A cafe owner opens on Saturday morning and discovers there is no oat milk. The regular supplier does not deliver on weekends. The closest wholesale option is a 40 minute round trip. The owner sends a staff member to a grocery store to buy six cartons at retail price, paying $7.90 each instead of $4.20 from the supplier. Three customers that morning ask for oat milk lattes. Two of them get one. The third is told they have run out and orders something else. She does not mention it, but she was in yesterday and they were out of almond croissants. She starts thinking about the new place that opened two blocks over.
The oat milk was $47.40 at retail instead of $25.20 wholesale. That is $22.20 in extra cost. The staff member spent 50 minutes away from the floor during the morning rush. That is labour cost. The customer who is now considering the competition is revenue at risk. The total cost of the stockout is not on any report, but it is real.
The stockout happened because someone forgot to check the oat milk level on Thursday, which is when the weekend order goes in. That is the entire failure. One missed check.
What the check looks like when it runs itself
Every tracked item has a threshold. Oat milk: reorder when stock drops below 12 cartons. Espresso beans: reorder below 8 kilograms. Paper cups (12 oz): reorder below 200 units. The thresholds are set based on how fast the item moves and how long the supplier takes to deliver. Oat milk moves fast and the supplier delivers next day, so the threshold is set at one day's usage. Espresso beans move slower and the roaster needs three days' notice, so the threshold is set higher.
When stock crosses a threshold, one of three things happens depending on how much control the business owner wants to keep.
Level one: the alert
The owner's phone buzzes at 4:00 PM on Thursday. A message lists every item that needs reordering before the weekend: oat milk (8 cartons remaining, reorder quantity 24), vanilla syrup (2 bottles remaining, reorder quantity 6), and takeaway lids (150 remaining, reorder quantity 500). The owner reviews the list, confirms it looks right, and places the order manually with each supplier. Total time: five minutes. The stockout risk for the weekend is eliminated.
This is the version most businesses start with. It replaces the manual stock check without removing the owner from the ordering decision. The automation watches the numbers continuously and tells the owner when to act. The owner still decides whether to act and how much to order.
Level two: the draft order
Same Thursday afternoon alert. But this time the message includes a pre written email for each supplier with the items, quantities, and delivery instructions already filled in. The owner opens the first email, scans it, and taps send. Opens the second, scans it, sends. Three suppliers, three emails, 90 seconds total. The order details came from the business's own supplier list and standard order quantities. The owner's role is reduced to a final check before sending.
Most businesses that start at level one move here within a few weeks once they see the thresholds are accurate. The progression is natural: once you trust the alert, you trust the draft order. For a broader framework on choosing which process to automate first, see What to Automate First in Your Small Business.
Level three: fully automatic
The order goes to the supplier without the owner's involvement. A confirmation is logged and the owner receives a summary: 'Order placed with Valley Wholesale: 24 cartons oat milk, 6 bottles vanilla syrup. Estimated delivery Friday before noon.' The owner sees it, notes it, and carries on with the day. If something looks wrong, they call the supplier to adjust. In practice, adjustments are rare because the thresholds and quantities were validated over weeks at levels one and two.
This level suits items with predictable usage and reliable suppliers. Coffee beans from the same roaster every week. Paper products from the same distributor. Cleaning supplies on a monthly cycle. It does not suit items where the owner wants to adjust quantities based on upcoming events, seasonal menus, or promotional plans. Those stay at level two.
Beyond cafes: how this applies to other businesses
A retailer in Surrey managing 200 SKUs cannot check every item weekly. The automation monitors all of them and surfaces only the ones crossing a threshold. The owner's Wednesday morning report shows 12 items that need reordering out of 200. The other 188 are fine and require no attention.
A dental practice uses the same consumables every week: gloves, masks, composite material, impression trays, sterilisation pouches. Usage is predictable by appointment volume. The automation tracks the supply count against the week's bookings and triggers a reorder when the projected supply will not cover the next seven days.
An ecommerce business selling handmade candles tracks wax, wicks, fragrance oils, and packaging. Sales data from the online store feeds directly into the inventory count. When a product sells, the component materials are decremented. When a material crosses the threshold, the reorder fires. No spreadsheet. No manual count. For ecommerce businesses also thinking about what happens after the sale, see the 48 hour window most retailers miss.
A contractor in Richmond who stocks fasteners, adhesives, and common fittings on the truck can set thresholds based on the upcoming week's job schedule. If three bathroom renovations are booked, the automation checks whether the truck has enough PEX fittings, shut off valves, and silicone for three jobs. If not, the reorder fires Monday morning before the first job starts.
Pricing and next step
Inventory automation is a Single Build. The scope depends on how many items are tracked, how many suppliers are involved, and whether the system reads from an existing platform (Shopify, Square, Lightspeed) or a spreadsheet. All engagement pricing is detailed here.
To start, book a thirty minute call. Bring a list of the items you reorder most frequently and the suppliers you use. That tells me everything needed to scope the build.
Questions specific to inventory automation
I track inventory in a Google Sheet. Does the automation need me to switch to a dedicated platform?
No. The automation reads from and writes to the Google Sheet. If the sheet already has columns for item name, current quantity, and reorder threshold, the build connects directly. If the sheet is less structured, part of the build is organising it into a format the automation can read. Either way, you keep using the sheet.
What if I have three locations with different stock levels?
Each location gets its own thresholds and its own alerts. A product might be overstocked at one location and low at another. The automation treats each location independently and can also flag transfer opportunities: 'Location A has 40 units of vanilla syrup, Location B is at threshold with 3 units remaining.'
Can it track expiry dates for perishable stock?
Yes. Items with expiry dates can trigger alerts based on both quantity thresholds and date proximity. A cafe receiving a delivery of milk on Monday can have the automation flag any cartons approaching expiry by Thursday, allowing time to plan usage or markdown. More about the services offered and the frequently asked questions page.