May 6, 2016 - 12:20pm
Basic App for keeping track of bread orders for a home baker.
Hello everyone!
I'm Adrian Kornhauser, just started producing and selling a few loaves (10 to 30) each week. It is an on-demand small operation but I'm having trouble keeping track of bread orders. Would someone know of a iPhone App for this.
Basic functions needed:
- Client list
- Bread types and prices
- Registering orders (breads and date of delivery)
- Calculating total amount for each order
- Registering status of order (payed on not payed)
If possible:
- Emailing order
- Emailing payment confirmation
Any out of the box ideas, or things to check out are welcome.
Or if someone remembers a previous post on this subject (could not find one) and could redirect me to it I would really appreciate it.
My regards to all.
Adrian K
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I make/sell about 200 loaves a week. I use a spreadsheet for recipe & quantity calculations, daily work sheets which I write orders into, then weekly invoices are sent via an online service (Debitoor). Seems to work for me so-far...
-Gordon
I think what you are seeking is a spreadsheet. Even someone modestly familiar with spreadsheet software (Excel, Apple Numbers) would be able to set this up for you. It's not a phone app per se, but with Apple Numbers you could have it on an iPad or iPhone.
.. as I have more time to type now :-)
I'd suggest starting with a paper based system. 20-30 loaves a week seems like childs play to me now, but if you'd said that to me a few years back I might have thought different!
I have a "day sheet" with all my customers along the top and all the breads I make down the left-side. So columns for customers and rows for breads. There are a few spare columns and a few spare rows for extras. Some breads have small & large sizes too, so they get 2 rows. I also make cakes/biscuits, etc. so there is space to write that too. I also have a white board in the bakehouse to jot down extras.
So each day I fill out the columns for each customer. I insist that the customers who take varying orders email me their order before 3pm the day before (because at 3pm I make up the levian for that nights mix/knead)
I use my spreadsheet to calculate the sourdough quantity(s) to make up and write that on the day-sheet.
In the evening I use the day sheet to mix the doughs. I have written (yes, using ink and dead tree technology!) most of my recipes in a little book which I keep in the bakehouse. I've done them in such a way that I can expand then if needed - ie. put in quantities for 1,2,3 and 4 loaves of a particular type, then I can use that when I need to make more. e.g. 6 loaves I just double up on the 3 loaf recipe. I keep a calculator there too.
The next day when I'm baking the loaves I'll use the day-sheet to help me fill the baskets for the deliveries.
Lather, rinse, repeat (as they say).
At the end of the week I use the day-sheets to generate the invoices which are then emailed to the customers who pay by bank transfer (although one still insists on sending a cheque), or print & take the invoice the next time I'm making a delivery and they pay cash on the spot for last weeks deliveries.
I'm in the process of writing some software to help me manage the day-sheet & evening mix process. This is more to optimise my mixing and kneading - e.g. there is one type of dough I use for 3 different breads and as my spiral mixer can take up to 18Kg of dough it makes sense to do all these at once... However I've no plans to release that software (especially given the platform it's running on - Raspberry Pi written in BASIC)
-Gordon
Like you, I have a micro bakery. Sick and tired of Intuit Quickbooks' money grabbing updates, I tried the free wave invoicing app and am very happy with it. It has my client list, my item (bread type) list with prices.
When I get an order, I enter an invoice that I can confirm, print, email to the customer, and receive a payment for (the app would like me to sign up for processing credit cards, but I don't need that, and hey, it's a free download!)
It shows which invoices are paid, which ones are saved (current) and which ones are overdue.
The app downloads my bank and credit card accounts, and I assign which debits or credits go to my bakery business.
The only thing I can't do is creating purchase orders, but I don't really need them.
All in all, it works well for me - I use it on my laptop, but I checked, and the link above is for the iPhone app.
Karin
Hi-
I use a basic Wordpress run website and e-commerce plug in ( woocommerce) that takes care of all the ordering, receipts, emails, etc. I can't take payments online due to cottage food laws but customers seem to appreciate the ease and convenience of online ordering. It takes a little time to figure out but well worth it in my opinion for even small microbakeries like us. Text blasts or weekly email bread lists, along with Facebook updates, are helpful reminders for customers.
As for record keeping and formula sizing, I have a simple Excel spreadsheet for each weeks orders.
Hope this helps!
Sam Temple
firedogbreads.com
I'm not sure what the etiquette is for thanking replies in this forum or if this thank you will stop the advice (I hope not). In any case I wanted to do one reply for each post but I guess the sensible thing is to thank drogon, jaywillie, hanseata, marseille in one post.
Guys, thank you for taking the time to answer with so much advice and experience! It is very useful to me and gives me an insight into how to run my micro business, and maybe an idea for a App.
My very best regards!!
Adrián K
You could take a look at Bakewheel.com a simple to use ordering and production listing software for Mom & Pop operations like mine.
just to add to the mix, I use google forms for some ordering...that creates data for google sheets, which is also what I use for my formulas...free is good
for those of you running home/micro-bakeries - how many loaves are you able to bake at a time with a home oven or home baking setup?