How to read and check a food distributor invoice

A food distributor invoice has four parts. The header says which order it is. The lines say what came and what each item cost. Below the lines are fees, tax and credits, and then the total. To check one, do two passes. The first is at the back door while the driver is still there. The second is in the office, with the last invoice from the same vendor next to it.

This guide walks through a made-up invoice from Heartland Foodservice (a fictional vendor) to Juniper Kitchen, a fictional restaurant. A real invoice can run to 40 lines. This one has seven, so the math stays easy to follow. A checklist you can print is near the end.

The header tells you which order this is

Two mistakes are easy to catch here. The invoice can be for another location's account, or it can be a second copy of a bill you already paid. Check the account number and the invoice number before you look at anything else.

Each line has eight parts

Here are the seven lines on our invoice.

Item code. The vendor's own number for the product. It is the most reliable way to match a line to your order, because descriptions are shortened and change.

Description. Short, upper case and full of abbreviations. BNLS SKLS means boneless, skinless. PF on the gloves means powder-free, and (T) means the item is taxable.

Pack and size. What is inside one case, written as how many packs, a slash, then the size of each pack.

• 4/1 GAL is four 1-gallon containers.
• 6/#10 is six #10 cans. A #10 can is the large restaurant can. The USDA's Food Buying Guide puts a #10 can of fruit at 96 to 117 ounces, depending on what is inside.
• 1/35 LB is one 35-pound container.
• 10/100 is ten boxes of 100 gloves.

Ordered and shipped. What you asked for and what the vendor says it put on the truck. When shipped is lower than ordered, the line is short. Some invoices print only the shipped column, so keep your order to compare.

Unit. What the price is per. CS is a case, LB a pound, EA each.

Price. The price per unit, here mostly per case.

Extended price. Shipped quantity times price. Two cases of oil at $38.90 is $77.80. Catch weight lines work differently (see the next section).

To compare items, work out the price of what is inside the case:

Unit price = case price ÷ (number of packs × size of each pack)

How to compare food vendor prices shows how to use these numbers across vendors.

Catch weight lines are billed on what the case weighed

The chicken line reads 4/10 LB AVG. That means four bags of about 10 pounds each. Meat, fish and cheese often come this way, because no two cases weigh exactly the same. This is called catch weight. You pay the price per pound times what your case actually weighed.

Catch weight line = actual weight × price per pound

40.60 lb × $3.18 = $129.11

The weight is printed on the case label and on the invoice. Weigh the case at the door when you can. Zero the scale with an empty box first, so you weigh only the chicken. Say your scale reads 39.40 lb. You were billed for 1.20 lb you did not get, which is $3.82 at $3.18 a pound. That is small on one case, but a kitchen that buys meat by the case may get several a week.

Short and substituted lines need your attention

A short. The fries were ordered 5 and shipped 0, marked OUT, and billed $0.00. The vendor didn't have them. The invoice is right, but you still have no fries for tonight. Call another vendor before service.

A substitution. You ordered item 610233, heavy duty mayonnaise at $42.80 a case. The vendor sent 610455, extra heavy duty, at $46.30. That is $3.50 more a case (+8.2%), or $11.58 a gallon instead of $10.70. A substitute can be a different brand, a different pack size or a different price. You can usually refuse it at the door. If you keep it, note it so you know why the price moved.

Fees, tax and credits sit below the lines

Delivery fee. Vendors charge these for different reasons, such as an order under the minimum. If you never agreed to one, ask your rep.

Fuel surcharge. A charge to cover the vendor's fuel. Ask how it is worked out. It should match what your rep told you.

Deposits. Money you get back when you return the milk crates. Check that a later invoice credits the $6.00 when the driver takes them.

Tax. Only the gloves carry the (T) taxable flag, so tax is 7.5% of $54.00. Which items are taxed depends on your state. If food lines show the T flag, ask your vendor or your accountant why.

Credits. The −$34.20 is last week's damaged case of tomatoes. Some vendors put credits on the next invoice like this. Others send a separate credit memo, which is a bill with a negative total.

Check at the back door, before the driver leaves

Once you sign, it is your word against the invoice. Do these while the truck is still there.

1. Count cases against the shipped column. Go line by line. The shipped column is what you are paying for.
2. Check temperatures. The FDA Food Code, which state and local health departments use as a model for their own rules, says cold food that needs refrigeration for safety (meat, fish, dairy, cut greens) must be 41°F or below when received. Milk and shellfish can follow their own rules. Food labeled frozen must arrive frozen. Raw shell eggs must come in refrigerated equipment with air at 45°F or less. Your local code may differ, so check yours.
3. Look for signs it warmed up. The Food Code also says this food must show no sign of earlier temperature abuse. Large ice crystals or frozen liquid at the bottom of a box can mean it thawed and refroze.
4. Check for damage. Packages must be in good condition. Crushed cases, torn bags and leaking jugs get refused or written down.
5. Weigh catch weight cases and compare with the label.
6. Look at every substitution. Accept it or send it back.
7. Write problems on the invoice. Next to the line, write what happened and how many. Have the driver initial it before you sign. Take a photo of the signed page.

Check in the office, with the last invoice beside you

The lines add up to the total. Check each line first. Shipped × price should equal extended price, and catch weight × price per pound should equal the chicken line. Then add the lines ($440.41) plus fees ($25.95) plus tax ($4.05), and take off the credit ($34.20). You should get $436.21, the printed total.

Nothing short was billed. Every line shipped as 0 should be $0.00. Every case you refused or wrote down at the door should have a credit coming.

Prices against the last delivery. Find the same item code on the last invoice and compare.

Change % = (new price − old price) ÷ old price × 100

Last delivery the oil was $36.40 a case. (38.90 − 36.40) ÷ 36.40 × 100 = +6.9%. The chicken was $3.02 a pound, so $3.18 is +5.3%. Check the pack size as well as the price. A case can keep its price and hold less. How to spot supplier price increases covers this in detail.

Credits you are owed actually arrive. Keep a credit log and close each row when the credit shows up.

An open row older than two weeks is worth a call to your rep.

A checklist to print

At the door:

• [ ] Account number and invoice number are right
• [ ] Cases counted against the shipped column
• [ ] Cold food at 41°F or below, frozen food frozen (or your local rule)
• [ ] No damaged or leaking packages, or each one refused or written down
• [ ] Catch weight cases weighed
• [ ] Substitutions accepted or refused
• [ ] Problems written on the invoice and initialed by the driver, photo taken

In the office:

• [ ] Every line: shipped × price = extended
• [ ] Lines + fees + tax − credits = total
• [ ] Every 0-shipped line billed at $0.00
• [ ] Unit prices compared with the last delivery, pack sizes checked
• [ ] Fees and deposits match what was agreed
• [ ] Credit log updated, old open credits chased

How RestaurantMate checks every invoice

RestaurantMate's AI reads every line of every invoice: item, pack, quantity ordered and shipped, price, line total, fees, tax and credits. Invoices from vendor websites are pulled once a day with your own login. Vendors who email invoices send them to your RestaurantMate inbox. For a paper slip, take a photo and upload it. You can drop up to 20 files at a time.

Open any purchase and you see the lines with these checks done.

• Shorts come from the vendor's own numbers. Our fries line would read 0 of 5 CS in red, and the purchase would show Partly delivered. At the top it would say "1 short, about $208.75 at the price paid · 1 substituted".
• Substitutions show what came. The mayonnaise line would read Sent instead: followed by the item the vendor sent.
• The receipt checks its own math. Our invoice adds up, so it would say the priced lines add up to the receipt total. Had Heartland printed $446.21 at the bottom, you would see "The lines come to $436.21; the vendor billed $446.21, $10.00 more."
• Each line shows its price against the last delivery of the same pack. Here that is +6.9% on the oil and +5.3% on the chicken.

Some problems never show on the vendor's paperwork, like a crushed case or a case the invoice says shipped but you never got. Those are for people to record. Click + on the line and pick a mark: Damaged, Missing, Short, Wrong item, Substituted, Over delivered, Price mismatch, Returned or Other. Add how many and a note, such as "2 cases crushed on the truck". The Marked tile at the top of Purchasing shows every purchase with a mark, and the Marks filter narrows it to one kind, such as Damaged.

Marks are a record for you, your manager and your bookkeeper. RestaurantMate does not contact the vendor or ask for credits. You or your bookkeeper make that call with the record in hand.

You can also set an email alert for deliveries with items short or substituted. See Invoices and Alerts.

RestaurantMate is free for 60 days, then $99 a month per location. No card required to start.

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Sources

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Food Code 2022, sections 3-202.11 (receiving temperatures) and 3-202.15 (package integrity) (as of 2026-10-09).
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA Food Code, on how regulators use the code as a model (as of 2026-10-09).
• USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Food Buying Guide: Fruits, No. 10 can yield of 96 oz (6 lb) to 117 oz (7 lb 5 oz) (as of 2026-10-09).