# POS mapping and automatic depletion

Map each item you sell in Square or Union to a recipe, and every night Mays takes that recipe's ingredients out of stock for what you sold.

For: Admins, Managers · On: Web · [Help Center](https://www.mays.app/help) › [Inventory](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory) · Last updated October 13, 2026 · Mays Team

Map each item you sell in Square or Union to a recipe. Every night, Mays takes that recipe's ingredients out of stock for everything you sold.

**Before you start:**

- The location's POS is connected: Square or Union POS. See [Connecting Square](https://www.mays.app/help/integrations/connect-square) and [Integrations overview](https://www.mays.app/help/integrations/integrations-overview).
- Your recipes are built. See [Recipes and plate costing](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/recipes-and-costing).
- Sale items show up here once they've sold and the sales have synced. An item nobody has bought yet isn't listed.

**Where:** **Inventory → POS** (under **Analysis**) on the web. The page is called **POS Mapping & Depletion** and has three tabs: **Items**, **Modifiers** and **Depletion**. Mappings belong to the location you're on.

## Map sale items to recipes

1. Open the **Items** tab. Each **Sale item** from your POS has a **Recipe** box, and the bar at the top shows how many are mapped, for example *2/4 mapped*. Under the page title, the count covers sale items and modifiers together, for example *2 of 4 mapped*.
2. For each sale item, click **Search recipes…** and pick its recipe. It saves straight away.
3. A sale item whose name matches a recipe exactly shows *Suggested:* with **Accept** and **Decline**.
4. For the rest, click **Suggest with AI**. Suggestions appear the same way, with how sure the AI is.
5. Click **Accept all** to accept every suggestion shown.

Use the filter (**All**, **Unmapped**, **Suggested**, **Mapped**) and the search box to work through a long menu.

![The Items tab before mapping: 0 of 4 mapped under the title, 0/4 mapped in the bar, the Suggest with AI and Accept all (2) buttons, and sale items Drip Coffee 12 oz, Oat Milk Latte, Avocado Toast and Butter Croissant, the last two with Suggested, Accept and Decline](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__pos-mapping-and-depletion__01-pos-items-before.648ee49ed3.png)

![The Items tab after Accept all: 2 of 4 mapped, with Avocado Toast and Butter Croissant mapped to their recipes and Drip Coffee 12 oz and Oat Milk Latte left unmapped](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__pos-mapping-and-depletion__02-pos-items-mapped.ab6541354a.png)

**To unmap a sale item,** click its recipe box and choose **— unmapped —** at the top of the list. Its sales stop taking anything out of stock.

![The recipe list open on Avocado Toast, with — unmapped — at the top above Avocado toast and Butter croissant](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__pos-mapping-and-depletion__04-unmap-choice.ae8d08d2e1.png)

**Modifiers:** the **Modifiers** tab works the same way for the add-ons and swaps on your POS, such as an extra shot. Map each one to a modifier from **Inventory → Modifiers** (see [Menu lists and modifiers](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/menu-lists-and-modifiers)). A modifier counts once for each item it's added to.

## How depletion works

- **Every night**, at 1 a.m. Eastern (midnight in winter), Mays goes through the last three days of sales at every location with at least one mapping. The days follow each location's time zone, here and on the **Depletion** tab.
- For each item sold, it takes the mapped recipe's ingredients out of stock on hand: the quantity sold × each ingredient's amount, converted to the item's count unit and divided by its yield.
- Cancelled orders are skipped. Items that aren't mapped don't change stock.
- Running the same days again replaces what was there, so nothing is taken out twice.

To run it now, open the **Depletion** tab, pick the dates and click **Run depletion**. The tab lists each ingredient's **Consumed** amount and **Cost** for the dates you pick. This is your theoretical usage. See [Theoretical vs actual usage](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/theoretical-vs-actual-usage).

The message after a run says how many sale lines it went through, how many items' stock changed, and how many ingredient uses it left alone because a later count already includes them.

![The Depletion tab after a count at close and Run depletion: Processed 4 sale lines, stock updated for 0 items, 4 ingredient uses left out of stock because a later count already includes them; Avocados 15 each and Croissants 18 each consumed, with their cost](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__pos-mapping-and-depletion__03-depletion.e35689b652.png)

## Counts and sales

Count whenever it suits you, at close included.

- **When you submit a count,** Mays first takes every sale made so far out of stock, so the count's **Expected** already has the day's sales out and **Variance** shows only what's really missing.
- **Overnight,** sales made before an item's last count aren't taken out of stock again: the count already reflects them. They still count as usage on the **Depletion** tab and in your food cost.
- **Sales made after the count** come out of stock as usual.

The same goes for setting on hand by hand on **Inventory → Stock**.

## Good to know

- **Changing or removing a mapping:** pick a different recipe, or **— unmapped —** to remove it.
- **Deleting a recipe removes its mappings.** Its sale items show as unmapped again, and their sales stop taking anything out of stock.
- **Stock can go below zero** when sales use more than the last count showed. Your next count sets it right.
- The page's empty message mentions Square only; Union POS sales work too.
- **If a change doesn't save,** a message says why, for example when the location isn't one of yours.
- **AI suggestions don't use AI credits.**

## Related articles

- Inventory: [Recipes and plate costing](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/recipes-and-costing) — A recipe lists what goes into one menu item. Mays prices each ingredient from your vendor prices and shows the plate's cost, cost % and margin.
- Integrations: [Connecting Square](https://www.mays.app/help/integrations/connect-square) — Connect each store's Square account so Mays gets its sales, payments, tips and refunds, sold-out items and team. Admins and managers can connect; one Square location per Mays location.
- Integrations: [Connecting Union POS](https://www.mays.app/help/integrations/connect-union-pos) — Connect a store's Union POS with the API key and client ID from Union, and Mays brings in its sales every 10 minutes. One client ID covers one venue and one Mays location.
- Integrations: [Integrations overview](https://www.mays.app/help/integrations/integrations-overview) — What Mays connects to — Square, 7shifts, Union POS, Google Business, Govee thermometers, Dropbox and Google Drive — who can connect them, and how to check, sync or disconnect a connection.
- Inventory: [Theoretical vs actual usage](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/theoretical-vs-actual-usage) — Compare what your sales say you used with what you actually used. The Theoretical page shows each ingredient's deliveries, waste, transfers and recipe use.
- Reports & insights: [Prime cost](https://www.mays.app/help/reports-insights/prime-cost) — Prime Cost puts each day's sales next to its labor cost and theoretical food cost, and shows the share of sales each one takes. Web app, admins by default.
- Inventory: [Running stock counts](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/stock-counts) — A count records what's on your shelves. Submitting it sets each counted item's stock on hand and shows how far it was from what Mays expected.
- Inventory: [Inventory at a glance](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/inventory-overview) — Inventory tracks what you stock, what it costs and what you use, from items and vendors to counts, orders, invoices and waste. It's part of the Pro plan.
- Inventory: [Menu lists and modifiers](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/menu-lists-and-modifiers) — Group recipes into menu lists, such as Drinks or Food, and compare each list's food cost % with a target. Modifiers cost the add-ons you sell, like an extra shot.
- Inventory: [Inventory reports](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/inventory-reports) — Three reports for a location: theoretical COGS against your sales, what your stock is worth and how many days it lasts, and actual vs theoretical usage.

## Still need help?

Send us a support request and a real person on the Mays team will get back to you.

[Contact support](https://www.mays.app/contact?topic=support) · [Call +1 (561) 286-3939](tel:+15612863939)

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/pos-mapping-and-depletion