Every status, field, and control on a kitchen return — the draft sub-statuses, output-count approval, finishing back into the warehouse, and releasing to another company.
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A return on the Kitchen Returns list reads KR-000012 with a Pending approval badge, and the crew is clocking out in ten minutes. A moves that surplus the right way — but only once every count is signed off and every case has somewhere to land. This page names every status, field, and control on Kitchen Returns so you can read any return at a glance. The screen is its own module that turns on only alongside Production, Sales, and Purchasing; among the self-serve plans, Plant is the one that bundles it. Plant+
Not the same as Early kitchen returns
Inventory has a separate Early kitchen returns screen. Despite the shared name, it is a different flow — for stock sent back as it leaves the line — and it lives in its own module. See Log early kitchen returns. This page is only about returns from the production kitchen.
Kitchen Returns lists one row per return, newest first. Each row carries:
KR- and a six-digit sequence
(KR-000012), unique within your company.Above the list, Search matches on number, name, or department, and the status filter narrows to All statuses, Draft, or Completed — it filters on the top-level status, not the draft sub-statuses. New starts a return; Send kitchen stock back to the warehouse walks through the full flow.
A kitchen return has two top-level statuses:
While a return is a draft, its badge shows a finer sub-status that names what it's waiting on:
These are derived in that order: approval is checked before location, so a return with both gaps reads Pending approval first.
Opening a return shows its number and status badge at the top, with the name beneath. The controls sit in the top-right:
A details panel below the header lists the Department the stock came from, the Production run it's tied to (if you linked one), who Created the return and when, and — once it's done — who Completed it and when.
Each item is one returnable and the whole cases you're sending back. An item row shows:
Approving confirms a final-product item's output count. You can adjust the case count and the location split as you approve, or accept what's there. After approval the item's product and quantity are locked — only the location split can still change. Raw and ingredient lots skip approval entirely.
Finishing completes a draft and moves the stock: each item's whole cases are pulled out of the kitchen lot and booked into warehouse stock at the locations you set. The Finish panel only offers the action once the return has at least one item, every final-product count is approved, and every item has a location — until then it names which of those is still missing.
Finishing can't be undone
Once you finish a return its cases have left the kitchen and entered warehouse stock. There is no reopen — a mistake has to be corrected with new movements.
Release moves stock between two companies in the same organization: the kitchen's company sends it, another company receives it. It's available only after a return is completed, and only once. Releasing mints two orders — a sales order at the company that made the stock and a matching purchase order at the receiving company — and the return then shows an SO and a PO chip linking to each.
Release needs a few things lined up first: the return's department must carry a customer contact linked to a receiving company in your organization, that company needs a product with the same code, and a vendor price for it. If any is missing, Release tells you what to add.
Release mints real orders
Releasing creates a live sales order and purchase order at the two companies and can't be undone. Confirm the receiving company and its pricing before you release.
The detail page renders in one of two views, set by your role. A supervisor sees everything here: available counts, locations, who created and completed the return, and the Edit, Finish, and Delete controls. An operator sees a stripped floor view built for checking stock in — the item list, Scan QR, Print label, and Approve quantity — without the editing controls. Your role's default production view decides which one you get.
What you can do with a kitchen return depends on your role: