# 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.

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

Compare what your sales say you should have used with what you actually used. The Theoretical page shows each ingredient's deliveries, waste, transfers and recipe use.

- **Theoretical usage** is what your recipes say your sales used. It comes from POS mapping. See [POS mapping and automatic depletion](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/pos-mapping-and-depletion).
- **Actual usage** is what left your shelves: start inventory + deliveries − transfers − end inventory.
- **Variance** is actual − theoretical. Above zero means you used more than the recipes predict: waste, over-portioning, spills or theft.

## Before you rely on it: counts can't be approved yet

The start and end inventory come from **approved** counts, and counts can't be approved from the web or the apps yet. Until they can:

- **Start Inv** and **End Inv** show **0** for every item (*Not yet counted*);
- **Actual Usage** only adds up deliveries and transfers, and **Variance** shows minus the recipe use, so neither means anything yet;
- **Inventory → Reports → Actual vs theoretical** shows *Need two approved counts to measure usage variance.*

![The Inventory Reports page on the Actual vs theoretical tab, showing Need two approved counts to measure usage variance](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__theoretical-vs-actual-usage__02-variance-report.209aef8f6f.png)

**Deliveries**, **Waste**, **Transfers** and **Recipe Consumption** are right today. For actual usage, use your own counts: take the opening count from one submitted count, add the deliveries shown here, and subtract the closing count. See [Running stock counts](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/stock-counts).

## Open the Theoretical page

1. Go to **Inventory → Theoretical** (under **Analysis**).
2. Pick the dates. The page starts on the last 30 days.
3. Choose **Week** or **Day** for the breakdown, and narrow it with **Search ingredients** or a category.
4. Click **Variance** in the header to sort by it.
5. Click an ingredient to open its details.

![The Theoretical Usage page for September 17 to 24, by week: each ingredient with Start Inv, Deliveries, Transfers, Waste, Recipe Consumption, End Inv, Actual Usage and Variance. Oat milk is open: 24 cartons delivered for $93.60, 1 wasted, 28.88 used by recipes for $112.63, all by the Oat milk latte 16 oz recipe; start and end inventory show 0](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__theoretical-vs-actual-usage__01-theoretical.cb1cd4992e.png)

## The columns

| Column | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| **Start Inv** | The item's last approved count on or before the start date |
| **Deliveries** | What posted invoices added, in count units |
| **Transfers** | What was sent to another location. Stock received from another location shows as a minus number. See [Transfers between locations](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/transfers-between-locations) |
| **Waste** | What was logged as waste, on the web or with a waste form |
| **Recipe Consumption** | What sales used, from mapped recipes |
| **End Inv** | The last approved count on or before the end date |
| **Actual Usage** | Start Inv + Deliveries − Transfers − End Inv |
| **Variance** | Actual Usage − Recipe Consumption. Red when more than 10% over; green when under |

Each number has its cost under it. Waste isn't taken out of actual usage, so it's part of the variance.

**In an ingredient's details:**

- **Recipe consumption breakdown** lists which recipes used it, with amounts and costs.
- **Per-period detail** has a row per week or day, but its numbers show **—** for now.

A **unit mismatch** tag means deliveries came in a pack Mays couldn't match to the item's units, so they may not compare directly. Check the item's units. See [Inventory items](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/inventory-items).

## Inventory reports

**Inventory → Reports** has three tabs:

- **COGS:** theoretical cost of goods from recipe use, your net sales, and **COGS %**, for the dates you pick. To see it next to labor, day by day, use [Prime cost](https://www.mays.app/help/reports-insights/prime-cost).
- **Actual vs theoretical:** needs two approved counts (see above).
- **On-hand value:** what your stock on hand is worth, item by item, and roughly how many days it will last at the last 30 days' usage.

## Good to know

- **Only mapped sales count.** A menu item that isn't mapped to a recipe adds nothing to theoretical usage.
- **Sales made before a count** still count as usage here, but they aren't taken out of stock again after the count. See [POS mapping and automatic depletion](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/pos-mapping-and-depletion).
- **Dates follow the location's time zone,** so late-evening sales, waste, deliveries and counts land on the day they happened.
- **Weeks run Monday to Sunday.** A week can start before or end after the dates you picked.
- **The page shows up to 500 ingredients.**

## Related articles

- Inventory: [POS mapping and automatic depletion](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/pos-mapping-and-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.
- 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: [Logging waste](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/waste-log) — Log what you throw away and why. Each entry takes the item out of stock and adds its cost to your waste total, so shrink has an explanation.
- 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.
- Inventory: [Vendor invoices](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/vendor-invoices) — Record what vendors delivered and charged. Scan or photograph an invoice, upload its PDF, share it from your phone or email it in, and the AI drafts it; check the lines next to the document, then post it to add the stock and update your prices.
- 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: [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: [Transfers between locations](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/transfers-between-locations) — Send stock from one of your locations to another, such as cups to a store that ran short. A transfer is a draft until you post it, and posting can't be undone.
- 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?

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