In this guide 6 sections
Start with the catalogue. Give every pack size its own record holding a net weight, a storage class and a shelf life, then draw delivery zones and cutoffs for each storage class. Rehearse one full order, from basket to doorstep, before the store opens.
Build the catalogue around pack sizes, not products
A jar of chutney sold in two sizes is two sellable items hiding under one product page, and each needs its own SKU, barcode, net weight and price. Buyers compare grams, not names.
Loose goods need a different set-up. Sell nuts, cheese or cut fish by the kilo with a minimum order and a fixed step, so nobody orders 137 grams of feta.
Trade buyers add a third layer. A case of twelve jars is bought as one unit and sold as twelve singles, so the record must carry that conversion in writing or stock counts will drift.
- SKU and barcode for each pack size
- Net weight and the price per kilo or litre
- Minimum order and step for loose goods
- Case size for trade buyers
- A photo of the real label, front and back
Record shelf life and storage for every item
Shelf life is two numbers, not one. The first is total life from the day of packing, and the second is how many days you promise to have left when the parcel leaves your door.
A pot of yoghurt with two days remaining is perfectly within date, yet it draws a complaint from the buyer who planned to eat it on Friday. Set the promise per product. The system should then hide any batch below it.
Storage class decides everything downstream. Ambient, chilled or frozen sets the box, the courier, the gel packs or dry ice, and the weekdays on which you can ship at all.
- Days of life at packing
- Days still promised at dispatch
- Storage class: ambient, chilled or frozen
- Opened-pack advice, such as finish within a week
- Packing note: liner, gel pack or dry ice
Draw delivery zones and cutoffs by storage class
Ambient goods travel by standard courier to almost any postcode. Chilled and frozen goods do not. They need a short route, so start with the few postcodes one van can cover in a single run and widen the zone after a month of clean deliveries.
Cutoffs follow the same logic. Fresh bread might close at nine the evening before, while chilled boxes should close early in the week so that no parcel sits in a depot over Sunday.
A mixed basket of bread, cheese and frozen peas splits into three shipments, each with its own fee and delivery date, so show the split at checkout. An email after payment is too late. Buyers forgive a split they were warned about. A surprise fee is another matter.
Work in this order from catalogue to first dispatch
Order of work matters more than speed. Twenty tidy items beat two hundred messy ones, because each error in a record travels on to pick lists, packing slips, courier labels and refunds.
Each step needs the one before it. Skip ahead to delivery rules and you will price shipping on weights that are still guesses, then reprice everything once the real packed weights arrive.
Keep the range small until a full week of orders has gone out clean, because adding two hundred more products is quick work once the fields are proven. Resist the urge to launch big.
- Load a small range and check each record against the pack in your hand
- Add shelf life, storage class and packing note
- Set zones, cutoffs and fees for each class
- Place one test order per class and weigh the packed box
- Invite known customers for a soft launch
- Review the first dispatch day line by line
Treat the first week as a rehearsal
Pack the first orders yourself. Photograph each box before the lid closes, note how long packing took, and ask early buyers to message you about the state of chilled items on arrival. A reading from a probe thermometer beats a guess.
Expect a few small surprises. A jar weighs more packed than its label says, or a postcode sits just outside your van’s round, and each surprise points to a record needing a fix.
Close the week by listing each complaint beside the record it came from, whether a catalogue row, a zone boundary or a cutoff time. Mend the record, not just the order. The same fault then stays gone.
Food store launch sheet
The sheet gives each product one row. Its eight columns are SKU, pack size, net weight, storage class, days of life at packing, days promised at dispatch, delivery zone and cutoff. Beneath the grid sits a test order log. The log records order number, storage class, packed weight, dispatch time, courier and the condition of the goods when they reach the buyer’s door.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Does each pack size need its own listing?
It needs its own record. It does not always need its own page. Group sizes as variants of one product, but give each a separate SKU, barcode, weight and price so stock counts and refunds stay exact.
Can chilled food go by ordinary courier?
Sometimes. It works on a short route with an insulated liner and a cold pack, provided the courier delivers inside the time your packing was tested for. Check it with a probe thermometer before you sell.
What should happen when a product nears its date?
Hide it. Once the days left fall below your dispatch promise, the product leaves the normal listing and moves to a clearance page with its date shown, or comes off sale. Never let it sit there unmarked.
How many products should the store open with?
Few enough that you can check every record by hand. Twenty well-described items make a workable start, and the next batch goes faster because the fields are already proven.