Why We Eventually Built Inventory (Even Though We Almost Didn't)
Inventory management is a huge scope. We originally planned to skip it — until we kept hearing the same problem over and over.
We Originally Said Later
Inventory management is massive: recipes, stock levels, stock takes, waste. Each could be its own product. Early in development, we put it on the later roadmap. "Register first, inventory later."
A Problem That Kept Coming Up
In conversations with users, one pain point surfaced repeatedly: "I don't know how much to buy tomorrow." Sometimes they run out — customers leave. Sometimes they buy too much — ingredients go to waste. Every day is a guess.
Variations of the same theme: "Don't know how much milk is left." "Don't know which menu items waste the most ingredients." "Don't know when to restock."
A POS Without Inventory = Half a Solution
A POS that only handles transactions is an accounting tool. To be an operations tool, transactions need to connect to stock. Every coffee sold should reduce bean stock. Every fried rice should reduce rice, eggs, oil.
The Scope We Chose
We didn't build full warehouse management. We built: recipes per product, auto-deduct on order completion, low stock alerts, manual stock takes, and waste tracking. Enough for small stalls through medium-sized cafes. Full ERP-level inventory is genuinely for a later stage.