Key points
- Turn every offer into a cost per usable unit: include delivery charges, minimum orders, and what you trim off vegetables, meat, or chicken.
- Before you switch, place two or three small orders and taste the menu items side by side with the version from your current supplier. Ask about delivery days, the order cut-off, lead time, and what happens when an item is out of stock.
- Agree on payment and price-rise notice in writing, ask for receipts with a price per item, and line up a backup supplier for the ingredients your best sellers need.
- In Kazeer, ingredient stock goes down automatically with each sale, and after a transaction Kazeer AI sends a low-stock or out-of-stock alert to the owner and store admins, so you know when to contact a supplier.
Picture this: a new supplier offers UHT milk at Rp17,000 a liter, Rp1,000 less than your current supplier. Then it turns out there's a Rp30,000 delivery charge every time they deliver, and for the amount you usually order, the cost per liter actually comes out higher.
The price on a supplier's price list is only one number. Compare the cost of what you actually use, then quality, delivery schedules, and payment terms. You can record the results on one supplier sheet.
Compare the cost per usable unit
Pack sizes, delivery charges, and minimum orders make prices per pack hard to compare. Convert everything to a cost per unit you use in your recipes, such as per liter, per kg, or per piece for cups and lids:
- Cost per usable unit = (price of the goods + delivery charge) ÷ the amount you actually use
If one delivery charge covers several items, split it by each item's share of the order value.
Worked example for an order of 2 cases of UHT milk, 12 one-liter cartons each, using the sample price from the guide to COGS (cost of goods sold) per menu item:
| Supplier A (current) | Supplier B (new) |
|---|
| Price per liter on the price list | Rp18,000 | Rp17,000 |
|---|
| Price of 2 cases (24 liters) | Rp432,000 | Rp408,000 |
|---|
| Delivery charge | Rp0 | Rp30,000 |
|---|
| Total paid | Rp432,000 | Rp438,000 |
|---|
| Cost per liter | Rp18,000 | Rp18,250 |
|---|
Supplier B is Rp1,000 a liter cheaper on the price list, but Rp250 a liter more expensive once you add delivery: Rp438,000 ÷ 24 = Rp18,250. If you order 4 cases per delivery, the math changes. Four cases cost Rp816,000, delivery brings it to Rp846,000, and divided by 48 liters that's Rp17,625 per liter. An order that size only pays off if you use all 48 liters before they expire and you have room to store them.
Minimum orders work the same way. If a supplier requires 5 kg per order but you only use 4 kg before the rest spoils, divide the price by 4 kg, not 5 kg.
For vegetables, fruit, meat, and chicken, also count what you lose in trimming. Weigh the goods before trimming, trim them as usual, then weigh the part you use. The usable weight divided by the starting weight is your yield. Repeat it over two or three deliveries, because the result can vary.
Worked example for chicken breast:
| Bone-in chicken breast, Supplier C | Chicken breast fillet, Supplier D |
|---|
| Price per kg | Rp45,500 | Rp57,000 |
|---|
| Usable from 1 kg after trimming | 700 g (70%) | 950 g (95%) |
|---|
| Cost per usable kg | Rp65,000 | Rp60,000 |
|---|
Rp45,500 ÷ 0.7 = Rp65,000 and Rp57,000 ÷ 0.95 = Rp60,000. The fillet that looks Rp11,500 a kg more expensive is actually Rp5,000 cheaper for every kg that reaches the plate, and your cook doesn't have to take off the bone and skin.
Test quality with trial orders
Comparing costs is only fair if the quality is the same. Before you switch, place two or three small orders, each enough for a few days.
- Make the menu items that use the ingredient with the same recipe, then taste them side by side with the version from your current supplier. Ask your barista or cook to taste too.
- For anything sold by the kg, weigh a few packs and compare with the weight on the receipt.
- Check that size, ripeness, and brand are the same in every delivery. For cups and lids, fill a few cups with a cold drink: the lids should fit tightly and the cups shouldn't leak.
- Decide after several deliveries, not one. The first delivery doesn't always match the ones that follow.
How to check packaging, the temperature of chilled goods, and expiry dates when a delivery arrives is in the FIFO and FEFO guide. Use the same checks for your old and new supplier.
Ask about deliveries up front
A cheap supplier that's often late sends you out on rush buys at retail prices. Ask these before you order:
- Which days the supplier delivers, and what time the goods usually arrive.
- The order cut-off time. If you order after it, the supplier usually delivers on the next scheduled run.
- The lead time, from placing an order to the delivery arriving. You use this number to set your minimum stock, as in the guide to the daily stock check. The longer the lead time, the more stock you have to keep.
- What happens when an item is out of stock. Does the supplier tell you before delivering, or swap in another brand without asking?
Ask the supplier to check with you before swapping brands, because another brand can change the taste of a menu item and its COGS.
For the first month, note every delivery: on time or late, complete or short, and whether the supplier substituted anything.
Agree on payment and receipts
Some suppliers want payment when the goods arrive, and others give you credit terms, say two weeks after delivery. Credit helps when cash is tight, but write down what you owe and the due date so it doesn't pile up. Also ask whether the price is the same for paying on delivery and paying on credit.
Agree in writing, for example in a WhatsApp chat: the price per unit, how you'll pay, the length of the credit term, and how many days' notice the supplier gives before a price rise.
Ask for a receipt with every delivery, showing the date, item names, quantities, unit prices, and the total. A receipt without a price per item makes it hard to work out your COGS. Before you pay, check the prices on the receipt against the agreed prices, then keep the receipts and transfer slips in one folder per month.
Keep a backup supplier
For the items your best sellers can't be made without, the ones on your daily count list, line up a second supplier before you need one.
- Test the backup supplier with trial orders, just like your main one.
- Order from them now and then, so you know their latest prices and they know your business.
- For ingredients that set the taste, such as milk and coffee beans, look for a backup that sells the same brand.
- Work out their cost per usable unit too, so you know how much your COGS rises if you have to use them.
One sheet for all your suppliers
Record what you compared on one sheet, on paper or in a spreadsheet. A sample supplier sheet, with costs from the worked examples above:
| Item | Supplier | Cost per usable unit | Minimum order | Delivery days | Contact |
|---|
| UHT milk | A (main) | Rp18,000/liter | 2 cases | Monday, Thursday | WhatsApp number |
| UHT milk | B (backup) | Rp18,250/liter | 2 cases | Every day | WhatsApp number |
| Chicken breast fillet | D (main) | Rp60,000/kg | 3 kg | Tuesday, Friday | WhatsApp number |
Review the sheet whenever a receipt shows a new price, and at your monthly stock count. For the items you buy most, ask one or two other suppliers for their price lists every few months, then run the numbers again.
If you have more than one outlet, use one sheet for all of them. A combined order reaches the minimum more easily, and as the milk example showed, the delivery charge per liter drops when the order is bigger. Ask whether the supplier can deliver to each outlet and what that costs. The other option is for one outlet to receive the delivery and pass stock on to the others. In Kazeer, you manage stock per outlet, so every time stock goes to another outlet, move it in Kazeer too.
After a switch or a price rise
A change of supplier or a price rise can change the COGS of the menu items that use that ingredient.
- Recalculate the COGS of those items with the new cost per usable unit. The method is in the guide to COGS per menu item.
- If the brand changed, taste-test and adjust the amounts in the recipe if needed. Palm sugar syrup from another supplier, for example, may be less sweet and need a bigger pour.
- If your COGS percentage goes over your target, your options are in the article on setting menu prices.
- For the first two weeks, count that ingredient more often, so you know whether usage matches what you expected.
If you use Kazeer, COGS per menu item can be calculated from the recipe, so make sure the recipe follows the new amounts. After a price rise, compare those items' COGS in Kazeer with your own numbers from step 1. If they don't match yet, ask the Kazeer team how to update them.
Ingredient stock goes down automatically with each sale. If your physical count is lower than the stock Kazeer shows, and the gap grows after a switch, check that ingredient's yield, the delivered weight against the receipt, and the recipe amounts again. After a transaction, Kazeer AI sends a low-stock or out-of-stock alert to the owner and store admins, so you know when to contact a supplier. Automatic ingredient orders to suppliers over WhatsApp are coming soon.
Start with the item you buy most: work out its cost per usable unit from your latest receipt, then fill in the first row of your supplier sheet.