Question 1

I forgot something — how do I add more to an order I've already placed?

Accepted Answer

If your supplier has the top-up order feature turned on, just place a second order — Open Pantry automatically combines it with your existing order for that delivery, so it arrives as one. If your items don't combine, your supplier may not have top-up enabled; send them a message or contact our team.

Question 2

How do I edit an order?

Accepted Answer

If your supplier uses Open Pantry, you can edit your order any time before their cut-off time. Go to Order History, open the order, and choose Edit Order (if editing is available for you). After cut-off, contact your supplier directly.

Question 3

How do I cancel or delete an order?

Accepted Answer

Go to Order History, open the order, and choose Delete (where available). If the order is past cut-off or already being prepared, please contact your supplier.

Question 4

What is "check off" and how do credits work?

Accepted Answer

Check off lets you confirm what actually arrived against what you ordered. When your delivery comes in, open the order and check off each item as received. If something is missing, short-supplied, or not right, mark it — Open Pantry automatically raises a credit request to your supplier for those items, so you're only paying for what you actually got. Your supplier reviews and approves the credit.

Question 5

How do I place an order?

Accepted Answer

Browse your supplier's products, add what you need to your cart, and submit before their cut-off time. You'll get a confirmation, and you can track everything in Order History.

Question 6

Is Open Pantry free?

Accepted Answer

Yes — Open Pantry is free for venues to order, and free for suppliers too. Some optional extras (like direct order integration) are available for a small cost, but everyday ordering is free.

Question 7

What if a supplier I want to order from isn't on Open Pantry?

Accepted Answer

Invite them — it's free for them. Choose Add Supplier and send an invite; we'll walk them through setup and let you know when they're ready. Prefer not to wait? You can also add them as a self-managed supplier and keep your ordering in one place — see the restaurant FAQs.

Question 8

How do I get started?

Accepted Answer

Head to app.theopenpantry.com, click Get Open Pantry Free, follow the quick onboarding, connect your suppliers, and you're ordering from your phone in minutes.

Question 9

What if my supplier isn't on Open Pantry?

Accepted Answer

You've got two options: Invite them (free for them): choose Add Supplier → Invite. We'll guide them through setup and tell you when they're ready, so your orders go straight to them through Open Pantry. Self-managed supplier: if they'd rather not join yet, add them as a self-managed supplier — you set up their products and prices yourself, so you can still keep all your ordering and lists in one place and send their order your usual way.

Question 10

How do I create or edit a pantry list?

Accepted Answer

Open My Pantry, tap any item to change the quantity or remove it, or use + Add product to search your supplier's catalogue. To start a new list, choose Create a Pantry List. Changes save as you go. See also: "What are Pantry Lists?" for background on what pantry lists are.

Question 11

How do I set up a recurring order?

Accepted Answer

From My Pantry, build your list, then tap Set up recurring order and choose the days. Open Pantry places it automatically and emails you the night before so you can tweak it first.

Question 12

Where do I find my invoice?

Accepted Answer

Your invoice is sent to you directly by your supplier, not by Open Pantry. Suppliers issue and send their own invoices once your order is processed — so if you're missing one, reach out to your supplier.

Question 13

Can I plan and cost my menus?

Accepted Answer

Yes — Open Pantry includes menu planning and costing tools so you can build recipes, cost them from your order prices, and keep an eye on margins. See also: "What is Menu Costing?" for how cost-per-serve is calculated.

Question 14

How do I check off a delivery and request a credit?

Accepted Answer

When your delivery arrives, open the order and check off what you received. Anything missing or short, mark it — Open Pantry sends a credit request to your supplier automatically, so your account is only charged for what turned up.

Question 15

What is Open Pantry for restaurants?

Accepted Answer

Open Pantry helps restaurants order from suppliers, manage regular purchases, track order history, build pantry lists, create recurring orders and, with additional tools, manage menu costing, inventory, stocktaking, sales, wastage and reporting.

Question 16

What are Pantry Lists?

Accepted Answer

Pantry Lists are saved lists of products you order regularly. You can create lists by supplier, category or use case, then quickly add items from the list to your cart.

Question 17

What is Restaurant Pro Suite?

Accepted Answer

Restaurant Pro Suite extends Open Pantry beyond ordering. It includes tools for automated ordering, inventory, stocktaking, sales, wastage and reporting. It's designed to help restaurants understand stock levels, reduce waste and track profit drivers.

Question 18

Do restaurants have a free trial?

Accepted Answer

Basic ordering is free for restaurants — you just need to be invited by a supplier. There isn't a free trial for Menu Profit Manager or the Restaurant Pro Suite.

Question 19

How do I hide products from certain customers?

Accepted Answer

You control this under Products & Pricing → Product Visibility. There are two ways: Set your default. Choose whether products are Visible by default (everyone sees everything unless a rule hides it — recommended) or Hidden by default. Add rules with groups. Create a Customer Group (e.g. "Cafés") and a Product Group (e.g. "Wholesale-only lines"), then on Overview click Link Customer & Product Group to show or hide that product group for that customer group. To hide a single product from a single customer, do it at the product level in Price Exceptions instead. Use groups when you want the same rule across many customers or products.

Question 20

What is Menu Profit Manager?

Accepted Answer

Menu Profit Manager is Open Pantry's toolkit for knowing — not guessing — what every dish on your menu costs and earns. It reads your supplier invoices, keeps your ingredient prices current automatically, costs every recipe per portion, and flags any dish that slips below its target margin, with a suggested new menu price ready to accept in one click. The parts work together: invoices come in (uploaded, emailed or from connected suppliers) → prices update → recipes re-cost → the dishes that need a price decision surface in the repricing queue. Add the Preparation List for daily prep planning, delivery check-off to catch short deliveries at the door, and a one-way push of reviewed bills into Xero, QuickBooks, MYOB, Sage or Zoho Books. It's part of the Restaurant Pro Suite. To see it with your own menu, upload a handful of invoices and a few recipes — the setup wizard walks you through it in a few minutes.

Question 21

Can Open Pantry read my supplier invoices?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Upload photos, PDFs, scans or spreadsheet invoices — individually or in bulk — and Open Pantry reads the supplier, invoice number, dates, GST and every line item. Each line is matched against your products, price changes are tracked, and anything unusual (a short delivery, a price jump, an item you never ordered) is flagged for a human decision. Nothing changes your prices or goes to your accounting system until you've reviewed it. Statements are recognised and kept out of the payable queue (paying from a statement would pay invoices twice), and supplier credit notes are matched against your outstanding credit requests automatically. Invoices from a supplier you haven't set up yet go to a queue where you can create the supplier — products and prices included — from the invoice itself.

Question 22

How do I set custom pricing for a specific customer?

Accepted Answer

Think of it in two layers — set the base with a price list, then fine-tune with price exceptions: Start with a price list (the base). Assign the customer a price list to set their general pricing level. You can apply it when adding the customer, or from the customer record. Customise with price exceptions. For products that should differ, go to Products & Pricing → Price Exceptions, find the customer (or add them with +), and set the custom price per product. Use Import to do many at once. Both apply automatically when the customer orders. See also: "What are price lists and how do they work?" and "What is a price exception?"

Question 23

How do I charge different freight or delivery fees for different customers?

Accepted Answer

This is a two-step setup — create the rule, then assign it: Create your freight rules. Account menu (top right) → Company Profile & Settings → Freight Rules. Each rule sets a delivery fee, cut-off time, minimum order value, free-delivery threshold, and optional custom delivery days. Use Add New Rule to create more and mark one as the default. Assign a rule to a customer. Open the customer (Customers → Customer List → the customer → Freight tab) and pick their Freight Rule. Each customer can have one rule, which overrides the default for them.

Question 24

How do I set a customer's delivery schedule?

Accepted Answer

"Delivery schedule" is set in two places, depending on whether it's for one customer or many: For a single customer (the main way). Open the customer (Customers → Customer List → the customer → Freight tab) and edit their delivery schedule there. For a group of customers. Use a freight rule (Company Profile & Settings → Freight Rules → edit a rule → Advanced scheduling), turn on Custom Day Overrides to choose which days delivery is available, and set a Delivery Day Buffer. Apply that rule to every customer who should share the schedule.

Question 25

How do I run a promotion?

Accepted Answer

Go to Products & Pricing → Promotions & Specials and click Create Promotion. Build a campaign with a mechanic such as Percent Off, set it live, and track results on the dashboard (live promotions, promoted revenue, incremental margin). Look at Smart Promotions for suggested deals.

Question 26

How do I invite a customer?

Accepted Answer

Go to Customers → Add New Customer. Enter their details — company name and email are the key fields (email is required). Choose a Send Credentials option, optionally apply a pricing list, then click Add Customer. If the customer already has an Open Pantry account they simply accept your request; if not, they're emailed an invitation with full instructions on how to log in and place orders, plus their login details. To add many at once, use Import Customer List (xlsx).

Question 27

What login details does my customer receive?

Accepted Answer

When you add a customer, the Send Credentials option decides when they get access: Yes – Send Now — the customer is emailed straight away to set up or access their login. No – Setup Required, Send Later — you finish setting them up first (pricing, visibility, delivery schedule) and send the invite once everything's ready. Customers don't receive a password from you — they're sent an email to create or access their own account securely. You can resend the invite anytime from Customers → Customer List → the customer's ⋯ menu → Resend Login Email, and see their active logins on the Users tab.

Question 28

How do I edit, reorder, or delete product categories?

Accepted Answer

Go to Products & Pricing → Inventory → Settings → Product categories (these are the categories customers see when placing orders). On that screen: Reorder: drag a category by its handle to change the order customers see. Edit / rename: click the pencil icon on the category. Delete: click the trash icon on the category.

Question 29

Customers email me orders — can they go in automatically?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Open Pantry gives you a unique inbound email address that turns emailed orders into digital ones automatically. Find it under the account menu → Company Profile & Settings → Send orders to this email. Forward emails, PDFs or messages to that address and Open Pantry creates the order for you — no manual re-typing. If it isn't enabled for your account yet, request access by clicking the link in that section.

Question 30

Should I invoice in Open Pantry or in my accounting system?

Accepted Answer

We recommend syncing your orders to your accounting system. Each order then arrives there as a draft invoice, ready for you to finalise and send. That keeps a clean split: Open Pantry is your operational source of truth (orders, picking, packing, delivery), and your accounting system stays your financial source of truth (where invoices are finalised, sent and reconciled). Just make sure you're connected to your accounting system and orders flow through as drafts automatically. See also: "Will Open Pantry replace my accounting system?"

Question 31

How do I contact Open Pantry support?

Accepted Answer

You can reach us by email at info@theopenpantry.com, or use the chat in the help centre and we'll get back to you. Phone support. A direct phone line is available to signed-in paid customers in countries where we have a local office. If that's you, you'll see your country's number here when you're signed in: Australia: 03 9020 9266 United States: +1 929 556 4469 Canada: +1 647 905 0953 Everyone else — not signed in, on the free tier, or in a country without a local line — sees email and chat support (info@theopenpantry.com). On the public landing page, support is email only.

Question 32

What if I need help (inside the app)?

Accepted Answer

Go to Help inside Open Pantry to search FAQs, browse help topics, or contact support. You can also email info@theopenpantry.com.

Suppliers

I forgot something — how do I add more to an order I've already placed?

How do I edit an order?

How do I cancel or delete an order?

What is "check off" and how do credits work?

How do I place an order?

Is Open Pantry free?

What if a supplier I want to order from isn't on Open Pantry?

How do I get started?

How do I hide products from certain customers?

How do I set custom pricing for a specific customer?

How do I charge different freight or delivery fees for different customers?

How do I set a customer's delivery schedule?

How do I run a promotion?

How do I invite a customer?

What login details does my customer receive?

How do I edit, reorder, or delete product categories?

Customers email me orders — can they go in automatically?

Should I invoice in Open Pantry or in my accounting system?

How do I contact Open Pantry support?

What if I need help (inside the app)?

Restaurants

I forgot something — how do I add more to an order I've already placed?

How do I edit an order?

How do I cancel or delete an order?

What is "check off" and how do credits work?

How do I place an order?

Is Open Pantry free?

What if a supplier I want to order from isn't on Open Pantry?

How do I get started?

What if my supplier isn't on Open Pantry?

How do I create or edit a pantry list?

How do I set up a recurring order?

Where do I find my invoice?

Can I plan and cost my menus?

How do I check off a delivery and request a credit?

What is Open Pantry for restaurants?

What are Pantry Lists?

What is Restaurant Pro Suite?

Do restaurants have a free trial?

What is Menu Profit Manager?

Can Open Pantry read my supplier invoices?

How do I contact Open Pantry support?

What if I need help (inside the app)?

Get your free account today