Last updated: Mar 24, 2026, 11:18 AM
| You can use the following keyboard shortcuts to quickly find terminology in this article: Command+F (Mac) or Control+F (Windows). |
| Term | Definition |
| Location(s) | Identifies the restaurant(s) within your xtraCHEF tenant. It’s possible for multiple locations to exist within one tenant in xtraCHEF, however, the specifics are conditional upon your accounting integrations. |
| POS (Point of Sale System) | The system used to take customer orders and receive payments (Toast devices) |
| Tenant | In xtraCHEF, an account is often referred to as a Tenant. Tenants may include more than one location. |
| Users | Those set up with permission to access an xtraCHEF account. There are varying user access levels to ensure xtraCHEF privileges match roles in your restaurant. Access levels include Tenant Administrator, Executive, Restaurant Manager, Restaurant User, and Invoice Capture. |
| Vendors List | A list of vendors imported or created to begin the setup of an xtraCHEF tenant. |
| Term | Definition |
| Accounting Period | The timeframe used to determine financial reporting. While there are a variety of ways to set these up, most use a monthly accounting period based on when their fiscal calendar begins. |
| Approvals | A function of xtraCHEF that enables conditionally stopping invoices from reconciling until approved by a certain user. |
| Category (Custom Category) | A feature of xtraCHEF that allows the creation of a custom subgroup within your General Ledger (GL) Codes to view reports on a more granular level. These do not push to your accounting system. For example, if the GL Code is Food, a Category could be created for Produce, Meat, Dairy, etc. |
| Chart of Accounts (COA) | A listing of the accounts used in the General Ledger of an organization to track and organize their financial transactions for bookkeeping purposes. These transactions are broken into the following categories: assets, liabilities, revenue, equity, cost of goods sold (COGS), and expenses |
| Class | Refers to Class Tracking, an advanced function of QuickBooks that allows you to break out entries by location, department, or another segment of your business. |
| Credit Memo | A vendor-issued refund for incorrect items or pricing, spoiled invoice items, incorrect quantities, items that arrived and were never ordered, etc. |
| EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) | A system used to share data electronically between two businesses. xtraCHEF is able to set up an EDI feed with certain vendors to eliminate the need to upload invoices manually. |
| Term | Definition |
| Close Watch Item | An item marked as close watch within xtraCHEF. Typically these are items that fluctuate more dramatically than others, such as avocados, and should be flagged for review. |
| Item Number/Code | Typically attached to any line item description on an invoice or receipt. On the vendor side, these codes identify an invoice item for picking, inventory, and accounting purposes. |
| Item UOM | The lowest unit used for counting inventory. Sometimes referred to as the Count Unit. |
| Pack | The total number of countable items within an invoice item. For example, if you purchase a case of 12 750 ML bottles of liquor, the pack number would be 12. |
| Products | Your Inventory Items and Ingredients in xtraCHEF. Products group together similar invoice items from your invoices as a usable product for Recipe and Inventory features. |
| Product Catalog | The catalog of all invoice items captured by or uploaded to xtraCHEF via Item library > View products. |
| Purchase Unit | Invoice Items are categorized first as purchased by weight, by volume, or by the each. |
| Size | The lowest possible measurement for an invoice item. For example, your case of 12, 750 ML bottles would have a size of 750. |
| UOM | The packaging unit of measure for your invoice item. For example, if you order a case of twelve 750 ml bottles, your UOM ( Unit of Measurement) would be “Case." |
| Term | Definition |
| Areas | Areas are the pre-set sections where you will count. These can be customized to fit your counting process and inventory layout. |
| Beginning Inventory | The value of inventory at the beginning of an accounting period. The closing inventory value from the previous period will become the opening inventory value for the current period. |
| Count Lists | Your inventory count lists, which dictate which invoice items should be counted and where to count them. |
| Ending Inventory | The value calculated after an inventory had been submitted. This will become the opening inventory value for the next inventory cycle. |
| Inventory | Used to track invoice item levels based on purchases, sales, and physical counts. Inventory is the most useful tool for gaining insight into the ways you may be losing money: theft, spoilage, and waste. |
| Inventory Counts | The default inventory page, which shows previous, current, and upcoming inventory counts in a calendar view. This is where manual inventory is recorded. |
| PAR Level | The minimum amount of an invoice item needed to meet the demand from your customers while also providing a cushion in case of unexpected demand. |
| Published | Toggling a Count List to Published indicates that this list is now ready to be used on the Inventory Counts page. |
| Term | Definition |
| Prime Cost | The total cost of goods sold for a sale. In xtraCHEF, this can be calculated by costing out the recipe and plate cost for the sale of a menu item. |
| Published | Toggling a Recipe to Published indicates that is finished and available for Product Mix Mapping |
| Recipe Costing | The recipe function in xtraCHEF. Recipe Costing provides the ratio between the cost of raw materials and labor that make up a dish and the revenue (sale price) generated by that dish. |
| Unpublished | Unpublished recipes (or prep recipes) are items you are still working on. These are not yet ready to be utilized for Product Mix Mapping. |
| Variance | A change in Prime Cost, based on past and current purchase data. |
| Term | Definition |
| Actual vs. Theoretical (AVT) | A report in Inventory Analytics that compares your physical inventory counts to theoretical inventory consumption, highlighting waste, theft, shrinkage, and more. |
| Analytics | A collection of quick glance data sets that highlight spending, food cost, and more. |
| Bottom Line | The final total of the account, balance sheet, or another financial document. |
| COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) | In accounting, the COGS is the sum of all expenses that comprise the sales of menu items. This sum can be calculated by using the formula: Beginning Inventory + Purchases - Ending Inventory. COGS mapping must be complete for COGS-related reporting to populate in xtraCHEF. Please note that COGS in xtraCHEF does not impact the accounting platform at all. |
| DSR (Daily Sales Report) | Available on the xtraCHEF mobile app, this report spotlights your sales by day and any closing stock if a closing inventory has been added. |
| Declining Budget | A way to help manage operational costs by comparing sales to the cost of goods sold to show what is left to spend based on cost % goals. |
| Depleting Inventory | The consumption of inventory is based on sales. Recipe Mapping and at least one physical inventory count must be completed to utilize this report. |
| Inventory Analytics |
Exceptions
| Exceptions occur when an invoice is missing important fields. Exceptions are prevented from reconciling until action is taken by the user. |
| Extract (Extracts) | Data (revenue, expenses, and payroll) sent from xtraCHEF to an accepted and integrated accounting system. |
| Map Invoice Items | Map Invoice Items is a step in the invoice reconciliation journey. During this step, you will map individual line items from your Invoice to a corresponding GL Code or Custom Category. |
| General Ledger (GL) Code | In the accounting world, General Ledger (GL) codes make up the Chart of Accounts (COA) and are used to easily track transactions. Typically, GL Codes consist of a numerical code and description, for example, 1001 - Food Purchases. |
| Invoice (Vendor Invoice) | A bill received upon purchasing goods or a service from an outside supplier. |
| Journal Entry | Used to record a business transaction within accounting records. Typically, these are either debit or credit. |
| Line Items | The individual items on an invoice or receipt. |
| Receipt | An expense or purchase paid for upon receipt of goods or services. |
| Reconciliation (Reconciling Invoices) | The Invoice journey is often referred to as 'Reconciliation.' Reconciling an invoice is the act of attending to any Invoice action items, such as Exceptions and Mapping Invoice Items. These steps allow an invoice to successfully reconcile and extract from xtraCHEF. |
| Rejected Invoice (Rejections) | Rejected Invoice(s) occurs when too much information is missing, or image quality is not sufficient to properly read invoice data. |
| Statement (Vendor Statement) | A document from a vendor's accounting system listing all invoices within a set date range. It can also contain other uncleared items such as credit memos and payments. |
| Sync | The automatic synchronization of information (revenue, expenses, and payroll) by xtraCHEF. |
| Unit | The lowest possible unit of measure for an invoice item. For example, in a case of 12 bottles of 750 ML, “ml” is the Unit. |
| The day/time of when a count list can be accessed and counted by a user. |
| Secondary Areas | The second level down within an inventory area. For example, if the inventory area “Walk-in” has multiple shelves, a Secondary Area may be “Top Shelf” |
| Unpublished | Unpublished count sheets are counts you are still working on. These are not yet ready to be utilized during counting. Unpublished sheets will appear grey on the Count List screen. |
| Variance | The difference between Beginning and Ending Inventory values in terms of $ and % |
| A page in xtraCHEF that includes your Actual vs. Theoretical and Depleting Inventory Reports |
| Margin | The difference between the cost to make an item and the selling price. |
| Operating Summary | An xtraCHEF report, commonly referred to as a mini P&L, highlights revenue, expenses, and more, side by side. |
| P&L(Profit and Loss Statement) | Also referred to as an Income Statement, these reports show sales, expenses, and net income for the period. |
| Price Fluctuation | Any upward or downward trend for your purchased goods or services. |
| Product Mix Report (PMIX) | This report identifies and ranks how menu items are selling, and compares the cost of making a menu item to the sales price, allowing you to evaluate the profitability and margins of each item. |
| Reporting | A collection of various Cost Management, Accounting, and Operation Reports that are available in xtraCHEF for .CSV download. |