Running costs
This article shows you how to add up your regular business costs and see how much of them this month's orders cover.
Before you start
Running costs are the bills you pay whether you sell anything or not: rent or kitchen hire, insurance, licences, pitch fees, software, phone and so on. Ingredients and packaging aren't running costs here, because they're already in each recipe's cost.
Steps
- Open Reports, Running costs.
- Under "Costs you might have", click Add next to each cost that applies to you. They're grouped into Your kitchen, Running the business, Selling, Equipment and People. To add something that isn't listed, click "Add a cost" and type its name.
- For each cost, enter the amount and how often you pay it: a week, a month, a quarter or a year. MakrPrep turns them all into a monthly figure, shown top right, with the weekly and yearly totals underneath.
- If you want your target to include what you take home, add "Your own pay" with what you need each month.
Once you've added costs, "This month so far" shows how much of them this month's orders cover: what the orders due this month leave after ingredients, against your monthly total, with a bar that fills as you take orders.
The same figure is on the Sales tab of Reports (for whichever month you pick), and as one line under the heading on Orders.
- To change a cost, edit its name or amount and click away, or pick a different period. Use the bin button to remove one.
What to expect
Orders count in the month they're due. What's left after ingredients uses the price on each order and today's ingredient costs, so it updates when ingredient prices change. Your costs are included in backups.
Common issues
- The monthly progress isn't on Orders or Reports: add at least one running cost with an amount. It's also hidden when "Hide cost figures" or "Hide revenue figures" is on in Settings, Appearance.