A delicatessen thrives on special products, on gifts and often on a small café or tasting corner. Typical questions: how do I sell a gift basket whose contents are deducted from stock? How do I sell vouchers? And how do I separate the coffee on the premises from shop sales? This guide shows the solutions in bessa.
Gift baskets
bessa has no dedicated article type for sets. You model gift baskets with article options. Which way fits depends on whether the basket is packed in advance or put together for the customer.
Ready-made basket at a fixed price
The basket has fixed contents and a fixed price, e.g. "Gourmet basket" at €49.
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Create the article "Gourmet basket" with the fixed price.
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Create an article option of type Warehouse, e.g. "Gourmet basket contents", with the products it contains as choices, and assign it to the basket.
When the basket is sold, the Sales Point deducts the products from stock in the background. The option is invisible to staff and customers and doesn't appear on the invoice. Details in Set up articles for inventory management.
The fixed price is taxed at the VAT rate of the basket's article group. If the basket contains products with different VAT rates, such as wine and food, the price has to be split across the rates. Then take the approach used for menus, see Book combo menus with food and drinks, and check the split with your tax advisor.
Custom basket put together for the customer
The customer chooses the contents from the shelf.
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Create an article "Gift basket" whose price covers the packaging, e.g. €5.
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Create an article option of type Option "Basket contents" with Optional selection, a suitable Max and the price Normal price, and add the typical basket products as choices.
At the Sales Point you book the basket and choose the products. Each product appears on the invoice with its price and VAT rate and is deducted from stock. Products that aren't among the choices you simply scan in addition.
Vouchers
Vouchers are a strong gift in a delicatessen. With local vouchers (the Sales Point's Voucher Management module) you sell value vouchers with a barcode; the remaining balance is kept after a partial redemption. Whether a voucher is single-purpose or multi-purpose is controlled by its article group. See Sell a voucher and Retain regular customers. If customers should also buy and give vouchers online, e.g. by email, use online vouchers.
Café or tasting corner
If coffee is drunk or products are tasted in a corner of the shop, enable the consumption types In-house and Takeaway on the Sales Point; with dedicated staff in the café corner, it gets a Sub-Terminal with In-house only. Whether different prices or VAT rates apply on the premises is covered in Eat in or take away.
Cheese, cold cuts and other weighed goods
What is weighed at the counter is sold via the labels of a label scale in GS1 format: the scale prints weight or price into the barcode, and the Sales Point reads it when scanning. The setup is described in Grocery store with scanner checkout.
Labels for your own products
Your own products such as jams or bottled oils get their own product number. You print barcode labels in the bessa Manager or at the Sales Point, see Label printing. These labels contain the name and the barcode, no price. Shelf price tags with name and price are printed at the Sales Point with the Article & price template.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell a ready-made basket at a discount? Yes, like any article, e.g. via a function key with an article discount, see Apply discounts.
How do I see how many baskets I sold? The basket is an article of its own and appears in the article reports at the Sales Point and in the bessa Manager.