Verde Imports will be providing me with a large range of edible Ingredients, I’ll select “Food” 

      • Notes/Description: Here, you can add whatever you wish! This is the first section that is not compulsory. 

      Account Details;

      • Account Ref: A unique reference code for the supplier’s account.

      • Main Contact: Your primary contact person with your supplier.

      • Contact Phone Number: That person’s contact number. 

      Financial Details;

      • Contract Expiry: The date in which the contract with your supplier ends.

      • Payment Terms: Agreed conditions for payment. E.g., “payment due within 30 days,” “pay on delivery,” etc. 

      • Bank Account Name: The name on the supplier’s bank account. 

      • Bank Account No: Their account number.

      • Sort Code: Their sort code.

      Ordering Details;

      • Orders Phone Number: The supplier’s phone number for ordering products.

      • Orders Email Address: Their email address for ordering products. This one is essential as it links into Purchase Orders, which we will cover in an article soon. Watch this space!

      Delivery Details;

      • Weekly Delivery Schedule: Days/times the supplier delivers to your venue.

      • Order Cut Off For Deliveries: The deadline in which you can place orders for delivery, e.g., “order by 3pm for next day delivery.”

      • Delivery Notes: Anything else you deem relevant for your team to know about deliveries.


      Once you’ve done this, make sure to click “Save” at the bottom of the page, and then you’re done! You have created a Supplier on Dines.


      The Supplier will have been added to your Supplier list and can now be linked to Ingredients. Once linked, these Ingredients will automatically be categorised under the “Deliveries” tab, which we’ll have an article on shortly. Stay tuned and we’ll show you everything you need to know for Deliveries, but for now, have fun adding your Purchase Formats and Suppliers!  



      Thank you for reading through our guide on Purchase Formats & Suppliers. If you have any questions or feedback at all, or if there is a particular Knowledge Base article you’d like to see, please get in touch. You can reach us via email at care@dines.co.uk, or use our Live Chat and WhatsApp support services by clicking here.