Depending on your inventory, the nature of your business, and the complexity of your Assemblies, Bundles or Modifiers, the math can be overwhelming for anyone. In this article, we'll have a few examples and guidelines to help you navigate through the process!

For example, if you want to calculate the decimal for individual eggs in a standard carton of 12, you would use the number of eggs in a full carton as the total amount. In that case the total amount is 12.

We need three eggs for our recipe of the 12 the come in a carton, so the equation would look like this:

It's works the same if you need any number of eggs to complete the recipe.

It even works with amounts that are larger than a unit. For example, maybe a recipe calls for 18 eggs, but you still are receiving them by the standard 12-egg carton. That formula would look like this:

Avocado Toast is not going anywhere anytime soon! Let's say, for each slice of avocado toast we sell, we use 1/2 of an avocado. Well, the answer is right there, but let's plug it into our formula to make absolutely certain.

1. Determine the total amount (of 1/2 avocados) that go into a full avocado.

Answer: 2

2. Divide the number (of 1/2 avocado's needed for one serving of avocado toast) to determine the decimal.

Answer: 1

.5 will be our answer to how much of an avocado we'll need to deduct for each sale of avocado toast.

We're a baking up some muffins and our recipe calls for 1,200 grams (g) of flour. The problem is, we order it by the 5 pound (lb) bag.

1. Determine the total amount of (grams) that go into a 5 lb bag of flour.

After some research we learn that:

1 lb = 453.592 g (approximately)

So then 5 x 453.592 = 2267.96 g

Taking a step back, that means there are 2,267.96 grams in a single 5 lb bag.

Answer: 2,267.96 grams

2. Divide the number (of grams needed for the muffin recipe) to determine the decimal.

Answer: 1,200 grams

0.529 will be our answer to how much of the 5 lb bag of flour we will use to complete the recipe.

Labeling your units accurately is a huge timesaver in this process. It can help you figure out how much of each product you need to deduct faster, as well as help you spot in any errors in your process.

For example, take a look at these two products:

Besides the image added to the one, it also has the unit in the title. That way if we had a recipe that called for 1 pound, that math would be much easier. Otherwise, we'd need to go track down the measurement-less "All Purpose Flour", see how big the bag is, and then do that math.

By clearly labeling your products, especially your ingredients in Thrive, you'll be able to save time and energy.

In addition, the Notes section of a product (or in an Assembly template directly) is a great place to put any relevant conversion number, like this:

Thrive allows you to go up to 3 decimal places for quantities. This means, in certain cases you'll need to round up or down in order to make a number fit.

Rounding up makes sure that you won't accidentally oversell a product. This way, each deduction that is made you are accounting for slightly more of the product than is required. This will create extra units of the product you're pulling from over time. These could be very small amounts depending on how much is being pulled, but could still throw your inventory off.

Rounding down is a great option if what you're selling is readily available. For example, if you do get closer to selling out, you know you can always breakdown another case of beer for a customer so they can be purchased individually. By rounding down, we are under-deducting those units, so we are pulling slightly less than expected.

Either way you decide to go, we always recommend regular stocktakes to ensure quantities are as accurate as possible.

And it's good to note here that Thrive will never get between you and making a sale, if you accidentally sell below zero. We allow you to sell into the negatives, but it's typically not recommended since all signs point to your quantities being incorrect.