Choose the right product type
Rinvy supports four product modes plus an "active/inactive" toggle. The mode you pick decides how the product shows up in counts, the order list, recipes, and reports.
Quantity-tracked (the default)
The right mode for almost everything you buy.
- Count in exact units (lb, each, case, gallon).
- Appears in counts, the order list, low-stock alerts, recipes, and every report.
- Tracks cost from receipts.
Use for: chicken breast, flour, buns, beer kegs, produce, sauces you buy in bulk.
Status-tracked
The right mode for non-countables where OK/Low/Out is enough.
- Three states: OK, Low, Out.
- Does not appear in cost reports, waste logging, recipe ingredients, or the order list.
- Receiving a status product resets stock to OK regardless of quantity received.
Use for: napkins, to-go boxes, cleaning supplies, smallwares.
Recipe output
The right mode for things you make in-house.
- Cannot be purchased from suppliers (receiving will reject any line that maps to a recipe-output product).
- Produced by recipes; consumed by other recipes or sold as menu items.
- Cost is computed recursively from ingredient costs.
Use for: marinara, pizza dough, chicken stock, dough balls.
To bridge a prepped item back to a purchasable raw ingredient, set its source product link.
Non-inventoried
The right mode for things used in recipes that shouldn't affect inventory value or appear in counts.
- Skipped in counts, ordering, and cost calculations.
- Can still be a recipe ingredient.
- Marking a product non-inventoried removes its category and clears its supplier, case size, cost, and source link. Turning the toggle back off does not restore those values — you'll need to re-enter them.
Use for: water, ice, salt used only in recipes, items that shouldn't show up in inventory value.
Inactive products
Inactivating is the safer alternative to deleting when a product has history.
- Hidden from counts, the order list, low-stock alerts, and the default product list.
- Still appears in old receipts, recipes, prep logs, and historical reports.
- Reactivatable at any time.
On the Products page, an Inactive filter chip lets you show archived products and reactivate them.
Common mistakes
Switching a product to status tracking and losing all the cost data
Status tracking force-clears supplier, case size, case cost, and conversions. If you set those up once and then switched to status, the values are gone — you'd have to re-enter them to switch back.
Trying to receive a recipe-output product
Receipts are blocked server-side for recipe-output and non-inventoried products. If a product you expect to receive isn't showing up in the search, check whether it's one of those types.
Deleting instead of inactivating
Hard delete is only allowed if the product has no history (no counts, receipts, orders, recipes, prep logs, or waste). Otherwise the delete falls back to deactivation silently. Inactivating directly is clearer.