Inventory

Purchasing Inventory
You can't sell lemonade without the ingredients. You'll need to purchase and manage your inventory in order to meet the demands. You can buy your ingredients individually and customize your order based on how much you think you will need. Use your recipe to get an idea of how many of each ingredient you use making one cup and then multiply up. Don't forget to estimate how many cups you think you can sell. 

Perishable Ingredients and Food Storage
It is important to remember that some ingredients are perishable. This means they will spoil or expire at the end of a business day. In this case, unless you have upgraded to food storage, your remaining ice will melt at the end of the day and a certain percentage of your lemons may spoil. Until you have a reliable way to keep inventory fresh, be careful when purchasing it. If you buy too much and don't sell out, you will lose those ingredients and the money you spent on them.

Inventory Tips

• When you're starting out, don't over purchase. Try to anticipate what you'll need and buy that amount. In the beginning days, it's better to sell out of product than have a surplus of inventory. 
• Be mindful of your recipe. If you are using more of each ingredient per cup, you will go through your inventory faster during the day. If you are using 4 ice cubes per cup and you only stock up on 250 ice cubes, you won't be able to sell more than about 62 cups of lemonade. 
• Try to upgrade to food storage when you can afford it. You won't have to worry about losing inventory at the end of the day.
• Keep an eye on the news reports. Occasionally, inventory pricing will be discounted. If you have storage, use this as an opportunity to stock up.
• Upgrading to delivery will eliminate the need to purchase inventory again. You will be able to set your ingredient quantities per delivery order and at any point during a business day, if you run out of one or more ingredients, they will be automatically delivered to your stand.