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Learn how to set up inventory, review invoices, connect products, and keep stock accurate in Zalihe.

Start with stock, import your first invoice, then connect products only if you want sales to deduct ingredients automatically.

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What Zalihe helps with

Zalihe helps restaurants, cafes, bakeries, pizzerias, and other small food businesses run stock with less guessing and less support needed.

Who it is for

Owners, managers, and day-to-day operators who need a simple way to set up stock and keep daily inventory under control.

Best first move

Add stock manually or review-import a supplier invoice before you rely on dashboards, low-stock warnings, or reorder decisions.

When products matter

Products are only useful when you want sales to deduct ingredients automatically. Skip this until you're ready to map recipes.

Start here

Start here

1. Create or open your workspace

Sign in or start your trial, then enter the business workspace you want to manage.

2. Add stock first

Start by adding stock items manually or by importing a supplier invoice. Zalihe becomes more useful once inventory exists.

3. Set up products only if you track recipe-based sales

Products are optional. Add them when you want sales to deduct ingredients automatically.

What happens next: once stock and invoices are in place, dashboard summaries, low-stock warnings, and reorder flows become more useful.

Core workflows

Main workflows

Inventory

What it is: Add stock items, set minimums, update on-hand quantities, and use adjustments or counts to keep data accurate.

When to use it: Start here before you rely on dashboards, low-stock signals, or reorder decisions.

What happens next: Your workspace gets real inventory history, clearer stock summaries, and more useful low-stock warnings.

What to watch: Use clear names, set minimums on items you do not want to run out of, and review counts regularly if multiple people handle stock.

AI Invoice Import

What it is: Upload a supplier invoice, review the matches, and confirm before any stock change is applied.

When to use it: Use it when you receive supplier invoices and want faster stock updates without typing every line manually.

What happens next: Confirmed invoices update stock and give you invoice history you can review later.

What to watch: Invoice import does not blindly change stock. Review matches first. If something looks wrong, fix the review before confirming.

Sales & Products

What it is: Connect products to real stock items and define recipes so sales can deduct ingredients correctly.

When to use it: Set this up only if you track recipe-based sales and want stock to move automatically from sales activity.

What happens next: Logged sales can deduct linked ingredients more reliably and make sales-related stock changes easier to trust.

What to watch: Recipes matter. If a product is not mapped to the right stock items, your stock results will be wrong.

Waste & review

What it is: Log waste consistently and send it through the review flow so losses are visible and controlled.

When to use it: Use it whenever stock is lost, spoiled, over-produced, or thrown away.

What happens next: Approved waste keeps stock accuracy and reporting closer to what is actually happening in the business.

What to watch: Waste affects both stock accuracy and reporting, so keep entries consistent and approvals limited to trusted roles.

Results

What happens after you take action

After you add stock

The workspace has real inventory to work from, so stock views, minimums, and low-stock warnings start to mean something.

After you confirm an invoice

Stock levels update and invoice history becomes more useful for review, corrections, and supplier follow-up.

After products are mapped

Sales can deduct ingredients more reliably, but only when the recipe and stock mapping are correct.

After waste is logged and approved

Stock and reporting stay closer to reality instead of drifting because losses were never recorded.

Alerts & insights

What to watch

  • Low and critical stock matter most after inventory is set up properly and minimums reflect what you actually need on hand.
  • Dashboard summaries improve once invoices, stock changes, and sales activity exist. Empty data produces empty insights.
  • Review flows work best when waste, counts, and product mapping are kept up to date instead of fixed later with manual changes.
Teams & permissions

Who can do what

Owners and managers usually handle setup, approvals, account creation, and higher-risk changes. Other team members can help with daily work like counts, uploads, and routine updates without full account control.

Owners and managers

Best placed for workspace setup, account creation, approvals, and changes that affect stock trust across the whole business.

Daily operators

Useful for regular counts, invoice uploads, routine stock updates, and other day-to-day tasks that keep the workspace current.

Good practice: limit approvals and account setup to trusted roles so day-to-day work stays fast but controlled.

Best practices

Best practices

  • Add stock before relying on dashboards or low-stock signals.
  • Review invoice matches before confirming, especially on the first few imports from a supplier.
  • Map products to real stock items before trusting sales deductions.
  • Keep waste entries consistent so reporting and stock history stay usable.
  • Avoid manual fixes until you understand the original issue, or you may hide the real cause.
Help

Common issues

Most problems come from missing stock, pending review, or incomplete product mapping. Check the basics before you make manual corrections.

Waste cannot be approved

Why this happens: approval is limited to higher-permission roles or the waste entry is still waiting for review.

What to check: whether your role can approve waste and whether the entry is still marked as pending.

Next best action: ask an owner or manager to review it instead of re-entering the waste.

Dashboard looks empty

Why this happens: the workspace usually has little or no inventory or stock activity yet.

What to check: whether stock items were added, whether any invoices were imported, and whether the correct workspace is open.

Next best action: add stock manually or import your first invoice.

Can't find imported invoice

Why this happens: the import may still be waiting for review, or it may already be stored in invoice history.

What to check: recent imports, pending review items, and invoice history for the workspace you are using.

Next best action: reopen the invoice area and check recent imports before you upload the same invoice again.

Sales not showing correctly

Why this happens: products, recipes, or stock mappings are incomplete, outdated, or linked to the wrong items.

What to check: whether the product is mapped to real stock items and whether the recipe quantities still match how you actually make it.

Next best action: review the product setup and recipe mapping before changing stock manually.

Limitations

Current limitations

Zalihe is usable today, but some control layers are still intentionally simple.

  • No advanced notification center yet.
  • Limited multi-location controls in the current UI.
  • Public docs search is not available yet.
FAQ

Short answers to common questions

Can I use Zalihe without products?

Yes. Products are optional. Inventory, invoices, alerts, and waste review can still work well if you do not need recipe-based sales deductions.

Is invoice import automatic?

No. Invoice import is review-first. You upload the file, review the matches, fix anything that looks wrong, and confirm only when the result makes sense.

Can my team use one workspace?

Yes. One workspace can support the same business across owners, managers, and daily operators, as long as permissions stay tight around setup and approvals.

Should I change stock manually to fix a blocker?

Usually not as a first fix. Check whether the issue came from missing stock, an unreviewed invoice, or bad product mapping before you overwrite quantities by hand.