1. Keep every invoice in one place
You can only compare what you can find. Keep every supplier invoice, paper or email, in one folder or one tray, newest on top. Take a photo of a paper invoice the day it arrives, before it gets wet or lost in the kitchen. Note any credit notes with it, because a credit can change what you actually paid.
2. Pick the items that matter
You don't need to check two hundred lines every week. Go through a month of invoices and list the 20 or so items you spend the most on: your meat, cheese, oil, chips, flour, packaging. A small rise on a big item costs more than a big rise on something you buy twice a year.
3. Work out the price per kg or per item
The price on the line is for the pack, and packs change. To compare like with like, divide the line price by what is in the pack.
AN EXAMPLE · INVENTED FIGURES
The lettuce went up 10p a lettuce. The mozzarella went up 24p a kg, which is 3.9%. Written as a box price, neither looks like much. Per item and per kg, you can see what it does to every dish that uses them.
4. Watch the pack size, not just the price
The quietest rise is a smaller pack at the same price: a 10kg bag that becomes 9kg, a case of 12 that becomes 10. The line price doesn't move, so a quick glance misses it. Read the pack size on every line you check, and work out the price per kg or each again. If the pack got smaller, it's a rise.
5. Write it down the same way every time
A notebook or a simple spreadsheet is enough. One row per delivery, with the same columns each time:
- the date and the supplier
- the item and the pack size
- the price on the line
- the price per kg or each
- the change since last time, in pence and in per cent
Check each invoice when it arrives, not at the end of the month. A month later the old invoice is hard to find, and you have already paid the new price four times.
6. Check the rest of the invoice
Look past the item lines too. Delivery charges, small-order fees and fuel surcharges are price rises as well. So is a line you never ordered, or a quantity that doesn't match what came through the door. Check the total against your own sum of the lines.
7. What to do when you find a rise
Ring the supplier with both invoices in front of you: the old price, the new price and the two dates. Ask what changed and whether it holds for the next order. Then price the same item from another supplier, per kg or each, so you compare like with like. If the rise stays, work out what it does to the dishes that use it, and decide whether to change a price, a portion or a supplier.
Where Telvo saves the time
All of this works by hand. It also takes time every week, and it is the first job that gets skipped on a busy one. Telvo does the checking for you:
- take a photo or upload a PDF of the invoice, from any supplier
- it reads the item, pack size and price, and asks you about any line it isn't sure of
- it works out the price per kg or each, and marks every change ▲ or ▼ against your last invoice
- it keeps every price with its date, so the proof is there when you ring the supplier
- it shows which dishes each rise hits