How to add Ingredients to products in Checkmate POS

Checkmate POS allows you to link raw ingredients to your products so that stock is automatically calculated and deducted when sales are made. This means you never have to manually track how much of each ingredient you have left — the system does it for you in real time.

Step 1: Add Your Ingredients

Before linking ingredients to products, you need to create them first.

From your Dashboard, navigate to Ingredients and Recipe module. You can search for it in the search bar on the Dashboard.
Click on the All Items tab.
Click the "Add Ingredient" button.
Fill in the ingredient details:
- Name — e.g., "Flour", "Chicken Breast", "Tomato Sauce"
- Unit of Measurement — e.g., grams (g), kilograms (kg), liters (L), pieces (pcs)
- Current Stock Level — how much you currently have on hand
- Cost per Unit (optional) — useful for tracking food cost
- Low Stock Alert (optional) — set a threshold to get notified when stock is running low
Click Save.

Repeat this for every raw ingredient your business uses.

Step 2: Link Ingredients to a Product (Recipe Setup)

Now that your ingredients exist, you can tell the system exactly how much of each ingredient is needed to make one unit of a product.

Go to Products module from the Dashboard.
Find the product you want to add ingredients to and click the product card.
Go to the Ingredients tab to the far right.
Select a branch and then click "Add Ingredient" within the product form.
For each ingredient:
- Select the Ingredient from the dropdown (e.g., "Flour")
- Enter the Quantity needed to make one unit of this product (e.g., 200g of flour for one pizza)
Add as many ingredients as needed for the full recipe.
Click Save to update the product.

Step 3: Understanding Calculated Stock

Once ingredients are linked to a product, Checkmate automatically calculates how many units of that product you can make based on your current ingredient levels.

The system identifies the limiting ingredient — the ingredient that will run out first — and uses that to determine your available stock.
Example: If a pizza needs 200g of flour and 100g of cheese, and you have 1,000g of flour and 300g of cheese:
- Flour can make: 1,000 ÷ 200 = 5 pizzas
- Cheese can make: 300 ÷ 100 = 3 pizzas
- Calculated stock = 3 (cheese is the limiting ingredient)

You'll see the calculated stock reflected on:

The Products list
The POS screen
The Ingredients module

Step 4: For Products with Variants

If your product has variants (e.g., Small, Medium, Large), each variant can have its own ingredient recipe with different quantities.

Edit the product and navigate to the Variants section.
For each variant, you can set different ingredient quantities (e.g., a Large pizza uses 400g of flour vs. 200g for a Small).
The system will calculate stock per variant and show the total stock across all variants.

Step 5: Making a Sale — See Ingredients Deduct in Real Time

This is where the magic happens. Here's how to test and verify ingredient deduction:

Make a Test Sale

Open the Point of Sale module.
Select your register and open it (or use an already open register).
Add the product that has ingredients linked to it (e.g., "Cheese Pizza") to the cart.
Set the quantity (e.g., 2 pizzas).
Complete the sale by selecting a payment method and clicking Complete Sale.

Verify the Deduction

After the sale completes, navigate back to Inventory → Ingredients.
Check the stock levels of the ingredients used:
- If 2 Cheese Pizzas were sold, and each uses 200g flour and 100g cheese:
  - Flour should decrease by 400g
  - Cheese should decrease by 200g but ensure you sync stock deductions in the close register form first and wait for the sync

You can also check the Ingredient Stock Movements log to see a detailed record of every deduction:
- Navigate to the ingredient and view its Movement History
- Each sale will show the exact quantity deducted, the sale reference number, and the timestamp

Step 6: Check Product Stock Updated Automatically

Go back to Products and find the product you just sold.
The stock level should now reflect the updated calculated stock based on remaining ingredients.
If any ingredient hits zero, the product stock will show 0 — meaning it can no longer be sold until you restock that ingredient.

Tips & Best Practices

Tip	Details
Keep units consistent	If an ingredient is measured in grams, make sure all recipes use grams — not kilograms. Mixing units will cause incorrect calculations.
Update ingredient stock regularly	When you receive new supplies, update the ingredient stock levels in Inventory → Ingredients so your product availability stays accurate.
Use low stock alerts	Set alert thresholds on critical ingredients so you're notified before you run out.
Check the limiting ingredient	If your product shows lower stock than expected, check which ingredient is the bottleneck — that's the one you need to restock.
Allocated stock mode	If enabled in your business settings, the system can allocate ingredient stock across products to prevent over-selling when multiple products share the same ingredient.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: What happens if I sell a product and there aren't enough ingredients? A: The system will deduct whatever is available. If stock reaches zero, the product will show as out of stock on the POS.

Q2: Can multiple products share the same ingredient? A: Yes! For example, "Flour" can be used in Pizza, Bread, and Pastries — each with different quantities. The system tracks the shared ingredient across all products.

Q3: Do I need to manually update product stock? A: No. Once ingredients are linked, product stock is automatically calculated. You only need to update ingredient stock when you receive new supplies.

Q4: Where can I see all ingredient deductions? A: Every deduction is logged in the Ingredient Stock Movements history, accessible from the Ingredients section in Inventory.