Beverages Charged on Consumption

Show customers the drinks available and their unit prices before an event, then charge for the quantities actually consumed afterwards. A zero-priced package keeps the offer together while retaining estimated quantities for your team to order and pack.

Before you start

Make sure the beverages are set up in your item catalogue with the unit prices you want to show the customer. Check what each item’s unit represents, such as a bottle or an individual beer. See Items & Categories.

This workflow is for beverages charged on consumption. For an offer with a set price per guest, see Creating Beverage Packages.

1. Create a menu header

Go to Settings → Menu Headers and create a header such as On-consumption beverages.

Optionally add default commentary to explain the arrangement. For example:

The following beverages will be available at your event and charged according to actual consumption at the unit prices shown below. Final charges will be confirmed after the event.

This gives the customer context for the drinks list. See Menu Headers and Menu & Category Commentary.

2. Create a zero-priced package

Go to Items → Packages and choose New Package. Name it On-consumption beverage service and set the price per guest to $0.

You can add a description such as:

Beverages are charged after the event according to actual consumption.

The zero price means this package does not charge for the estimated supply quantities. The final beverage charges will be added after the event.

3. Add the available drinks

Add Fixed items and select the wines, beers and other beverages you will offer. Apply the On-consumption beverages menu header to all selected items. You do not need a separate rule header for this setup.

For each beverage, set the quantity type to per guest and enter your own estimate of how much you need to supply. Use quantities appropriate to your event and the item’s unit.

These are supply estimates for ordering and packing, not consumption recommendations or quantities the customer is committing to buy. Puree scales them by the number of guests when you add the package to a quote.

4. Turn on Info only and Show price

For every included beverage:

• Turn Info only on.
• Turn Show price on.

Inside a package, Info only retains the quantity for staff while hiding it from the customer and excluding the item from the charge. Show price displays the unit price for reference; it does not add the estimated quantity to the quote total.

Add the selection and save the package.

5. Add the package to a quote

Create or edit the quote, open Packages on the items page, and select On-consumption beverage service. Enter the guest count, for example 100, then add the package to the order and save.

Check both views:

• Internal view: the beverage quantities show what you expect to supply. Use them to plan packing and ordering. Where items are linked to an external supplier, they also support your supplier-order workflow.
• Customer view: the service package, menu header and explanatory copy introduce the drinks. Each beverage shows its unit price without your estimated quantity. The informational drinks and zero-priced package add no beverage charge to the total at this stage.

See External Suppliers for placing supplier orders. Adding the package does not itself send an order to a supplier.

6. Replace the package with actual consumption after the event

Once the event is complete and you have counted what was consumed:

1. Open the quote for editing.
2. Remove the On-consumption beverage service package from this quote. This removes its included beverage lines as well; it does not delete the reusable package from your catalogue.
3. Go to Beverages and add the consumed items individually as normal charged items, with Info only off.
4. Enter the actual consumed quantities and check each unit price against the price quoted to the customer.
5. Save the quote and review the updated total.

Only add quantities actually consumed. The normal beverage lines now contribute to the quote total, replacing the earlier informational offer.

7. Check the invoice, if you use Xero

If your account is connected to Xero, auto-sync is enabled and the quote is already linked to an invoice, saving the updated quote queues an invoice update. Check that the sync succeeds and review the invoice before sending it.

A disconnected account or an unlinked quote will not automatically send the changes to Xero. Payments or invoice restrictions can also prevent an update. See Connecting with Xero for linking quotes and checking sync issues.