Tracking Inventory for Customizable Bundles (e.g., Bagels by the Dozen)

[Willy_6eyes]

Hi everyone!

We run a bakery specializing in bagels and donuts, and we're struggling to effectively track inventory for customized orders. Specifically, customers frequently purchase bagels by the dozen, choosing their own combination of flavors (e.g., 4 Sesame, 4 Everything, 2 Plain, etc.). Right now, customers enter these choices manually in the notes at checkout, which makes accurate inventory tracking and sales reporting challenging.

Ideally, we'd like a way within Square to:

• Allow customers to easily select exact quantities of different flavors within a single product (like a dozen bagels).

• Clearly report the number of each flavor sold, helping us accurately manage inventory and analyze sales trends.

Does Square currently have a feature or workaround to handle this scenario? Has anyone else here solved a similar issue?

Thanks in advance!

[Candlestore]

@Willy_6eyes ;

Create an Item Bagels

Then Create Cariations for Bagels Sesame, Plain, Everything

Now create a Discount by Item where if a Customer buys 12 the discount is an amount.  The only thing to watchout for here would be if a $ amount this amount is applied to all 12 Bagels, you may need to use a weird % amount because that % is also applied to each Bagel.

More about Discounts : 3955-create-and-manage-discounts 

What happens would be you get an order for 3 plain, 5 Sesame and 4 Everything.  Then all bagels get an automatic discount to get you to the price of a Dozen you currently have.  You would need a SKU for each Variation and also track the inventory.

Hope this helps

[Willy_6eyes]

Thanks so much for this thoughtful suggestion—this is an interesting workaround! I'll give it a quick internal test. My main concerns are how discounts display on customer receipts and managing precise inventory tracking, but I'll try it out and report back. Appreciate your help!

[Candlestore]

@Willy_6eyes ;

As for the receipt each item would show the Discount so make the Discount 'Savings when buying a Dozen' or something similar.  

So in my example above :

Plain x3                                                               $10.50

Reg Price                                                            $12.00

Discount Savings when buying a Dozen             -$1.50

Sesame x5                                                          $22.50

Reg Price                                                            $25.00

Discount Savings when Buying a Dozen             -$2.50

Everything X4                                                     $22.00

Reg Price                                                             $24.00

Discount Savings When Buying a Dozen             -$2.00

Sub Total                                                             $55.00

Savings                                                                  $7.00

The above is what a Receipt should look like doing it as mentioned above.

This works if all items are the same, but if you do mix and match Donuts and Babels for a certain price this may not work correctly.  Yes I know my prices are not right but wanted to keep it simple with math and the same 50 cent discount per item.  You would need the same discount % or $ amount to be the same for all types of bagels in your case. 

[tranguyen]

Let us know how you get on with the workarounds that @Candlestore suggest, @Willy_6eyes ! Here's also a handy article about creating and editing discounts which can help you with setting up the workaround. 

Alternatively, if you are using Square for Restaurant Plus, you could also check out our Combo Beta. You can request access here.