Última actualización: 22 oct 2025, 1:39 p.m.
The Item library sets you up for pinpoint accuracy on your recipe costing and inventory values.
The Item library houses all of your Invoice Item and Product information. As you continue to upload invoices, the Item library will grow and enable much of xtraCHEF's food cost, recipe, and inventory reporting. The Item library also enables you to customize your ingredients and inventory items, create products and assigning invoice items to them, view your item's last purchased date and recent price, and get extra insight into certain products through the favorites feature. is done via a link to a new page.
When you're ready, select the View products link at the top of the Item library. This allows you to directly on this page.
| Field | Description |
| Purchase Unit (UOM) | This is the purchasing unit or UOM displayed on the invoice. |
| Pack | If there is more than one measurable unit within a case, this is where you’ll enter the quantity. For example, If there are 6 bottles in a case, the value here will be ‘6.’ If not defined, then the default value is 1. |
| Size | This is where you’ll enter the number value of the units within each “pack.” For example, if there are six 750ml bottles in a case, the “size” is ‘750.’ If not defined, then the system will default to a value of |
| Unit | This is the Purchase unit of each pack. In the example above, this would be ‘ml.’ |
| Inventory unit (Item UOM) | This is only required when the pack value is more than 1. This is where you’ll name the packs in the case. Continuing the example from above, this would be ‘bottle.’ If Inventory unit is not defined and a pack is more than 1, then the system will default a value to 'each.’ |
| Category | This allows you to select a corresponding General Ledger Code and/or Custom Category for accounting extracts or reporting purposes. If you have synced your Chart of Accounts or created General Ledger Codes and Categories, those options will exist for you to choose from in the Category drop-down. |
| Product | This field is essential for Recipe and Inventory functions. They should be considered ingredients for all intents and purposes and allow you to group multiple invoice items together. If you would like to learn more about products, visit our article titled |
This 4-and-a-half-minute video will walk through common protein examples you may encounter when reviewing items in xtraCHEF. Examples include:
Tip: Use the chapters located in the video's progress bar to skip between the examples.
Liquor
Liquor by the case: Let's look at a liquor example. Based on an invoice, we should know an invoice item's Purchase unit. In this case, whether it was purchased by the case or by the bottle.
If our liquor is purchased by the case for $61.07, and there are 12 bottles of 1 liter within it, we could then safely assume that the breakdown is as follows:
| Purchase unit | Pack | Size | Unit | Inventory unit |
| Case | 12 | 1 | Liter | Bottle |
By entering that same information into the Item library, xtraCHEF can then break out that per case cost of $61.07 into a cost per bottle/cost per liter. Moving forward, xtraCHEF would then know how to calculate your costs for Inventory values and by volume for cocktail recipes.
Liquor by the bottle: If the purchase unit indicates your liquor is purchased by the bottle, you can simplify your Item library breakdown to the following:
| Purchase unit | Pack | Size | Unit | Inventory unit |
| Bottle | 1 | 1 | Liter | N/A |
Wine
Note: Since wine is commonly sold in 0.75 liter bottles, we recommend verifying all wine by each (rather than by liter/milliliter/fluid ounce) to assist with with reporting accuracy and consistency.
Wine by the case: If our wine is purchased by the case for $61.07, and there are 12 bottles within it, we could then safely assume that the breakdown is as follows:
| Purchase unit | Pack | Size | Unit | Inventory unit |
| Case | 12 | 1 | Each | Bottle |
By entering that same information into the Item library, xtraCHEF can then convert the $61.07 per case cost to a cost per case and individual bottle.
Wine by the bottle: If the purchase unit indicates your wine is purchased by the bottle you can simplify your Item library breakdown to the following:
| Purchase unit | Pack | Size | Unit | Inventory unit |
| Bottle | 1 | 1 | Each | N/A |
By entering that same information into the Item library, xtraCHEF can then break out the cost for the bottle.
A 1/2 Barrel Keg:
| Purchase unit | Pack | Size | Unit | Inventory unit |
| Keg | 1 | 15.5 | Gal | Keg |
A 1/4 Barrel Keg:
| Purchase unit | Pack | Size | Unit | Inventory unit |
| Keg | 1 | 7.75 | Gal | Keg |
A 1/6 Barrel Keg:
| Purchase unit | Pack | Size | Unit | Inventory unit |
| Keg | 1 | 5.2 | Gal | Keg |
In most bottles/cans cases, the purchase unit will indicate your item(s) is purchased by the case. In these instances, we will set our Purchase unit to Case, Pack to the #of cans/bottles within the case, Size to 1, and unit to each. You can also set the Inventory unit to either can or bottle to further describe it.
Below is an example of a case of 6 cans.
| Purchase unit | Pack | Size | Unit | Inventory unit |
| Case | 6 | 1 | Each | Can |
By entering that same information into the Item library, xtraCHEF can then break out the cost for both the case and can.
A case of 10 lb apples. This Invoice Item can be configured in two ways depending on how you want to take inventory:
| Purchase unit | Pack | Size | Unit | Inventory unit |
| Case | 10 | 1 | Lb | Lb |
| Case | 1 | 10 | Lb | N/A |
A bag of 5 lb sugar. This Invoice Item can be configured in two ways depending on how you want to take inventory:
| Purchase unit | Pack | Size | Unit | Inventory unit |
| Bag | 5 | 1 | Lb | Lb |
| Bag | 1 | 5 | Lb | N/A |
By selecting an approved invoice item in the Item library, you're able to drill into the details associated with it and change them, if necessary. If this item is marked To Review, use to approve the items and its details.
From here, scroll down to the Line Item Details tile and you'll notice the Purchase unit, Pack, Size, Unit, Inventory unit (if applicable), Product, and Category fields can all be edited. You can even add a new product directly on this page by typing its name directly in the Product field.
Note: Editing the Category field will subsequently change the GL code field. If your Category field is empty, this Invoice Item may be awaiting action in Map invoice items.
Once you've made the edits to this invoice item, you can double-check your work by using the sentence in the blue box at the bottom. If you don't agree with the structure of the statement, continue to make edits until it's correct based on the invoice item itself and how it's shipped to you.
In xtraCHEF, Products refer to your ingredients and inventory items. As you're getting started, your list of products will form the foundation for your restaurant to begin using Recipe and Inventory functions. After creating your products, you can immediately begin building your recipes and inventory counts. To learn more about products and how to create them, consider reading xtraCHEF: Get Started With Products and xtraCHEF: Create Products. Products also allow you to group line items from your invoices together that are substitutes for the same invoice item. This will ensure your plate costs and inventory values are calculated correctly, regardless of any substitutions or replacements.
To view or change product details, select View products at the top of the Item library.
This will reload the page to display all your current Products.
Selecting a Product name lets you view all the invoice items tied to that product and make changes to the product or invoice items. You can also take several actions after selecting Edit product:
Lastly, from the Product page in the Item library, select the three dots to the very right of the product. Theres a couple options here: