Six cases are sitting at the back door. The driver wants a signature. Five cases are what you ordered; the sixth is a smaller substitute. Count six, write “received”, and you’re done in a minute. It also wouldn’t be true.

Put three records beside each other

Check the purchase order, the physical delivery, and the supplier invoice as three separate records:

  1. The purchase order says what you asked the supplier to send.
  2. The delivery is what is physically in front of you.
  3. The invoice says what the supplier intends to charge.

Sometimes all three agree. When they don’t, keep the difference on record. Don’t edit one of them until they look like they match. Receiving is there to check that the quantity, quality and price match what you ordered. Counting boxes is the least of it. The open textbook Basic Kitchen and Food Service Management explains why the invoice should be checked against the purchase order as the goods arrive.

Six boxes can still be five cases and a problem.

Work one delivery line

Consider this illustrative purchase order:

Chicken thighs
6 cases × 40 lb
$54.80 per case

Ordered weight = 6 × 40 lb = 240 lb
Ordered cost = 6 × $54.80 = $328.80

At the door, you find five ordered cases and one substitute:

5 original cases × 40 lb = 200 lb
5 original cases × $54.80 = $274.00

1 substitute case × 30 lb = 30 lb
1 substitute case × $61.50 = $61.50

Delivered weight = 230 lb
Invoice total for the line = $335.50

The supplier delivered six physical cases, but the kitchen is 10 lb short and the line costs $6.70 more than the purchase order. The substitute also has a different specification and pack size. Those are three separate differences.

Decide each difference separately

Receiving isn’t one yes or no. Check:

  • Identity: Is this the product and specification you approved?
  • Quantity: How many cases, packs, pounds, or eaches actually arrived?
  • Condition: Is the product at an acceptable temperature and in acceptable condition under your food-safety procedures?
  • Price: Does the invoice price match the agreed or accepted amount?

A substitute you can use can still leave you short. The right count can still come at the wrong price. You can take the food without pretending everything else matched.

Record the substitute as itself

If you accept the 30 lb substitute, receive five cases against the original item and record the substitute on its own line. Don’t call it a 40 lb case just so the order looks complete.

Keep the supplier description, pack, price, invoice, and receiving decision together. If the substitute should become an approved buying option, review its usable yield and recipe conversion before it becomes a current ingredient price. Different chicken specifications can produce different usable quantities even when both are sold by the pound.

Keep uncertainty out of recipe cost

Put the delivery away while you sort out the price or the item. That open line shouldn’t quietly change the cost of every recipe with chicken in it.

Same goes for a scanned or imported invoice. What gets read off the page can set up the line, but a person still confirms the product, pack, quantity and price.

Commit only what arrived

Finish with a short note of what happened:

Received against original order: 5 × 40 lb
Accepted substitute: 1 × 30 lb
Short against ordered weight: 10 lb
Cost difference: +$6.70
Follow-up: confirm substitute approval and current price

The driver can leave. The shelf now shows 230 lb, the shortage remains visible, and tomorrow’s prep cook is not depending on a fictional sixth 40 lb case.