Enter a lot that's already in the building — pick the product, date the batch, and place its cases in one or more locations.
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Most lots arrive on their own paperwork — booked in when you receive a purchase order or when the kitchen sends product back. But some stock is simply in the building with no document behind it: the freezer and racks you already hold the day you start with Bettr, or a batch that reached the dock outside any order. Manual entry writes that stock onto the record, lot by lot, so counts, picks, and traces can find it. Open Stock items under Inventory and select New to follow along. Entering a whole building's worth? Load your opening inventory covers the grid built for that sitting.
Open the form
On the stock items list, select New — the last button at the top of the page. The New stock item page opens on a single card that describes one .
Pick the product
Under Product, type a name or product code and select the match. The search covers every product in the company's catalog — if the batch in front of you isn't in it yet, add the product first.
Count and date the batch
Quantity takes the whole cases you're entering. Manufacture date and Expiration date describe the batch itself — the expiration date is what sorts the lot into the stock list's order, so date it from the case, not from today.
Number the lot — or let Bettr do it
Lot number can stay empty: leave it blank and Bettr assigns one when the lot is created. When the batch already carries a code, type it here, put the supplier's own stamp in Vendor lot number, and use Alternative lot number for a second code the floor knows the batch by. A number another live lot already uses is rejected, so the same code never points at two batches.
Note where the stock came from
Reference number and Notes are free text and land on the lot's
inbound movement — a reference like Opening inventory lets you gather
every hand-entered lot in the movements feed later. Both can stay empty.
Place the cases
Under Locations, pick the spot the stock sits in and the cases stored there. Once the product is picked, a location that can't hold its storage type — a dry rack offered a frozen batch — reads Incompatible storage and can't be selected. One row is the common case; select Add location when a single batch is split across spots — a cooler and a rack, say — and give each row its own quantity.
Create it
The bar at the foot of the page reads To store against Allocated, and Create switches on only when the two match and nothing else is missing. Select Create — Bettr returns you to the stock items list with Stock item stored, naming the lot number it saved (or generated).
Every case you're entering has to land somewhere, so the footer keeps a running balance: To store is the lot's quantity, Allocated is what the location rows add up to. Until they agree, Create stays off and the footer says exactly what's missing — a product not yet picked, dates not yet set, or how many cases are still unallocated. When everything lines up it reads Complete, and the entry is one click from the record.
A stock item needs a product to name it and a location to sit in. Open the page before the company has either and the form doesn't render half-usable — a panel says which is missing and links straight to New product or New location. Add a product and set up your warehouse locations, then come back.
Creating the lot appends an inbound movement with the Manual Entry source — the same append-only record a receipt or a kitchen return writes, so a hand-entered lot traces exactly like any other. You'll find it on the stock movements feed under the Manual Entry source filter, carrying the reference and notes you gave it. From that moment the lot's quantity is derived from its movements — picks, counts, and waste draw it down like any other lot, and nothing is ever typed over. How inventory works in Bettr explains the model.
Entering stock by hand is governed by the Create stock items permission, under Warehouse & Inventory in the permission catalog — without it the New button doesn't render and the page redirects to an unauthorized notice.