A credit book for greengrocers and fruit stalls

How credit works at a greengrocer’s

A fruit and vegetable seller’s credit is mostly small, frequent buys: two kilos of potatoes, a kilo of onions, a bunch of coriander. Neighbourhood customers pay weekly or monthly. Cafés, food stalls and small restaurants order every morning and settle at the end of the week.

You buy on credit too: from the wholesale market trader or the farmer, often paid a few days later. With money moving both ways, it is easy to lose track of who owes whom.

What usually goes wrong

• Price disputes: “Tomatoes were cheaper that day” and there is nothing written to show otherwise.
• Lump sums: if the notebook only says “320”, the customer cannot remember what it was for.
• Morning deliveries: a crate left at a café before opening is never written down.
• Market debt: you only find out what you owe the wholesaler when they hand you their bill.

Setting up a greengrocer’s book in Baki Fast

1. Add neighbourhood customers, cafés and restaurants as customers.
2. Write credit with item lines: “2.5 kg tomatoes × 1.20”, “1 bunch coriander × 0.50”. Decimal weights work and the total is calculated for you.
3. Give café and restaurant accounts a one-week due date; late accounts show on the overdue list.
4. Add your wholesaler as a supplier. Record stock you take as a purchase and money you pay as a payment; what you owe sits on its own list.
5. In the evening, use the cash book for cash sales and costs such as transport and bags. The day summary tells you what should be in the cash box.

A weekly message for a café

Checking the wholesaler’s bill

When the market trader hands you the week’s bill, open their supplier account and put your own purchases and payments next to it. If the number of crates or kilos does not match, you see straight away which day is different. Writing purchases item by item too makes it easy to say “that day I took 8 crates, not 10”.

Send the café a short note after each delivery: “Today 12 kg tomatoes and 5 kg peppers, 86. Total 412.” The owner sees the delivery at once and there are no surprises at the end of the week.