Inventory alerts for food and beverage Shopify stores
Inventory alerts for a food and beverage Shopify store have to land early, because the gap between comfortable and sold out is measured in days. Restoc is built to watch every tracked SKU, work out its reorder point from your sales velocity and the lead time you enter, then send an email, or a Slack message on Growth and above, the moment that SKU crosses the line.
What a reorder alert has to get right in food and drink
Restoc is a reorder-alert app for Shopify stores. This page is the food, drink and coffee case: what number the alert fires against, when it fires, and where it lands. Restoc reads inventory levels and sales from Shopify. It works out a reorder point per SKU from a sales velocity window you choose and a lead time you enter yourself. When a SKU crosses that point, it sends an email, or a Slack message on Growth and above.
An alert is only as useful as the number behind it. Four things make that number awkward in this category.
Lead times are uneven, and mostly not yours to control. Green coffee, glass, cartons, labels, a co-packer slot. Each runs on its own clock. One finished SKU can wait on all of them. A four-day resupply and an eight-week resupply cannot share one store-wide low stock number.
Velocity is spiky. A seasonal flavour can run hot for six weeks, then stop. A core line holds steady all year. One threshold cannot describe both.
One order changes the picture in an afternoon. Wholesale, market stalls and subscription renewals draw from the same pool as retail orders. A single large order can take a SKU from healthy to tight by lunchtime. An alert that only gets read on a Monday arrives after the decision.
Getting it wrong costs in both directions. Run dry on a hero SKU and the order goes somewhere else. Over-order something with a short shelf life and cash sits on a pallet getting older. Seeing the reorder point coming buys time to place the smaller, better-timed order.
None of that needs a planning suite. It needs one number per SKU and a message when the number is hit. For the wider picture of running stock in a food and drink store, rather than the alert mechanics, see the sibling page on inventory management for food and beverage Shopify stores. Roasters and tea brands have their own page on green coffee and leaf lead times.
From connection to alert, start to finish
- Connect the store
Install through Shopify's OAuth flow, or paste an Admin API access token from a custom app in your own admin. Either way Restoc reads products, inventory levels and orders, through webhooks plus a scheduled sync job. It is a web app: no mobile app, no browser extension. The catalogue sync has a size limit today, and it is spelled out further down this page.
- Install backfills 30 days of sales
The install pulls 30 days of order history. Sales velocity, days of inventory remaining and reorder points are populated when you first open the dashboard, rather than building up over weeks. After that, orders arrive by webhook and the scheduled sync keeps stock and sales in step. A SKU that sold nothing in those 30 days shows no velocity until it sells.
- Enter a lead time per SKU
Your roaster's three days, your label supplier's four weeks, the co-packer's six. Lead time is a number you supply for each SKU, because only you know what your suppliers actually do. You set it SKU by SKU; there is no bulk set yet.
- Choose a sales velocity window
Seven, fourteen or thirty days, set across the store. Short windows react to a flavour that just took off. Long windows keep a steady core line from twitching at one busy weekend. Pro adds a per-SKU override when one line needs a different window from the rest.
- Let the reorder point be calculated
Restoc combines velocity over your chosen window with the lead time you entered to get a reorder point for each SKU. It is a tested pure function, not a guess you re-derive every month. The awkward cases are covered too: zero-sales SKUs, short history, and stock already at zero.
- Get the alert where you already work
When a SKU crosses its reorder point, Restoc sends an email. On Growth and above it can also post to a Slack webhook you configure. Delivery runs as an idempotent background job with one open alert per SKU per channel, so one crossing means one alert, even if the job runs again.
- Work the weekly list, not the whole catalogue
A weekly reorder report lists every SKU below its reorder point with a suggested order quantity. View it in the app, or export it as CSV to paste into a purchase order or send to a supplier.
- Check the dashboard before you commit
Current stock, days of inventory remaining and reorder status for every active SKU. Alongside it, a recent alerts panel shows which crossings fired and whether each one was delivered. That is the screen to read before you place the order.
Why this shape of alert fits food and beverage
Lead time lives on the SKU
One store-wide threshold cannot serve a product you reorder in three days and one that waits on an import. Restoc takes lead time per SKU, so each line gets its own reorder point and its own alert timing.
A window you choose, not one we chose for you
Set the store-wide velocity window to 7, 14 or 30 days, then change it after you watch a cycle. On Pro you can override the window on an individual SKU, which is how a limited release and a year-round bestseller stop fighting over one setting.
Numbers from day one, not from week three
Because the install backfills 30 days of orders, a core line with normal sales has a velocity, a runway in days and a reorder point as soon as the store is connected. You are not waiting for history to accrue before the first alert can fire.
Alerts reach the person placing the order
Email alerts are on every plan. From Growth up, a Slack webhook drops the alert into the channel where your production or ops conversation already happens, so the reorder is not sitting in one inbox nobody opened over the weekend.
One crossing, one alert, and a record of it
Alert delivery is idempotent by design, with one open alert per SKU per channel, so a re-run does not ping your team five times about the same SKU. The recent alerts panel shows what fired and whether it was delivered, so a silent channel is visible rather than assumed.
Days of inventory remaining, in the language of a production schedule
Roast days, bottling runs and co-packer slots are planned in days, not in units. The dashboard shows days of inventory remaining per SKU next to its reorder status.
A trial that outlasts one reorder cycle
The 60-day free trial is built so at least one full weekly reorder cycle completes before a first charge. You see a real crossing, a real alert and a real weekly list before you decide anything.
Priced for a small brand, not a planning department
Starter is $29 a month for up to 200 tracked SKUs, Growth $59 for up to 1,000, Pro $99 for up to 2,000. Each carries the 60-day free trial, and billing lands on your Shopify invoice rather than a separate card payment.
Picking a velocity window for a food or drink SKU
| What the SKU is | Window to start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Year-round core line with steady sales | 30 days | A month of history smooths out single busy weekends and market days. |
| Seasonal flavour or limited release | 7 days | Recent demand is the only demand that matters while the run is live. |
| New launch, a few weeks old | 14 days | Long enough to be more than noise, short enough to keep up with a rising line. |
| Gift bundle or multipack in a peak period | 7 days | Peak velocity bears little relation to the rest of the year. |
| Slow line resupplied on a long supplier lead time | 30 days | A long lead time already pushes the reorder point up; a stable window keeps it from swinging. |
What Restoc does not do, said plainly
We would rather you find this out here than after installing.
- No expiry, best-before, batch or lot tracking. Restoc watches stock levels against a reorder point. It does not track dates, batches or shelf life, and it is not a food compliance or traceability tool.
- History goes back 30 days, not a year. The install backfills 30 days of orders, which covers the longest velocity window on offer. It is not a season-over-season record. A SKU with no sales in that month has no velocity and no reorder point to cross yet.
- The catalogue sync reads one page of products. Today it pulls a single page of up to 250 products, so a larger catalogue is read in part, not in full. Following Shopify's pagination through the whole catalogue is on the list, and we will say so here when it lands.
- One location. Every plan covers a single location. Separate reorder points per warehouse or per shop are not here yet.
- Lead time is entered SKU by SKU. That is the point of it for food and drink, but there is no global or bulk lead-time setting yet, so a long list means working down it.
- The velocity window is store-wide except on Pro. Starter and Growth set one window of 7, 14 or 30 days for the whole catalogue. Per-SKU overrides are the Pro feature.
- Slack starts at Growth. Starter sends reorder alerts by email. Slack through an incoming webhook comes with Growth and Pro.
- Your SKU code is stored but not yet shown. Restoc keeps the SKU code alongside the title, your Shopify variant id, current stock, lead time and the computed reorder point. No screen or export displays it yet: the dashboard and the weekly report show the product title. Putting the code on both is on the list, and we will say so here when it lands.
- No purchase orders sent to suppliers. You get a weekly list with suggested order quantities and a CSV export. Placing the order stays with you and your supplier.
- No demand forecasting. The calculation is sales velocity over your chosen window plus the lead time you entered. It is not a forecasting model and does not predict a season you have not had yet.
- Web app only. No mobile app, no browser extension. Alerts come to email and Slack, which is where a phone already gets them.
- Not open yet. Restoc is on a waitlist while it is finished. The Shopify install has not yet run against a live store, and Slack delivery has so far only been exercised in tests rather than against a real workspace. Nothing on this page is a customer story, because there are no customers yet.
If you want the reasoning behind reorder points rather than the tool, the guide on stopping best sellers from running dry covers it. The spreadsheet page covers what changes when an alert replaces a manual check, and the security page lists exactly what Restoc reads from your store and how deleting your account removes it.
Plans
Starter, $29 / month
For a store tracking up to 200 SKUs, one location. Reorder point per SKU, a store-wide velocity window of 7, 14 or 30 days, email alerts when a SKU crosses its reorder point, the weekly reorder report with CSV export, and days of inventory remaining on the dashboard. Billed by Shopify on your Shopify invoice. 60-day free trial. $290 a year if you pay annually, which is ten months' price for twelve months.
Growth, $59 / month
Everything in Starter, plus Slack alerts through an incoming webhook alongside email, and up to 1,000 tracked SKUs on one location. Suits a brand carrying a wide range of flavours, sizes and bundles. 60-day free trial. $590 a year if you pay annually.
Pro, $99 / month
Everything in Growth, plus custom reorder rules as a per-SKU sales velocity window override, and up to 2,000 tracked SKUs on one location. 60-day free trial. $990 a year if you pay annually. SKU caps are enforced on the server at sync time, with an in-app banner as you approach the limit, so the number on the plan is the number you get.
Questions
Does Restoc track expiry dates or batch numbers for perishable stock?
No. Restoc tracks stock level against a reorder point calculated from sales velocity and the lead time you enter. It does not record best-before dates, batches or lot numbers, and it is not a food compliance or traceability tool.
Can I set a different lead time for each SKU?
Yes. Lead time is a per-SKU input you enter, which is the point for food and drink, where one line resupplies in days and another waits weeks on packaging or an import. You set it SKU by SKU; a bulk or global lead-time setting is not there yet.
How soon after I connect my store will alerts start firing?
The install backfills 30 days of orders, so most lines have a sales velocity, a runway in days and a reorder point straight away, and a crossing can be alerted on from the first scheduled run. A SKU that sold nothing in those 30 days has no velocity yet and no reorder point to cross until it sells.
Which velocity window should a fast-moving drink SKU use?
Start at 7 days for anything seasonal or accelerating, 14 for a recent launch, and 30 for a steady year-round line. The window is 7, 14 or 30 days set across the store, so you can change it after watching a cycle. Pro adds a per-SKU override if one line needs its own window.
Can alerts go to Slack instead of email?
Email alerts are on every plan. Slack alerts through an incoming webhook come with Growth at $59 a month and Pro at $99. Delivery runs as an idempotent background job with one open alert per SKU per channel, so a repeated run does not repeat the message.
Can I see which alerts actually went out?
Yes. The dashboard carries a recent alerts panel listing the crossings that fired, with the time each was triggered and whether it has been delivered, so a channel that is not getting through is visible rather than assumed.
Will my whole catalogue be tracked?
Not yet, if it is large. The catalogue sync currently reads a single page of up to 250 products, so a bigger range is read in part. Following Shopify's pagination through the full catalogue is on the list, and we will say so here when it lands.
Can I use it today?
Not yet. Restoc is on a waitlist while the app is finished, and the Shopify install has not yet run against a live store. There are no customers and no results to quote, and we would rather tell you that than imply otherwise. The pricing page shows what the three tiers will cost.