Skip to content
Pricing
Help Refer & Earn Log In
Start Free Trial

Central Kitchen

Central purchasing

One buyer, one order per supplier, distributed to the outlets that asked.

2 min read · Last reviewed 23 Oct 2026

Central purchasing mode changes who orders. Instead of each outlet ordering for itself, outlets raise requests and a central purchasing unit fills them — buying, sending from the central kitchen's store, or having the kitchen make it.

How it runs

  1. Outlets raise purchase requests as normal.
  2. The buyer opens Process Requests (from the Requests tab), picks the purchasing unit, and decides how each approved line is filled: bought to the outlet, bought into the store, sent from the store, made by the kitchen, or not supplied.
  3. Raise documents creates one draft purchase order per supplier and delivery point — the same ingredient across outlets merged into one line — plus the store transfers and production orders.
  4. Goods bought into the store are sent on to the outlets that asked for them when they arrive. See Process requests.
Purchasing, Process Requests: one store transfer drafted and waiting to be sent, then two approved requests from Bangsar and Main Street. Each line shows what was asked, what the central kitchen store holds, how it will be filled, the quantity and the supplier
Procurement → Orders & Requests → Process Requests.
  1. Purchasing unit — which unit places these orders. Whether it takes deliveries itself decides what buying suggests.
  2. A request — the outlet, the department and when it is needed by.
  3. In the store — what the central kitchen's store holds now. Green covers what was asked; amber does not.
  4. How — how this line is filled. Servora suggests one; change it.
  5. Supplier — who to buy from, for every line you buy.
  6. Raise documents — the draft orders, store transfers and production orders, in one go.

Why bother

Volume. Four outlets each ordering 20 kg of onions get four small-order prices; one order for 80 kg gets one better price. It also means one relationship per supplier instead of four, and one place where a price rise is noticed.

Turning it on

Create the purchasing unit under Settings → Central Purchasing — its address and whether suppliers deliver to it or straight to the outlets — then set Ordering Mode under Settings → PO Approvers. To send from a store, give the central kitchen a Base Outlet under Settings → Central Kitchen: that outlet's stock is the store. With a unit in charge, only Purchasing writes orders; outlets see them read-only. Switch it deliberately: it changes who raises orders, and outlet managers need to know that their request now goes to a buyer rather than a supplier.

Keeping the outlets honest

Consolidated buying only works if outlets request what they actually need. Par levels help — a request generated from par is a calculation, and a request typed from memory on a Friday afternoon is not.

Still stuck?

Tell us what you were trying to do — a person on our team will reply. If this guide is missing a step or out of date, say so and it gets fixed in the manual, not just in an email.

Contact support