Commissary Features - FAQs

Overview:

Enabling Commissary features adds the ability to transfer Recipe Items from a Commissary Site to a Restaurant Site where the transferred item's recipe ingredients will be deleted from the Commissary (theoretically) and the transferred item will become an Inventory Item in the Restaurant Site. It also enables items transferred from the commissary to include a labor cost and/or to have their cost marked up. Transfer costs, including labor or other markups, can be exported as adjustments to a general ledger.

There is no additional charge for enabling the Commissary features. COGS-Well controls whether Commissary features are enabled in your Company Settings, however, so we can track our customers that utilize these functions and so we can help you optimize your set up for these features. Please contact us at support@cogs-well.com if you would like more information on Commissary Features or if you would like us to enable them for you.

Things to know!

Commissary Features will only be accessible if they are enabled in your Company Settings. COGS-Well support needs to enable this feature.
A Site can be defined as a Commissary Site to enable unique Commissary features for that Site.
A Commissary Site can transfer recipe items (that are not Produced) and the ingredients will be depleted in theoretical cost/usage for the Commissary Site.
Recipe Items can be flagged to not be counted in a Commissary Site if the policy is that a batch is always fully transferred to the Restaurant Site(s).
Recipe Items received by the Restaurant Sites via transfers from the commissary are converted to Inventory Items in the Restaurant Site so they can be counted, transferred, or used in recipes as ingredients.
Labor costs can be added to commissary recipe items and included as a separate, added cost for the transferred recipe item.
Transfer Markups, based on a percentage of an item's ingredient cost(s), can be added to a transfer from a Commissary Site. You have the option of having Markup percentages applied to each item, or only to a selected GL Account.
Examples of reasons you might want to mark up item costs for transfers from a Commissary are to cover labor, delivery costs, packaging costs, or to allocate overhead.
If you want a Markup for labor costs, but do not want to add a labor cost to each recipe item, then you can create a Transfer Markup Type for Labor and markup the labor cost for items this way. Please see this article on Transfer Markup Types for more information.
Labor costs or markups can be included in the Transfer Journal and Inventory Adjustments that are exported to your general ledger. An example of the Transfer Journal is at the end of this article.
Restaurant Sites can optionally use COGS-Well to suggest item quantities when they make Transfer Requests. This feature utilizes the same logic we already provide for suggesting quantities to order. Suggested quantity calculations can optionally use Theoretical on-hand, Par Levels, and/or Usage Projections to determine the suggested quantity for ordering and now for transfer requests.
If you want to utilize suggested transfer requests, you will need to configure at least one Suggested Quantity Type for transfer requests.

Company Settings - Enable Transfer Requests:

Commissary Features are enabled in your company settings - Company>Setup>Company Settings. COGS-Well controls whether Commissary features are enabled in your Company Settings, however, so we can track our customers that utilize these functions. Please contact us at support@cogs-well.com if you would like more information on Commissary Features or if you would like us to enable them for you.

Include Labor Costs in Commissary Transfers:

If you want to add Labor costs to recipe items and include the Labor Cost in transfers of recipe items from the Commissary Site, then this option is enabled in Company Settings via the Recipes tab. If you check this box then you will be asked to select a labor cost GL Account (use the drop-down to select the GL account). Please see below:

Commissary Balancing Account for Transfers:

When transferring a recipe item out of a commissary site, it becomes an inventory item in the site it is transferred to. This conversion can create a very small rounding error (usually $.01) in the item cost that can cause the transfer adjustment journal to be slightly out of balance. Selecting a balancing account at the bottom of the Transfer Tab on Company Settings will keep the journal in balance. Use the dropdown to select a GL Account.

Add/Edit Commissary Site:

As part of setting up the Commissary features, you will need to define a Commissary Site. To define a Commissary Site, navigate to Company>Setup>Sites and select the Site you wish to make a Commissary Site. A commissary site is selected via a checkmark in the "Site is a commissary field as shown below:

Recipe Items that are Transferred from the Commissary Site:

If you would like Recipe Items that are transferred from the Commissary Site to calculate theoretical costs and usage for the ingredients, then you will need to flag those recipe items as "Prepared in Commissary". Please know that if you are entering Production for a recipe item, then theoreticals are already being adjusted when you enter Production. A Prepared in Commissary item will convert to being an Inventory Item in the Site it is transferred to.

Navigate to Recipe & Sales>Setup>Recipe Items and select the Recipe Item you wish to flag as Prepared in Commissary. Check the box as shown below:

Counted in Commissary: Please note that when Prepared in Commissary is checked for an item, the "Counted in Commissary" field will display. This field will default to being checked under the assumption that most recipe items will be counted. However, if the recipe is for an item that you always transfer all you make (fresh salsa for example), and you never have any leftover in stock, then you can uncheck this box.

Transfer Requests Using Suggested Quantities:

COGS-Well can suggest a quantity to request for each item on a Transfer Request. This is accomplished by taking the theoretical inventory on-hand and adjusting for a Par Level, a Usage Projection, the Next Transfer Date, and what is still open from a prior Transfer Request.

To utilize suggested quantities in transfer requests, at least one Suggested Quantity Type for transfer requests must be pre-configured. Navigate to Inventory>Steup>Suggested Quantity Types. Suggested Quantity Types can be configured to your preference - they can include or not include Par Levels, Usage Projections, and Theoretical On-Hand in the suggested quantity calculation. For more information please click this link for Suggested Quantity Types.

Using Transfer Markups:

Transfer Markups are optional. If you wish to use markups, then you will need to configure at least one "Transfer Markup Types" via Inventory>Setup>Transfer Markup Types. Markups are based on a user-selected percentage increase in the current cost for an item that is being transferred out of the Commissary Site (the "From Site") and apply the marked-up cost to the Site that is receiving the Transfer (the "To Site"). Markups can be applied to specific items or to a GL account. Please click this link for more information on setting up and using Transfer Markup Types.

Transfer Journal Report:

The Transfer Journal Report will include Markups and Labor Cost distributions if they are enabled. Below is an example where transfers that include Markups and Labor Costs were made for the date range selected. These values can also be exported to your General Ledger: