Next Steps: Connect Open Pantry to Xero

This guide explains how Open Pantry and Xero work together, what gets synced, how products/customers are matched, and what we need from you to go live.

How Open Pantry + Xero work together

Open Pantry is your operational source of truth for:

• Products (SKU / pack size / descriptions)
• Customer-specific pricing and price tiers
• Ordering workflow and order history
• Payments (managed in Open Pantry)

Xero remains the financial system of record for:

• Sales invoices and accounting reporting
• Revenue coding (account codes) and tax reporting

Typical workflow

1. A restaurant places an order in Open Pantry
2. Open Pantry exports the order to Xero as a Draft sales invoice
3. You review in Xero and Approve (and optionally email) the invoice from Xero Xero Central+1

Seeding Your Integration (recommended first step)

If you already have customers and/or items set up in Xero, seeding helps avoid duplicates and speeds up matching.

What we can seed:

Option A — Seed Open Pantry from Xero

• Pull existing Contacts (customers) from Xero
• Pull existing Products & services (items) from Xero

Option B — Seed via export

• You export contacts/items from Xero and we use that to align matches

What Gets Sent From Open Pantry to Xero

Commonly synced:

• Contacts (matched or created)
• Products & services items (matched or created)
• Orders exported as sales invoices
• Line items: quantity, unit price, description
• Account code (sales/revenue account)
• Tax rate (GST / tax-free)

Usually not synced:

• Payments (payments are managed in Open Pantry)
• Inventory/COGS journals (unless you specifically use tracked inventory workflows)

Account Code Mapping (Sales / Revenue Accounts)

In Xero, invoices and line items are coded to Sales/Revenue accounts in your Chart of Accounts. Xero treats “Revenue” and “Sales” account types identically. Xero Central

Default behaviour

By default, Open Pantry exports invoices coded to a default sales account (for example, 200 Sales).

If you want mapping to your existing GL structure

If you want Open Pantry invoices mapped to your existing account codes (e.g., freight to a separate income account, or different accounts by category), tell us what you want and we’ll configure the mapping.

Tax Mapping (GST + Tax-free)

Xero uses Tax rates on invoice lines (e.g., GST on Income, Tax Exempt / BAS Excluded, etc. depending on your setup). You can add/edit tax rates in Xero, and Xero supports entering transactions as GST inclusive/exclusive/no tax. Xero Central+2Xero Central+2

What we map:

• Your default taxable sales tax rate (e.g., GST)
• Your tax-free / non-taxable rate (whatever it’s called in your Xero file)
• Freight tax treatment (taxable vs non-taxable, if different)

If you already have taxable + tax-free configured in Xero, we’ll map Open Pantry’s taxable/non-taxable items to those exact Xero tax rates (we’ll confirm the names/rates during setup). Xero Central+1

Product Matching (Open Pantry → Xero “Products & Services”)

In Xero, products/items are managed in Sales → Products and services, and each item has a Code and Name. Xero Central

Matching Hierarchy

Open Pantry matches each product to Xero using this order:

1. Previously linked Xero Item ID (most reliable)
2. Item Code / SKU (recommended best practice)
3. Exact name match (fallback)
4. If no match → Create item in Xero (if auto-create is enabled)

If an item is created in Xero

It will be created with:

• Code (SKU / item code) and Name Xero Central
• Default sales account code (unless you provide a mapping)
• Default tax rate (taxable or tax-free, based on your mapping)

Customer Matching (Open Pantry → Xero “Contacts”)

Open Pantry matches customers using this hierarchy:

1. Previously linked Xero Contact ID
2. Email match (if present and unique)
3. Account number / reference (if you use one)
4. Exact name match
5. If no match → Create the contact in Xero (if auto-create is enabled)

Notes on IDs (important)

Once linked, Open Pantry relies on Xero’s internal IDs to keep exports consistent. If you merge/delete contacts in Xero, you may need us to re-link to prevent duplicates.

Orders Exported to Xero (Sales Invoices)

Open Pantry exports orders into Xero as Draft invoices. You then Approve (and optionally send/email) the invoice in Xero. Xero Central+1

Product Sync Timing (24-hour check + immediate on invoice export)

• Open Pantry checks for new products added in Open Pantry and pushes them to Xero every 24 hours.
• If you export an invoice to Xero and it includes a product that isn’t in Xero yet, Open Pantry will create/update what’s needed as part of the invoice export, so the invoice can be pushed through without waiting for the 24-hour cycle.

What We Need From You (Xero Setup Checklist)

Please send:

1. Confirm you’re using Xero (and the organisation name)
2. Export type: Draft sales invoice (default)
3. Default sales account code (e.g., 200 Sales)
4. Tax rate mapping:
   • Taxable sales tax rate (e.g., GST)
   • Tax-free / non-taxable tax rate (name as it appears in Xero)
   • Freight tax rate (if different)
5. Auto-create preferences:
   • Auto-create missing items in Xero? Yes/No
   • Auto-create missing contacts in Xero? Yes/No
6. Any special mapping rules (freight account, discounts, category-level account codes)

Go-live Checklist

• ✅ Seeding completed (if needed)
• ✅ Account code + tax rate mapping confirmed
• ✅ Test export with 1–2 orders
• ✅ Confirm:
  • correct customer match/creation
  • correct item match/creation (item codes)
  • correct taxable vs tax-free behaviour
• ✅ Go live