DrinkOwner of a 15–40 seat café or drinks shop

When I price a new drink, I want to know what one cup really leaves behind, so I do not put an item on the menu that loses more the better it sells.

Khi tôi định giá một món mới, tôi muốn biết một ly thật sự còn lại bao nhiêu, để không đưa lên thực đơn một món bán càng chạy càng lỗ.

Job context

Who: An owner pricing by doubling ingredient cost
When: At each menu update or supplier increase
Trigger: The best-selling item and still no cash at month end
Situation: The real cost includes things that are not in the recipe
Constraints: No accountant, and every calculation must finish before opening

Cups, straws and lids are left out
High
Packaging is bought by the carton, so nobody attributes it per cup.
Root cause: Bulk-purchased costs resist per-unit attribution
End-of-shift waste is never recorded
High
Milk and fresh ingredients thrown away vanish from every figure.
Root cause: Weighing waste costs ten more minutes each night
Promotional items drag the average down
Medium
Combos and discounts make real margin differ from listed margin.
Root cause: The actual selling price differs from the listed one on most transactions
Rent does not resolve per cup
Medium
A large fixed cost makes per-item margin nearly meaningless on its own.
Root cause: Fixed costs and variable revenue are not in the same unit
Does not know the break-even cup count
High
Without that number there is no way to judge how bad a quiet day is.
Root cause: Break-even requires separating fixed from variable costs, which nobody has done

A solution is not the same thing as a product — a customer can hire a behaviour or a workaround too.

A till with sales reports
Product
Knows everything about revenue and almost nothing about cost.
A monthly bookkeeper
Service
Answers after the month ends, which is after the decisions were made.
A homemade recipe-cost sheet
Workaround
Exactly what the trade lacks, and it stops being updated after a few weeks.
Double the ingredient cost
Behaviour
The trade's rule of thumb, accurate until packaging and waste exceed the buffer.
Count empty cups at close
Workaround
A physical output measure, surprisingly accurate and used by no system.

Costs arrive by the carton while the pricing decision needs the cup.
Why existing solutions fail: The till measures what it generates — transactions; purchase invoices sit in another pile, and joining them is work nobody is paid for.
Potential opportunity: Linking purchase invoices to recipes so cost appears by itself instead of being typed in.
There are tools for the transaction and accountants for the month; the middle — did today break even — is nobody's concern.
Why existing solutions fail: Break-even requires splitting fixed from variable costs, an accountant's monthly task, while the question is asked every evening.
Potential opportunity: One number computed monthly and displayed daily on the till.