Update ingredient costs from supplier invoices
Supplier invoices become checked ingredient costs, with big price jumps and pack-size changes flagged.
Finance · Restaurants · When something happens · Updated
Works with
- Slack
- Gmail
- Microsoft 365
- Superhuman Mail
- Airtable
Slack
Gmail
Microsoft 365
Superhuman Mail
AirtableHow do you keep ingredient costs current?
To keep ingredient costs current, forward supplier invoices to the workspace email. Maito reads each line, works out the cost per pound or each, compares it with last time, flags big jumps and changed pack sizes, and posts the changes in Slack. Costs update after you approve.
How it's done today
The manager retypes each invoice into a spreadsheet, and recipe costs go out of date.
What Maito does
- Read the invoice lines
- Convert pack sizes into cost per unit
- Flag substitutions and unusual price changes
- Wait for approval before updating costs
Example
Loop run: New invoice in invoices@northstar.example
Wonka Foods invoice 40118 ($2,317.40, 14 lines) is read. 11 lines are within 3% of last time. Three need you, Marco. • Unsalted butter: $159.00 for a 36 lb case, up from $124.80 for 30 lb. That's $4.42 per lb, up from $4.16 (+6%). • Heavy cream: 4 x 1 gal at $38.40, up from $33.60. +14%. • Shallots: case of 25 lb is new; the old line was 10 lb. Catch: the butter case looks like a +27% price jump, but the pack grew 20%. Per pound it is only +6%. A copy-paste into the spreadsheet would have overstated it. From the invoice PDF and last month's costs. Approve the 14 updates, or tell me which to change?
@Maito approve all but the shallots. I'll check that pack size with Wonka.
13 costs updated. Shallots stay at the old cost, and I've put a reminder on your list to confirm the 25 lb pack by Wednesday.
Maito (7:48 AM):
Wonka Foods invoice 40118 ($2,317.40, 14 lines) is read. 11 lines are within 3% of last time. Three need you, Marco.
• Unsalted butter: $159.00 for a 36 lb case, up from $124.80 for 30 lb. That's $4.42 per lb, up from $4.16 (+6%).
• Heavy cream: 4 x 1 gal at $38.40, up from $33.60. +14%.
• Shallots: case of 25 lb is new; the old line was 10 lb.
Catch: the butter case looks like a +27% price jump, but the pack grew 20%. Per pound it is only +6%. A copy-paste into the spreadsheet would have overstated it.
From the invoice PDF and last month's costs. Approve the 14 updates, or tell me which to change?
Marco (7:55 AM):
approve all but the shallots. I'll check that pack size with Wonka.
Maito (7:56 AM):
13 costs updated. Shallots stay at the old cost, and I've put a reminder on your list to confirm the 25 lb pack by Wednesday.
How to set it up
- Ask your agent
“When a supplier invoice arrives in invoices@northstar.example, extract the lines, work out the cost per pound or each, and post what changed in #kitchen. Wait for my okay before updating costs.”
- Connect email
- Gmail
- Microsoft 365
- Superhuman Mail
- Connect spreadsheet
- Airtable
- Microsoft 365
- Connect inventory system
- Airtable
- Shopify
Not connected yet? Your agent sends you a link to sign in.
What it won't do
It can't read a blurry or handwritten invoice reliably, and it can't know why a supplier raised a price.
Questions
No. It waits for approval and can leave out any line you want to check first.
It compares cost per unit, not the case price, so a bigger case isn't mistaken for a price increase.
In an Airtable or Microsoft 365 spreadsheet, or an Airtable or Shopify inventory system. Invoices arrive by Gmail, Microsoft 365 or Superhuman Mail.
