When an order is sent, Papaya takes each item’s recipe ingredients off stock. If the order or one of its items is then cancelled, those ingredients might still be usable, or they might already be in the bin. Papaya asks your staff which it is, or handles it automatically, so your stock stays right.
💡 This article is for outlets that track inventory by Recipe ingredients. If you track by Menu items, the same setting controls menu-item stock, and the window lists menu items and options instead of ingredients.
Choose what happens when something is cancelled
Go to Settings → Inventory. Under Cancelled orders and items, pick a Cancellation behaviour, then click Save.
Option | What happens | Good for |
Ask staff each time (default) | After a cancel, staff see an Update inventory window and decide item by item | Most venues: only the team knows whether it was made |
Return to stock automatically | The ingredients go straight back into stock, with no window | Cancellations that usually happen before anything is prepared, like ordering mistakes |
Move to waste automatically | The ingredients are written off as waste straight away | Venues where anything cancelled has usually been made already |
When staff are asked: the Update inventory window
After you cancel an order or items, the Update inventory window lists each cancelled item under Recipe ingredients. It shows the ingredients that item took off stock, with the quantity of each.
Tick the items to handle. They all start ticked, and Select all items toggles them.
Choose one:
Restock: the ingredients are fine to use, so they go back into stock.
Waste: the item was made or spoiled, so the ingredients are recorded as waste. Pick a Waste reason first. It’s the same list as your wastage reasons.
Skip: leave stock as it is for the items still waiting.
Items that need different answers can be done in more than one pass. Each finished item shows a Restock or Waste badge, and the rest stay ticked for your next choice.
💡 Skip is the right choice when you’d rather correct stock at your next count.
What comes back is exactly what went out
Papaya returns the quantities the item actually took off stock when it was sent, even if the recipe has been edited since.
Cancel part of a line, for example 1 of 3, and a third of its ingredients comes back. The other two keep theirs.
An item’s ingredients can only be returned once. A double tap, a second device or the automatic setting can’t return them twice.
Waste doesn’t change your stock level, because the ingredients already came off when the order was sent. It records the write-off, with its reason, on your waste report.
When Papaya handles it for you
Whatever your setting, ingredients go straight back into stock, with no window, when:
your connected POS rejects an order after it was sent, or
your POS refuses an item because it’s out of stock.
Nothing was prepared, so nothing counts as waste. These entries show as Automatic in the action log.
Where to see it afterwards
Where | What you’ll see |
Inventory → Movements | A Returned line for each ingredient that went back. A Waste choice shows a Returned line and then a Wasted line, so stock ends where it was. |
Inventory → Wastage | The write-off, with the reason staff chose |
The order’s action log (clock icon) | Inventory returned, Inventory wasted (with the reason) or Inventory update skipped, with the items and who did it |
Reports → Action Log | The same entries across all orders. You can filter by action. |
FAQ
Why didn’t the Update inventory window appear?
Either your setting is automatic, the item has no recipe, or the item was never sent. An item that wasn’t sent took nothing off stock.
I pressed Skip by mistake. Can I undo it?
The ingredients stay off stock. Correct them at your next stock count.
What if my plan doesn’t include recipe ingredients?
Recipe ingredients is locked under Track inventory by. If your plan lapses while you’re using it, a warning appears, and stock keeps coming off by recipe until you switch to Menu items and save.