Managing Products and Categories

• Create products from recipes or add resale items to your bakery catalog
• Organize products into categories for your online store and POS system
• Set prices, manage variants, and control which items appear on your storefront

Understanding Products vs. Recipes

Before you start, it's helpful to know the difference:

• Recipes define how you make something — they include ingredients, quantities, instructions, and automatically calculate your cost.
• Products define what you sell — they have a name, price, image, category, and appear on your storefront and POS.

One recipe can back multiple products. For example, your "Chocolate Cake" recipe can power both a "6-inch Chocolate Cake" and an "8-inch Chocolate Cake" product, each with its own price and variants.

You can also add resale products — items you buy and resell without a recipe, like bottled drinks or packaged cookies.

Creating a New Product

1. Go to /dashboard/products in BakeOnyx.
2. Click the + New Product button.
3. Fill in the product details:
   • Product Name — What customers see (e.g., "Strawberry Shortcake").
   • Description — A brief description for your storefront (optional but recommended).
   • Category — Choose or create a category (Cakes, Cupcakes, Bread, Pastries, etc.).
   • Base Price — Your selling price. This is what customers pay.
   • Recipe — Link to a recipe if this product is baked in-house (optional). Leave blank for resale items.
   • Product Image — Upload a photo of your finished product.
4. Set the product status to Active so it appears on your storefront and POS.
5. Click Save Product.

Setting Up Product Categories

Categories help customers find items on your online store and make reporting easier for you.

1. In the Products section, look for the Categories tab or link.
2. Click + New Category.
3. Enter a category name (e.g., "Wedding Cakes", "Seasonal Items", "Vegan Options").
4. Add a description if you'd like (this can appear on your storefront).
5. Click Save Category.
6. When creating or editing products, assign them to the relevant category.

Managing Product Variants

Variants let you offer the same product in different sizes, flavors, or styles — each with its own price.

1. Open an existing product or create a new one.
2. Scroll to the Variants section.
3. Click + Add Variant.
4. Enter the variant details:
   • Variant Name — e.g., "6-inch", "Chocolate", "Gluten-Free".
   • Price — The selling price for this specific variant.
5. Click Save Variant.
6. Repeat for each size, flavor, or option you offer.

Pricing Your Products

BakeOnyx helps you price products based on your ingredient costs:

1. If a product is linked to a recipe, the system shows your ingredient cost automatically.
2. Enter your desired base price (what customers pay).
3. BakeOnyx calculates your profit margin — the difference between cost and price.
4. For resale products without a recipe, simply enter the price you paid and your desired selling price.

Publishing Products to Your Storefront

Products only appear on your online store, POS, and order forms when their status is set to Active. To hide a product temporarily:

1. Open the product.
2. Set the status to Inactive.
3. Click Save.

The product will no longer appear on your storefront or POS, but you can reactivate it anytime.

Next Steps

• Adding and Managing Ingredients — Learn how to set up ingredients and costs for your recipes.
• Creating a New Order — See how customers select products during checkout.
• Using Bake Buddy (AI Assistant) — Get help writing product descriptions and managing your catalog.

Default Tax Rate

Each product can have a default tax rate configured in the Tax section of the product form. When this product is added to an order, the tax rate auto-fills — no manual selection needed each time.

This is especially useful for:

• Products that are always tax-exempt (e.g., a box of 6+ cookies in Canada)
• Products that always have a specific rate (e.g., catering platters at full VAT in the UK)
• Reducing errors on orders with many items at different rates

If no default tax rate is set, the product uses the bakery's default tax rate from Settings → Orders.