Estimated Cost & Margin on Quotes

Puree can show what a quote is likely to cost you and the margin left on it, on your own quote page only. Customers never see any of it: not on the quote, the acceptance page or a PDF.

The figures come from the costs you record on your catalogue: item costs and recipes, staff role costs, and venue supplier prices. They are read live, so a cost you change in the catalogue shows on every open quote straight away. See Items & Categories for recording item costs and Recipes & Food Cost for recipes.

Turning it on

While it is in beta, estimated margins are switched on account by account by Puree: ask us at email@puree.app. Once they are on, Account details → Costs & margins has a Show estimated cost and margin switch to show or hide them for everyone on the account.

Recording costs on your items, bundles, options and owned equipment is not part of the beta: every account can do that now, and the costs are ready for the margins the day they are switched on.

Section lines

Under each section total on the quote page (Venue hire, Packages, Menu, Beverages, Staff, Equipment and Miscellaneous) a small grey line reads, for example, Est. cost $412.00 · 38% margin, with a green tick.

• While some lines in a section have no cost, it says how many instead (2 items without a cost) with a red cross, rather than a cost that would read low and a margin that would read high.
• When nothing in the section has a cost it says Add item costs to see the margin.
• Delivery fees are not costed.

The quote as a whole

Under the grand total, Estimated margin shows the cost, the profit and the margin as a percentage, with a thin bar splitting cost from margin. It is worked on the total after any discount or surcharge, less tax, since tax is never yours to keep. Section lines take tax out of their totals the same way when your prices include tax.

While lines are missing a cost, the row names the sections they are in (1 venue line, 2 staff lines without a cost), each linking straight to that section’s costs.

Packages and choices not made yet

A package slot the customer has not chosen yet could end up as any option of its choice, so it is costed from the cheapest to the dearest. The Packages line, and the quote’s own estimate, then read as a range: Est. cost $600.00–$1,000.00 · 20–40% margin. On the grand total bar the pale part of the margin is the part that depends on what is chosen. A slot only counts as missing a cost while one of its options has none.

Adding or changing costs from the quote

Click any section line to open that section’s costs in a slide-over. Each line has a cost field, and each item line lists the options chosen on it with their own cost.

• With Update catalogue ticked (the default) the figure is saved on the item, staff role or venue hire type, so every quote uses it from then on.
• Untick it and the figure applies to this quote only. It stays with the line when you edit the quote, and goes only if the line is removed. A figure for this quote replaces the item’s own cost; options chosen on the line are still added.
• A bundle is costed from its contents, which are listed under it with their costs.
• An owned equipment item’s cost is worked out from its replacement value, so on a quote you can only change it for that quote.
• In the Packages section each package card lists its items, staff and venue hire. A package can also take one cost per guest for this quote, which stands in for everything in it; that opens once every line in the package has a cost.

On the package form

The package form has an Estimated cost box beside the price per guest: the cost per guest, the margin, any costs per booking, and how many lines or choices are not yet fully costed. Choices read as a range from the cheapest to the dearest selection. Click it to open the package’s costs: everything the package always includes, then each flexible choice with every option it offers. Lines with no cost are highlighted in amber, with a count at the top, and every figure you enter is saved to your catalogue.