CATCH WEIGHT & SCALESNEW

Catch Weight: Weigh It Once, Invoice What You Shipped

Open Pantry’s catch weight tools capture the real weight of every meat, seafood or produce line as it is picked — from a connected bench scale, the weight already on the supplier’s carton label, or a typed entry — and invoice the customer for that weight, not the ordered quantity. Each weight is checked against tolerance, logged, and can print a carton label on the spot.

  • Read a bench scale straight into the picker, or scan the weight off the supplier’s GS1 label
  • Tolerance checks with a reason on every override, and a weight log you can export
  • Carton, product, shelf and pallet label templates, printed to PDF or a Zebra thermal printer

★★★★★  Trusted by 600+ suppliers across Australia

Open Pantry weigh sheet on a tablet reading 3.482 kg from a connected bench scale, with each customer’s ordered and captured weight
Recommended by:M&J ChickensFood & Drink BusinessFoodService REPGoogle ★★★★★
Built for food & beverage wholesalersMeatSeafoodProduceDairySmallgoodsBakeryBeverages

Every Weight Copied by Hand Is Margin at Risk

Weights written on a docket at the bench, then typed into the invoice at the office

Customers invoiced for the ordered kilos instead of what actually left the building

An overweight carton shipped without anyone noticing — or an underweight one queried at the door

Carton labels hand-written, and nothing to show an auditor when a scale was last checked

How Catch Weight Works in Open Pantry

1

Mark products as sold by weight

Set which products are catch weight, with an average weight and a tolerance if you want the check.

2

Weigh as you pick

The weigh sheet steps through each customer on the card. Capture a steady reading from the scale, scan the supplier label, or type the weight.

3

Check and label

Weights outside tolerance are flagged before they are confirmed. A carton label can print the moment the weight is captured.

4

Invoice the real weight

The captured weight goes onto the invoice and the weight log, and flows to your accounting sync like any other line.

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A connected scale — or a typed weight, never a dead end

Plug a bench scale into a desktop running Chrome or Edge and the weigh sheet reads it live, with tare and zero where the scale supports them. Only a steady reading can be captured. On a tablet or phone, or when the scale is down, typing the weight is a first-class option — with a reason recorded so you can see why.

  • Weight captured per customer, because each invoice needs its own
  • Several scale stations supported
Open Pantry reading a steady 12.460 kg from a connected bench scale, beside a typed-weight entry with a reason

Scan the weight that’s already on the label

Supplier cartons often arrive with the net weight printed in the GS1 barcode. Scan it and the weight goes onto the weigh sheet without touching a scale. The same carton scanned twice is blocked, and an unreadable label falls back to the scale or a typed weight.

Open Pantry reading the net weight from a GS1 supplier carton label onto the weigh sheet, with a duplicate carton scan blocked

Tolerance checks and a weight log for every line

Set a tolerance per product and the weigh sheet shows whether each weight is within it — and what the customer will pay if it isn’t. Going over needs a reason. Every weight lands in the Weight log with the customer, product, source and time, ready to search or export to CSV.

  • Scale, label or typed — the source is always recorded
  • Edits to a captured weight are audited
Open Pantry tolerance band flagging an over-tolerance weight with the amount the customer pays, above the Pick & Pack weight log

Carton labels and a trade-verified scales register

Build carton, product, shelf or bin and SSCC pallet label templates with the weight, use-by, lot, GS1 barcode and allergen details. Print to PDF on any printer, or straight to a Zebra thermal printer. Keep a register of your trade-verified scales with the next check due, and get a reminder before one runs over.

  • Receive purchase orders by weight, by scanning supplier labels
  • Test print from the template editor
Open Pantry carton label template with net weight, use-by and GS1 barcode, and a trade-verified scales register with one scale overdue
More product lines purchased
24%
Your always-on branded store and app put your full range in front of customers, so baskets grow.
Less order-processing cost
95%
AI order capture and auto-invoicing remove the manual keying between order and books.
Fewer picking errors
80%
Tablet pick & pack with FEFO lot and expiry tracking catches shorts and wrong items before they ship.

Real gains suppliers report after moving ordering, fulfilment and invoicing onto Open Pantry.

Real Weights Flow Straight to the Invoice

M&J Chickens

Trusted by M&J Chickens

$175m+
Annual turnover

M&J Chickens use Open Pantry to move ordering out of calls and messages and into one digital workflow — giving customers a smooth ordering experience and giving the team fewer errors and less admin.

Alex Ortiz — Head of Sales

“Moving to a digital process has transformed our ordering process which is now faster through our own mobile apps.”

Alex Ortiz — Head of Sales
Alex Ortiz — Head of Sales
M&J Chickens

Why not weigh it and write it down?

Writing weights on a docket works until one is misread, skipped or typed into the wrong line — and then you are either giving product away or arguing over an invoice. Industry studies put manual data entry at 100–400 errors per 10,000 entries. Capturing the weight once, at the bench, means the invoice, the label and the log all carry the same number.

Weighing and writing weights by hand versus Open Pantry catch weight — scale or label sets the kilos, invoice from the real weight, labels print on capture

Open Pantry for food suppliers in Australia

Australian food and beverage wholesalers use Open Pantry to take orders from restaurants, cafés and venues online, with every order flowing to picking, invoicing and accounting.

Plans priced in
AUD — see Australia pricing
Accounting sync
Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online
Can Australian food suppliers use Open Pantry?

Yes. Wholesalers and distributors in Australia use Open Pantry to take orders from restaurants, cafés and venues through their own branded ordering app and online store. Plans are priced in AUD, and orders and invoices sync with Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online.

Is there a free plan for suppliers in Australia?

Yes. The free plan lets you list products and receive unlimited orders. Paid plans add accounting, inventory and delivery tools, come with a free trial and are priced in AUD.

Questions Suppliers Ask About Catch Weight and Scales

What is catch weight?+
Catch weight means selling a product by the unit — a carton, a whole fish, a primal — but invoicing it by its actual weight. Open Pantry captures that weight at picking, per customer, and puts it on the invoice so the customer pays for what was shipped rather than the ordered quantity.
Which scales work with Open Pantry?+
Bench scales with a serial or USB connection that send their weight as text can be read directly in Chrome or Edge on a desktop computer. The picker only captures a steady reading. If your scale isn’t supported, or you are on a tablet, typing the weight works on every device.
Can I use the weight printed on the supplier’s carton?+
Yes. Scanning a GS1 carton label that carries a net weight puts that weight straight onto the weigh sheet. The same carton can’t be counted twice, and an unreadable label falls back to the scale or a typed weight.
How do tolerance checks work?+
Set a tolerance for a product and each captured weight is compared against what was ordered. A weight outside the band is flagged and shows what the customer will be charged; confirming it needs a reason, which is recorded against the line.
Does the customer get invoiced for the actual weight?+
Yes. When the order is finalised, catch-weight lines are invoiced at the captured weight and the line price per kilo. The invoice syncs to Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks or Sage like any other.
Can I print carton labels as I weigh?+
Yes. Turn on label printing and a carton label can print the moment a weight is captured, or be reprinted later. Labels can carry the product, net weight, use-by, lot, GS1 barcode and allergen details, and print to PDF or a Zebra thermal printer.
What label templates are included?+
Carton, product, shelf or bin, and SSCC pallet templates, plus your own custom templates. A full-screen editor lets you choose sizes and fields, and Test print checks the result before you use it on the floor.
What is the trade-verified scales register?+
A list of your scale stations with model, last verified date and certificate number. Open Pantry works out the next check due, sends a reminder before it is overdue, and blocks an overdue station from capturing weights until it is checked again.
Can I receive stock by weight?+
Yes. On a purchase order with catch-weight lines, Receive by weight lets you scan the supplier labels so each carton is received at its labelled weight.
Is there a record of every weight?+
The Weight log in Pick & Pack lists every captured weight with customer, product, source (scale, label or typed) and time. You can search it, open the order and export it to CSV.
Which plan includes catch weight and labels?+
Connected scales and the Labels & scales tools are part of the Enterprise plan, and you can use them during the free trial. See the pricing page for current plans, or book a demo.

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