Is cafe stock software worth it? Your time versus the price

Most cafe owners already pay for their stock control. They just pay in evenings with a spreadsheet, or in margin they never see go. Before deciding whether software is worth a monthly fee, it helps to put a number on what you spend now.

The figures below are examples to show the sum. Put in your own.

1. Your time

Add up a normal week: the stock count, typing it into a spreadsheet, checking invoices, working out orders, re-costing when a price goes up.

• 2 hours a week at £15 an hour is £30 a week.
• That's about £130 a month, before any time your staff spend on it.

If you're the owner, that time often comes out of evenings or time you'd otherwise spend on the floor, with customers, or planning. Valuing it at £15 an hour is cautious.

2. Your margin

Time is only half of it. The bigger cost is usually what a spreadsheet doesn't catch, because it's only as current as the last time you updated it.

• A supplier price rise that sits unnoticed for weeks.
• A large size or an oat milk extra that makes less than you think.
• Cakes binned at close, or milk that goes missing between counts.

Gross profit (GP) is measured in points: a cafe on 68% that gets to 69% has gained one point. On £10,000 of monthly sales ex VAT, one point is £100 a month. Our guide to a good GP for a cafe shows where those points usually hide.

3. Do the sum

• Your time each month: hours a week × your hourly value × 4.3.
• Margin found: your monthly sales ex VAT × 1% for each point of GP.
• Compare the total with the software's monthly price.

With the examples above, that's about £230 a month of time and margin against Quokka at £39 a site, ex VAT. Even if you only save half the time and find half a point, it still covers the cost.

"I don't track any of this now"

Then the time saving won't apply, but the margin one does, and usually more so. Your till tells you what sold. It doesn't tell you what you kept from each sale or where stock is going. Starting with a free stock take sheet and the GP calculator is a good first step either way.

Try before you pay

Quokka is free for 30 days with no card. Connect your till, do a first count, and see what it finds. If it hasn't found more than it costs, don't carry on.