Tracking Ingredient Costs

Overview

Accurate cost tracking is essential for pricing your products profitably. Formuley automatically calculates and maintains ingredient costs based on your purchase history and usage data. This feature is available on the Pro plan and above.

How Cost Tracking Works

Stock levels and cost per unit are automatically calculated from two data sources:

• Purchases increase your stock and update your average cost.
• Batch production decreases your stock as ingredients are consumed.

The cost unit always matches the stock unit for a given ingredient. If you track an ingredient in grams, your cost is stored as cost per gram. This consistency ensures accurate cost roll-ups in your formulas.

Recording a Purchase

1. Navigate to the ingredient detail page by clicking on any ingredient in your library.
2. Click Record Purchase.
3. In the modal, enter the following:
   • Purchase Amount -- quantity purchased, in the ingredient's stock unit.
   • Price -- total price paid for this purchase.
   • Supplier -- select from your linked suppliers or leave blank.
4. Click Save. Formuley updates the ingredient's stock level and recalculates the cost per unit.

Each purchase is recorded in the ingredient's Purchase History, creating a complete audit trail of what you paid, when, and from which supplier.

Cost History

Formuley tracks cost per unit over time, so you can see how prices have changed. The cost history is visible on the ingredient detail page and is useful for:

• Identifying price trends from suppliers.
• Spotting seasonal fluctuations in raw material costs.
• Making informed decisions about when to buy in bulk.

Profit Guardian Alerts

When an ingredient's cost changes significantly, the Profit Guardian system sends you an alert. This helps you catch unexpected price increases before they erode your margins. Profit Guardian monitors cost changes across all your ingredients and notifies you when:

• A new purchase price deviates from the historical average by a configurable threshold.
• A cost increase affects the profitability of formulas that use the ingredient.

For a full overview of Profit Guardian, see Profit Guardian Overview.

Costs in Formulas

Ingredient costs flow directly into your formula cost calculations. When you open a formula, Formuley multiplies each ingredient's cost per unit by the amount used to show you the total material cost.

If ingredient prices have changed since you last viewed a formula, use the Recalculate Cost button on the formula detail page. This recalculates the formula's total cost using the latest ingredient prices, giving you an up-to-date picture of your margins.

Tips

• Record every purchase to keep your cost data accurate. Even small purchases affect your average cost per unit.
• Check Profit Guardian alerts promptly. A cost increase on a key ingredient can ripple through multiple formulas.
• Use Recalculate Cost after recording purchases to see the immediate impact on your product margins.
• For details on managing your ingredient library, see Ingredient Library Overview.