Want to keep a close eye on your highest-risk items, like fish, top-shelf liquor, or that pricey cut of beef? Counting them more often helps you catch shrink, waste, and theft early. Spot Inventories let you do exactly that without throwing off your food cost! You can take smaller counts more often and they won't impact your budgets or P&L.
Spot Inventories are currently in Beta testing and available to a small group of customers. If you don't see the Full/Spot option yet, it's on its way. Email help@marginedge.com if you want to join the Beta test group!
In MarginEdge, every Count Sheet and Inventory has a type: Full or Spot.
- Full Inventory: Your complete, regular count. It creates inventory adjustments that flow into your Budgets, Controllable P&L, and Post to Accounting.
- Spot Inventory: A targeted count of a specific product or small set of products. It shows up in your inventory reports, but it has no accounting impact.
In other words, you can count whenever you want, as often as you want, and your financials stay put.
Article Contents
- Full vs. Spot: what's the difference?
- How to set a Count Sheet's type
- How to change the type on an individual Inventory
- How Spot Inventories show up in your reports
- Common Questions
Full vs. Spot: What's the Difference?
The biggest difference is accounting. Full Inventories update your financials; Spot Inventories never do.
| Full Inventory | Spot Inventory | |
|---|---|---|
| What you count | Everything, area by area (walk-in, bar, storeroom) | One product or a few products, wherever they live in the restaurant |
| Best for | Accurate food cost and P&L | Tracking usage and catching loss on specific items (e.g., a weekly fish count or daily liquor check) |
Budgets |
Yes | No |
Controllable P&L |
Yes | No |
Post to Accounting |
Yes | No |
Usage, Theoretical Usage, Theoretical On-Hand, and Inventory Summary reports |
Yes | Yes |
PROTIP: Because a Spot Inventory focuses on a product, not an area, be sure to count all of that product, everywhere it's stored. If you count the bottles behind the bar but skip the ones in the storeroom, your usage numbers will look off.
How to Set a Count Sheet's Type
Every Count Sheet has a default type. Any new Inventory you start from that Count Sheet uses this type automatically.
- Go to INVENTORY > COUNT SHEETS.
- Create a new Count Sheet, or open an existing one to edit it.
- Choose Full or Spot in the type selector.
- Click Save.
A few things to know:
- New Count Sheets default to Spot. Switch to Full if you're setting up a regular, complete count.
- Your existing Count Sheets and Inventories are all set to Full, so nothing changes for your current counts.
- You can change a Count Sheet's default anytime. Changing it won't affect Inventories you've already started or closed.
- Freepour and imported Count Sheets keep their type. Freepour Inventories use their Count Sheet's type.
How to Change the Type on an Individual Inventory
You can switch an Inventory between Full and Spot while it's open.
- Go to INVENTORY > INVENTORY COUNTS and open the Inventory.
- In the footer, choose Full or Spot.
- When you click Close Inventory, MarginEdge will ask you to confirm if the type doesn't match the Count Sheet's default:
- Changed to Full: "This count will affect your P&L and budget reports."
- Changed to Spot: "This count will not affect your P&L or budget reports."
Important: Once an Inventory is closed, its type is locked, even if you reopen it. Double-check the type before you close!
You can't change the type while in Config Mode. The same rules apply in the MarginEdge mobile app, where you'll see the selector on open Inventories.
How Spot Inventories Show Up in Your Reports
Spot Inventories stay available in the reports where tracking a product matters most:
- Usage Report
- Theoretical Usage Report
- Theoretical On-Hand Report
- Inventory Summary
Look for the Spot icon to tell them apart. You'll see it on Inventory and Count Sheet titles, in Inventory and Count Sheet lists, and on the sheet tiles when you pick inventories for a report. Inventory PDF exports also show whether a count is Full or Spot.
Counting more than once on the same day? MarginEdge combines all counts for a product taken on the same date, Spot and Full alike. In the report selector, each sheet from that day is listed separately and checked by default. Uncheck any sheet you want to leave out of that report.
Common Questions
Will a Spot Inventory change my food cost? Nope! Spot Inventories never create inventory adjustments, so your Budgets and Controllable P&L stay the same.
Why can't I Post to Accounting? If the only Inventories for a date are Spot Inventories, you'll see: "Cannot Post To Accounting - Only spot inventories were found for this date." Spot Inventories are never posted to accounting. You'll need a Full Inventory for that date.
What does "Previous Value" show on a Spot Inventory? Prev Count and Prev Value show the last count taken on that Count Sheet, whether it was Spot or Full.
Will Spot counts trigger an "Unusual Inventory Change" alert? Only when compared to other counts of the same type. Spot Inventories are compared to Spot Inventories, and Full to Full.
Can I turn a closed Spot Inventory into a Full one? Not right now. The type locks when you first close the Inventory, so pick carefully before closing.
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