Articles
Answers for people who make things.
Lot numbers, recalls, expiry dates, costing, counting and knowing when to reorder. Each one answers a question a small producer actually asks, with a worked example you can check and a sheet you can copy.
By Koa Sterling. Product specialist at TaroStack and small business owner. Yes, I am a real human, and I actually sit in front of a computer and write these articles.
Newest
- Bakery Inventory List Example, With a Free Excel Template One row per ingredient with a unit, a par, a count and a cost. A filled-in bakery inventory list, the four formulas, a ten-minute weekly count, and the file. 7 min read
- Coffee Roaster Inventory Spreadsheet (Free Template) Green by the bag, roasted by the batch, packaged by the size, and the roast loss between them. A filled-in sheet for a small roastery, and the file. 8 min read
- Cottage Food Record Keeping Requirements, by State Most states ask a cottage food business for few records. A few spell them out. Eight states' rules, cited and dated, plus the five records I'd keep anyway. 8 min read
- Does Shopify Have an Inventory System? Yes, With Limits Shopify tracks a quantity for every variant at every location, with five states, transfers and history. What it does not track is what you make things from. 7 min read
- FIFO and FEFO in the Food Industry: What's the Difference FIFO uses what arrived first. FEFO uses what expires first. They agree until a delivery arrives with a shorter date. Which to use, with the numbers. 7 min read
- Inventory Software vs a Spreadsheet for a Small Business A spreadsheet is the right tool until one of four things happens. Which four, an honest side-by-side with costs, and five questions to ask before you switch. 7 min read
Lot numbers and batch records
The code on the jar, and the record behind it.
- What Is a Batch Record? With a Filled-In Example A batch record is the written account of one production run: what went in, by lot, what was done, what came out, who signed. One filled in, plus a template.
- What Is Lot Tracking? (Explained for Small Producers) Lot tracking means every unit you sell traces back to one production run, what went into it, and who got it. What it is, what it isn't, and how to start.
- How to Create Lot Numbers for a Small Food Business A lot number only has to do one job, which is tie a jar back to the day it was made. Here's a scheme you can start using this afternoon, with examples.
Recalls and traceability
Finding every unit of one lot, fast, and proving you can.
- A Food Mock Recall Example You Can Copy (With Numbers) One ingredient lot traced to every pouch and every customer in 47 minutes. A full mock recall with real quantities, and the record to file.
- Recall Plan Example for a Small Food Business A recall plan is four pages, not forty. A filled-in example covering who decides, who calls whom, the customer notice, and FDA's four points.
Expiry and shelf life
Using stock in date order, and seeing waste before it happens.
- FIFO and FEFO in the Food Industry: What's the Difference FIFO uses what arrived first. FEFO uses what expires first. They agree until a delivery arrives with a shorter date. Which to use, with the numbers.
- How to Build an Inventory List With Expiration Dates One row per lot, a days-left column, and a status that turns red by itself. The layout, the formulas, and a ten-minute weekly routine.
- How to Keep Track of Expiring Ingredients in a Bakery Most bakeries lose more to cream that expired behind newer cream than to bad bakes. The shelf rule, the sheet, and a five-minute weekly check.
What a product really costs
Recipe costing, labor, and getting from cost to a price.
- A Recipe Costing Template for Google Sheets, Step by Step Two tabs and four formulas. Build a recipe costing sheet where changing the price of butter once updates every recipe that uses it, in about fifteen minutes.
- How to Price Baked Goods So You Actually Make Money Three times ingredients loses money on most baked goods. Here's the full cost of one cookie, worked out line by line, and how to get from cost to a price.
Counting stock
When the number on the screen is not the number on the shelf.
- Offline Inventory Software for a Small Business What "offline" has to mean in a walk-in or at a market stall, the three kinds of software that claim it, and a ten-minute test to run before you pay.
- How to Count Inventory in a Small Food Business A count that takes all day and still comes out wrong usually failed before it started. How to prepare, count and handle the differences.
Shopify and Square sellers who make what they sell
Your till counts jam. It does not count sugar.
- Does Shopify Have an Inventory System? Yes, With Limits Shopify tracks a quantity for every variant at every location, with five states, transfers and history. What it does not track is what you make things from.
- Shopify Raw Materials Inventory: How to Track Ingredients Shopify has no raw materials inventory. Here is the sheet that gives you one: a bill of materials per product, a weekly sales export, and a worked example.
The records a rule asks for
HACCP, cottage food, organic and the rest, with citations.
- Cottage Food Record Keeping Requirements, by State Most states ask a cottage food business for few records. A few spell them out. Eight states' rules, cited and dated, plus the five records I'd keep anyway.
- How Long Should HACCP Records Be Kept? (By Rule) One year for refrigerated products, two for frozen and shelf-stable. The exact periods for seafood, juice, meat and Preventive Controls, cited.
Spreadsheets and templates
Free sheets that work, and the day they stop working.
- Bakery Inventory List Example, With a Free Excel Template One row per ingredient with a unit, a par, a count and a cost. A filled-in bakery inventory list, the four formulas, a ten-minute weekly count, and the file.
- Coffee Roaster Inventory Spreadsheet (Free Template) Green by the bag, roasted by the batch, packaged by the size, and the roast loss between them. A filled-in sheet for a small roastery, and the file.
- Inventory Software vs a Spreadsheet for a Small Business A spreadsheet is the right tool until one of four things happens. Which four, an honest side-by-side with costs, and five questions to ask before you switch.
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