Instead of adding ingredients one at a time, you can bring in a spreadsheet of ingredients and their prices. A franchise owner finds it on the brand’s pages under Menu & costs, then Import ingredients. The prices become the brand’s ingredient prices.
The file
Save your spreadsheet as a CSV file with four columns. The order does not matter, but the names do:
name: the ingredient’s name, for exampleMozzarella.category: the ingredient’s category, for exampleCheeses. A category that doesn’t exist yet is created when the row adds a new ingredient. It does not move an ingredient that already exists to another category.unit: the unit the price is for, for examplekg. It must be a unit Mezbano already knows, written as its short code or its name.cost: the price for one of that unit, for example8.50.
The page has a Download a starter file link with the right header row and two example lines. The easiest start is to download it, fill it in, and choose it again.
Check the file before anything is saved
Choose your file and select Check the file. Nothing is saved yet. Mezbano shows what each row would do:
- New: a new ingredient will be added.
- New price: the ingredient is already there and its price will change.
- Already there: the ingredient is already there at the same price, so nothing changes.
- Problem: the row can’t be imported, for example because of an unknown unit or a price that isn’t a number. The reason is shown next to it.
Rows marked “Already there” or “Problem” are left out. When the check looks right, select Import (the button says how many rows). If you choose a different file, check it first.
When you import, Mezbano checks the same file again against the ingredients as they are at that moment, so a check made a while ago can’t apply changes based on records that have changed since. If a row still can’t be saved, the result marks that row as not saved rather than counting it as imported.
What the import changes
For a new name, the import adds the ingredient, adds its category if needed, and sets the brand’s price for one unit. For a name that is already there, it only sets that ingredient’s price. It does not rename the ingredient, change its category, or change its other settings.
An ingredient’s first price has no start date, so it applies to all dates, including past ones. After that, an imported price counts from today (the business day, which ends at 04:00) and the price before it keeps the earlier dates, so working out a recipe’s cost for an earlier date still uses the price it had then. A price that already starts today is changed in place, and so is a first price entered the same business day: the corrected price then applies to all dates. To schedule a price for a later date, set it under Menu & costs, then Ingredient prices.
Importing again is safe
Ingredients are matched by name within your brand, whatever the upper or lower case and extra spaces, across all categories. Choosing the same file again therefore never adds a second ingredient with that name. Rows whose unit and price already match are left alone; changed prices are updates, not copies.
Related
- How costing works: where the brand’s prices fit in.