Little Fig Cafe

Menu, recipes and food costs, till orders, rota, deliveries, waste and the nightly cash-up for a small cafe.

Download 433 KB16 tables, 20 queries, 10 reports, 3 print templates and 29,980 invented records, dated back from 2026-10-22.

How the tables are related

A line runs from a field that points at another table's record to that table. Data Files keeps a record from pointing at one that is not there, and a query with both tables joins them by it.

Menu Items.Category points at Menu Categories
Ingredients.Supplier points at Suppliers
Recipe Lines.Menu Item points at Menu Items
Recipe Lines.Ingredient points at Ingredients
Payslips.Staff points at Staff
Shifts.Staff points at Staff
Shifts.Payslip points at Payslips
Orders.Staff points at Staff
Order Lines.Order points at Orders
Order Lines.Menu Item points at Menu Items
Purchases.Supplier points at Suppliers
Purchase Lines.Purchase points at Purchases
Purchase Lines.Ingredient points at Ingredients
Waste.Ingredient points at Ingredients
Waste.Recorded By points at Staff
Cash Ups.Closed By points at Staff

Start Here

The guide to this database: the everyday tasks a step at a time, each step saying which table, form, query, report or print template to open. Open its report, Start Here, to read or print it. Delete the table when you no longer need it; nothing else uses it. (35 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Order	Whole number	The order the steps are read in.
Task	Short text, required	The everyday task the step belongs to.
Step	Whole number	The step's number within its task.
What To Do	Long text	What to open and what to do there.

Business

The business's own details, in one record. Every document it prints, an invoice, a receipt, a statement or a letter, takes its name, address and payment details from here, so they are changed in one place. (1 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Name	Short text, required	The name printed at the top of every document.
Address	Short text	The street address.
City	Short text	The town or city.
Postcode	Short text	The postcode or ZIP code.
Country	Short text	The country.
Phone	Short text	The phone number customers call.
E-mail	Short text	The address customers write to.
Website	Short text	The website, if there is one.
Tax Number	Short text	The VAT or sales tax registration number, printed on invoices. The sample has a placeholder.
Company Number	Short text	The registered company number, where the business is a company. The sample has a placeholder.
Bank Details	Short text	Where customers pay by transfer: the bank, account name and number. The sample has a placeholder.
Payment Terms	Short text	The words printed under an invoice's total, such as "Payment within 30 days".
Tax Rate	Number	The usual rate of VAT or sales tax as a fraction: 0.2 is twenty percent. Lines may carry a rate of their own.
Currency	Short text	The currency the business trades in, as its three-letter code.
Document Footer	Long text	A line or two at the foot of every document: thanks, opening hours, returns policy.

Menu Categories

The sections of the menu, such as breakfast or cakes. Enter these first. (5 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Name	Short text, required, unique	The section as the menu heads it.
Served	Short text	When the section is served, such as All day or Until 11:30, printed on the menu.
Sort Order	Whole number	The place of the section on the printed menu and the costing sheet: 1 comes first.

Menu Items

One record per dish or drink on the menu, past or present. (39 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Name	Short text, required, unique	The dish as the menu and the till name it. No two dishes share a name.
Category	Points at Menu Categories, required	The menu section it belongs to.
Price	Currency	What a customer pays for one, as the menu shows it.
Takeaway	Yes/No	Yes when it can be taken away as well as eaten in.
Baked Here	Yes/No	Yes for what the cafe bakes itself, such as cakes and pancakes.
Diet	Short text	Short marks for the menu: V for vegetarian, VG for vegan, GF for gluten free.
Takeaway VAT Rate	Number	The VAT rate when it is taken away, as a fraction: 0.2 for drinks and hot food, 0 for cold food such as cakes. Eaten in, everything carries the standard rate.
Active	Yes/No	No for a dish taken off the menu. It stays for the orders that sold it, and drops out of the menu and the costing.

Suppliers

The firms the cafe buys from, one record each. (6 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Name	Short text, required	The supplier's trading name.
Supplies	Short text	What the cafe buys from them, in a few words.
Address	Short text	Their street address, printed on the purchase order.
City	Short text	Their town or city.
Postcode	Short text	Their postcode.
Contact	Short text	The person to speak to when ordering.
Phone	Short text	The number to call an order through.
E-mail	Short text	Where to send an order in writing.
Delivers On	Short text	The days of the week they deliver. An order goes in the day before.
Payment Days	Whole number	How many days after a delivery its bill is due.

Ingredients

Everything that goes into a dish or is sold as it comes, with its price, where it is kept and how much is in. (55 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Name	Short text, required, unique	The ingredient as the kitchen knows it.
Supplier	Points at Suppliers, required	Who it is ordered from.
Unit	Short text	The unit its cost, stock and recipe quantities are counted in: kg, litre or each.
Cost per Unit	Currency	What one unit costs now, from the latest bill. Changing it changes every dish's food cost.
Bought As	Short text	How it comes, such as a 1 kg bag or a tray of 30, to help when ordering.
Storage	Short text	Where it is kept: fridge, dry store or the counter. Used for the stock count and the stock value.
In Stock	Number	How much is in, in its unit. Set it from a stock count; Data Files does not take sales off it by itself.
On Order	Number	How much is ordered and not yet delivered. Clear it when the delivery comes in.
Reorder Level	Number	When stock and what is on order come to this or less, it goes on the order list.
Reorder Quantity	Number	The usual amount to order, in its unit.

Recipe Lines

What goes into one portion of each dish: one line per ingredient. These give every dish its food cost. (160 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Menu Item	Points at Menu Items, required	The dish this line belongs to.
Line	Whole number	The line's place in the recipe, from 1. Every dish needs a line 1: the costing counts the price once, on that line.
Ingredient	Points at Ingredients, required	The ingredient used.
Quantity	Number	How much of it one portion uses, in the ingredient's unit: 0.018 kg of beans for a shot of espresso.

Staff

One record per person on the payroll. (8 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
First Name	Short text	Their first name.
Last Name	Short text, required	Their family name.
Role	Short text	Their job, such as Head Baker or Barista.
Hourly Rate	Currency	What they are paid an hour before tax. The wage cost of each shift is worked out from it.
Phone	Short text	A number to reach them about shifts.
E-mail	Short text	Where the rota is sent.
Started	Date	The day they started.

Payslips

One payslip per person per week, Monday to Sunday, made once the week has been worked. Its lines are the week's shifts. (485 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Number	Short text, unique	The payslip's number, given in date order with a new run each year: PAY-2026-0042.
Staff	Points at Staff, required	Who it pays.
Week Beginning	Date	The Monday the week starts.
Week Ending	Date	The Sunday it ends.
Pay Date	Date	The day the money goes out: the Friday after the week ends.
Hours	Number	The hours paid that week, holiday included, added up from the shifts.
Hourly Rate	Currency	The rate paid that week, kept so a later pay rise leaves old payslips as they were.
Gross Pay	Currency	Pay before any deduction: each shift's hours times the rate, rounded to the penny, added up. Tax, National Insurance and pension are left for the payroll.

Shifts

The rota: one record per person per shift, planned ahead and kept once worked. (2,145 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Staff	Points at Staff, required	Who works the shift.
Start	Date and time	The day and time the shift starts.
End	Date and time	The day and time it ends, later than planned when a busy day kept someone on.
Break Minutes	Whole number	The unpaid break in the shift.
Paid Hours	Number	The hours paid: from start to end less the break, or nought for a day off sick.
Station	Short text	Where they work that shift: Barista, Kitchen, Floor, Bakery or Manager.
Status	Short text	Rota for a shift still to come, Worked, Holiday (paid, not worked) or Sick.
Payslip	Points at Payslips	The payslip the shift is paid on; empty until its week is over and paid.

Orders

One record per bill rung up on the till: a table's meal or a takeaway. Each prints as a receipt. (6,083 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Number	Short text, unique	The receipt number, given in order through the day with a new run each year: RCP-2026-00042. A voided bill keeps its number.
When	Date and time	The day and time it was rung up.
Service	Short text	Dine in or Takeaway.
Table No	Whole number	The table it was served at; empty for a takeaway.
Covers	Whole number	How many people sat down to it; nought for a takeaway.
Staff	Points at Staff, required	Who took the order.
Payment	Short text	Card or Cash.
Net	Currency	The bill less the VAT within it.
Tax	Currency	The VAT within the bill: each line's VAT worked out from its price and rate, rounded to the penny, then added up.
Total	Currency	What the bill came to, VAT included: the sum of its lines.
Voided	Yes/No	Yes for a bill cancelled before it was paid. It stays on record and is left out of the takings.

Order Lines

What was on each bill: one line per dish, with how many. (15,847 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Order	Points at Orders, required	The bill this line is on.
Menu Item	Points at Menu Items, required	The dish or drink sold.
Quantity	Whole number	How many.
Unit Price	Currency	The price of one when it was sold, VAT included, kept so a later price change leaves old bills as they were.
Tax Rate	Number	The VAT rate within the price, as a fraction: the standard 0.2 eaten in, the dish's Takeaway VAT Rate taken away.

Purchases

One record per order to a supplier, from the day it was placed to the day its bill was paid. Each prints as a purchase order. (1,122 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Number	Short text, unique	The purchase order's number, given in date order with a new run each year: PO-2026-0042. The supplier quotes it on the delivery note.
Supplier	Points at Suppliers, required	Who it was ordered from.
Ordered On	Date	The day the order went in.
Due On	Date	The day the delivery is expected.
Received On	Date	The day it arrived; empty while it is still to come.
Invoice Number	Short text	The supplier's number on the bill that came with the delivery.
Paid On	Date	The day the bill was paid; empty while it is owed.

Purchase Lines

What was ordered on each purchase: one line per ingredient. (2,929 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Purchase	Points at Purchases, required	The purchase this line is on.
Ingredient	Points at Ingredients, required	The ingredient ordered.
Quantity	Number	How much, in the ingredient's unit.
Unit Cost	Currency	What one unit cost on this bill. Prices rose a little over the year, so older bills are cheaper.

Waste

Everything thrown away, as the kitchen notes it on the waste sheet. (636 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Ingredient	Points at Ingredients, required	What was thrown away.
Date	Date	The day.
Quantity	Number	How much, in the ingredient's unit.
Reason	Short text	Why: out of date, overripe, stale, spilt, dropped, a kitchen error and so on.
Recorded By	Points at Staff	Who wrote it down.

Cash Ups

The sheet filled in at close each day the cafe opens: the till's reading, the cash counted, and the day's wages from the rota. (424 records in the sample.)

Field	Type	What it holds
ID	AutoNumber	The number Data Files gives each record. Other tables point at a record by it.
Date	Date, required, unique	The day. One sheet per day.
Closed By	Points at Staff	Who counted up and locked up.
Weather	Short text	Sunny, Cloudy, Rain or Cold: worth noting, as it moves trade.
Orders	Whole number	How many bills the till rang up that day, voided ones left out.
Covers	Whole number	How many people sat down.
Card Takings	Currency	Taken by card, from the till's end of day reading.
Cash Takings	Currency	Taken in cash, from the same reading.
VAT	Currency	The VAT within the day's takings, from the same reading, for the VAT return.
Cash Counted	Currency	The cash actually in the drawer, less the float. A difference from Cash Takings is the till over or short.
Wage Cost	Currency	What the day's shifts cost in wages, from the rota: hours worked or on holiday times each person's rate.
Notes	Long text	Anything worth remembering about the day: something ran out, the card machine went down, the till was out.

Next: Queries, forms, reports and print templates