How does tspoonlab calculate the price of your ingredients and materials?
Price calculation is the method tspoonlab uses to set the price of each ingredient and material. It's the price you see on the Ingredient Page (or the Material Page), and the one your recipe costings use.
When an ingredient's price changes, tspoonlab recalculates the cost of the recipes and dishes that contain it. Each ingredient and each material has its own price calculation, which you choose in the "Price calculation" field of its edit window.
Depending on the calculation type you choose, the price of an ingredient or material in tspoonlab comes from one of two sources:
Your purchases: tspoonlab updates the price every time you record a purchase, for example when you receive a delivery note. You don't need to enter prices one ingredient at a time.
A price agreed or set by you: the supplier item's price, or a price you enter by hand. In this case, your purchases don't change the ingredient's price.
This article shows you how to set the price calculation for each ingredient and material in tspoonlab. Worked examples explain how the 6 calculation types work. You'll also learn how to change the calculation type of a single ingredient, or of many at once with the bulk change.
The article is aimed at head chefs, managers and people in charge of cost control who keep their recipe costings up to date in tspoonlab. To change the price calculation, you need a user profile that can edit ingredients and materials, such as the Manager or Head Chef profiles. To change the price calculation of locked ingredients and materials, you also need the "Can lock" permission.
How do you change the price calculation in tspoonlab?
You can change the price calculation in tspoonlab in two ways. To change a single ingredient or material, use its edit window. To change many ingredients or materials in bulk, use the "Change calculation type" option in the ingredients or materials list.
Change the price calculation of an ingredient or material
To change the price calculation of a single ingredient or material in tspoonlab, edit it from its page:
Click "Offer" in the black bar at the top of the screen.
Click "Ingredients" or "Materials", depending on what you want to change.
Select the ingredient or material in the list on the left.
Click the three dots in the top-right corner of its page.
Select "Edit ingredient" or "Edit material".
Find the "Price calculation" field in the "Edit ingredient" or "Edit material" window. The "Price calculation" field shows the calculation type the ingredient or material currently uses.
Open the "Price calculation" drop-down.
Choose one of the 6 calculation types.
If you choose "Fixed price", also enter the price in the "Price" field of the same window.
Click "Ok". The window closes and the ingredient or material now uses the calculation type you chose.
To check the change, look at the Ingredient Page or Material Page. The new calculation type appears under the price with a green tick (✓), for example ✓ "Average price of last purchases".
Change the calculation type in bulk
The "Change calculation type" option in tspoonlab changes the calculation type of ingredients or materials in bulk. In one go, it updates every ingredient, or every material, that shares the same current calculation type. You change ingredients from the "Ingredients" list and materials from the "Materials" list:
Click "Offer" in the black bar at the top of the screen.
Click "Ingredients" or "Materials".
Click the three dots next to the list's search bar.
Select "Change calculation type".
Review the "Current calculation type" block in the "Change calculation type" window that opens. It lists the 6 calculation types and, to the right of each one, how many ingredients or materials use it. The "Locked" count shows how many of them are locked.
Select the current calculation type you want to change. The "New calculation type" field appears below it.
Open the "New calculation type" drop-down.
Choose the calculation type you want to apply to those ingredients or materials.
Click "Ok". The window closes and tspoonlab applies the new calculation type to every ingredient or material that had the current type you selected.
To check the change, open one of those ingredients. On its Ingredient Page, the new calculation type appears under the price with a green tick (✓).
If an ingredient hasn't changed, check whether it's locked: locked ingredients show a padlock next to their name.
📢 Important: if you don't have the "Can lock" permission, the bulk change in tspoonlab skips locked ingredients and materials. The calculation type changes for all the others, and the locked ones keep theirs. To change the locked ones too, ask a user with the "Can lock" permission to repeat the change. With that permission, tspoonlab also changes locked ingredients and materials. To find out how to lock ingredients, see Why lock areas and functions in tspoonlab, and how?
💡 Tip: the bulk change in tspoonlab changes one current calculation type at a time. To make all your ingredients use the same calculation type, repeat the bulk change for each current calculation type that has ingredients.
What price calculation types does tspoonlab offer?
In the "Price calculation" field of each ingredient and material, tspoonlab offers these 6 price calculation types:
"Last purchase price": the price of your most recent purchase.
"Average price of last purchases": the weighted average of your purchases from the last 30 days.
"Last purchase price (without supplier)": the price of your most recent purchase, without linking the calculation to a specific supplier.
"Average price of last purchases (without supplier)": the weighted average of your purchases from the last 30 days, without linking the calculation to a specific supplier.
"Supplier prices": the supplier item's price. Your purchases don't change this price.
"Fixed price": a price you enter yourself, which only changes when you edit it by hand.
How does "Last purchase price" work?
With the "Last purchase price" calculation type, tspoonlab takes the price of an ingredient or material from its most recent goods receipt. For example, it uses the price on the last delivery note you received. Each new purchase replaces the previous price. "Last purchase price" is the standard calculation type in tspoonlab.
Worked example of "Last purchase price":
On Monday you receive a delivery note with sunflower oil at €2.00/L, and on Thursday you receive another at €2.08/L.
From Thursday's purchase onwards, the price of sunflower oil in tspoonlab is €2.08/L, and your recipe costings with sunflower oil use €2.08/L.
📌 Note: with "Last purchase price", if you edit a supplier item's price by hand, the ingredient's price updates temporarily. When you edit the ingredient again, or tspoonlab processes it again, the price automatically goes back to the value of the last purchase.
How does "Average price of last purchases" work?
With the "Average price of last purchases" calculation type, tspoonlab calculates the price of an ingredient or material as a weighted average. The average covers the purchases from the last 30 days: older purchases don't count. If you buy the ingredient from several suppliers, the average includes the purchases from all of them. Because it's a weighted average, larger purchases carry more weight in the price than smaller ones.
Worked example of "Average price of last purchases":
In the last 30 days you buy 10 kg of meat at €10.00/kg and, a week later, 90 kg of meat at €12.00/kg.
Purchase amount: (10 kg × €10.00/kg) + (90 kg × €12.00/kg) = €100.00 + €1,080.00 = €1,180.00, for a total of 100 kg.
Weighted average price: €1,180.00 ÷ 100 kg = €11.80/kg. A simple average of the two prices would be €11.00/kg.
The price of meat in tspoonlab, and in your recipe costings with meat, is €11.80/kg.
What changes with the "(without supplier)" calculation types?
The "Last purchase price (without supplier)" and "Average price of last purchases (without supplier)" calculation types in tspoonlab follow the same logic as their base type. "Last purchase price (without supplier)" takes the price of the most recent purchase, like "Last purchase price". "Average price of last purchases (without supplier)" calculates the weighted average of the purchases from the last 30 days, like "Average price of last purchases".
The difference is the supplier. The "(without supplier)" types don't link the price calculation to any specific supplier. Instead, tspoonlab takes the value of your purchases, whichever supplier they came from.
How does "Supplier prices" work?
With the "Supplier prices" calculation type, tspoonlab uses the supplier item's price as the price of the ingredient or material. That's the price you upload with the supplier's price list, or the one you edit directly in the "Suppliers" module. Day-to-day purchases don't change this price. To update it, upload a new price list or edit the supplier item's price.
Worked example of "Supplier prices":
In your supplier's price list, rice costs €1.50/kg.
You receive a delivery note with rice at €1.65/kg.
The price of rice in tspoonlab, and in your recipe costings with rice, stays at €1.50/kg until you update the supplier item's price.
To find out how to upload your suppliers' price lists, see What is a supplier price list in tspoonlab and how do you use it?
📌 Note: an ingredient with "Supplier prices" may have several suppliers, none of them marked as preferred. In that case, tspoonlab automatically uses the first supplier it finds in its database. To choose which supplier the price calculation uses, mark that supplier as preferred. In the suppliers section of the Ingredient Page, click the three dots next to the supplier and select "Set as preferred".
How does "Fixed price" work?
With the "Fixed price" calculation type, tspoonlab ignores both your purchases and your suppliers' prices. The price of the ingredient or material is the one you enter in the "Price" field of its edit window. It doesn't change until a user with permission edits that price by hand.
Worked example of "Fixed price":
You set the price of olive oil at €5.00/L.
Your next purchase of olive oil is at €5.40/L.
The price of olive oil in tspoonlab, and in your recipe costings with olive oil, stays at €5.00/L until you edit the fixed price.
📢 Important: with "Fixed price", your purchases don't update the price. If an ingredient's purchase price goes up, your recipe costings don't reflect the rise until you edit the fixed price. Review your ingredients with "Fixed price" from time to time, so your recipe costings in tspoonlab don't work with out-of-date costs.
Which price calculation type should you choose for each ingredient?
No price calculation type is better than the others. The right type for each ingredient or material in tspoonlab depends on how you buy. It also depends on how you want costs to change in your recipe costings. These guidelines help you choose:
"Last purchase price": your recipe costings reflect the price of your last purchase straight away. It suits you if you want your costs to follow the market as soon as a price changes.
"Average price of last purchases": it smooths out price rises and falls over the last 30 days. It suits ingredients you buy often and whose price changes a lot from one purchase to the next, such as fish or fruit.
"Supplier prices": the cost comes from the price agreed with the supplier, not from what you pay for each purchase. It suits you if you work with agreed rates, or want to work out your recipe costings from the price list before you buy.
"Fixed price": the cost doesn't change until you edit the fixed price. It suits ingredients with a stable price, or when you want to work with a reference cost.
Because you choose the price calculation ingredient by ingredient, you can combine different calculation types in your tspoonlab account.
💡 Tip: if an ingredient's price changes a lot from one purchase to the next, check how its price has evolved before you choose its calculation type. You can see this in the price report of the "Analysis" module in tspoonlab. Price changes directly affect the cost of your recipe costings and your margins.
Is the price calculation the same in all your Cost Centres?
No, each Cost Centre in tspoonlab has its own price calculation. Your whole account shares the same ingredients and materials, but not their prices or price calculation types: each Cost Centre has its own. If you change an ingredient's price calculation in one Cost Centre, that ingredient keeps its calculation type in your other Cost Centres.
To use the same calculation type in several Cost Centres, change the price calculation in each of them. You can do it one ingredient at a time or with the bulk change.
Does the price calculation change your inventory valuation?
No, price calculation and inventory valuation are two separate settings in tspoonlab. Price calculation sets the price of each ingredient and material in your recipe costings. Each store's inventory valuation decides how tspoonlab values the stock you count in your inventories. Changing the price calculation doesn't change the inventory valuation, and vice versa.
Take the "Average price of last purchases" calculation type and the "Weighted Average Cost (Purchases in the last 30 days)" valuation method, for example. Both calculate a weighted average of the purchases from the last 30 days. The first sets the ingredient's price in your recipe costings, and the second values a store's stock. To find out how each valuation method works, see Set up inventory valuation for your stores.
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