Mixed drinks

A mixed drink like a rum and coke consists of two parts, each with its own VAT rate: the spirit high, the soft drink low. In 20Tabs you book those parts as separate lines, while staff only tap a single button.

What it earns you

Ring up a rum and coke as a single product and the whole selling price falls under the high rate. That includes the soft drink part, which you sell on its own under the low rate.

A rum and coke at €7.50, made up of €5.00 of spirit and €2.50 of coke:

That is €0.23 per mixed drink at exactly the same price for the guest. A hundred a week adds up to well over €1,100 a year.

Calculated with the Dutch high rate of 21% and low rate of 9%. Check with your bookkeeper which parts fall under which rate in your case.

How it works

Every line on a receipt carries its own VAT rate and Revenue category. A subproduct or a selected option becomes its own line underneath the main product, with the price, rate and category of the linked product. So the split happens by itself.

There are three ways to do this. The difference is how many buttons you end up with.

Method 1: a fixed combination with a subproduct

One button that always rings up exactly the same combination.

1. In Backoffice > Products, create the product, for example “Bacardi”
2. Fill in the Price, VAT rate and Revenue category of the spirit part
3. At Subitems, select the mixer, for example the existing product “Coke”

1 Bacardi             5.00
   - Coke             2.50

Together €7.50 for the guest, neatly divided across two rates.

A subproduct always charges its own price. If you want a different split, create a separate product (“Coke in a mix”) at that price and keep it off your button pages. You can link several subproducts, for example for a cocktail made of three parts.

Method 2: a choice screen with an option group

One button per spirit, after which the register asks which mixer goes with it. Usually the easiest way.

1. Create a product, for example “Bacardi mix”, with the Price, VAT rate and Revenue category of the spirit
2. Go to Backoffice > Option groups, click the round + and under At product pick the type Product option
3. Name the group “Mixer” and tick Required
4. Add an option per mixer, choose Product and select the existing soft drink product. Name, price, rate and category come from there automatically
5. Link the group to the product in the Option groups field

1 Bacardi mix         5.00
   - Coke             2.50

You only create the “Mixer” group once. Link the same group to “Vodka mix”, “Whisky mix” and so on. A new mixer gets added once and works on every button straight away.

See Option groups for all the details.

Method 3: everything behind one button with two option groups

Two option groups on a single product: one for the spirit and one for the mixer.

1. Create a product, for example “Mixed drink”, with Price 0
2. Create a Product option group named “Spirit” holding all your spirits, with Price left empty
3. Create a second group “Mixer” the same way, holding all your mixers
4. Tick Required on both groups
5. Link both groups to the product and put Spirit above Mixer

1 Mixed drink         0.00
   - Bacardi          5.00
   - Coke             2.50

Every spirit charges its own price, so a premium bottle costs more by itself.

The main product stays on the receipt as a 0.00 line, because Product option does not let you hide the parent. Do not move the full price onto it to get rid of that line, or you lose the split.

Which method should you pick?

You can combine them: give your best selling mixed drink its own button and cover the rest with a mix button.

Checking that it works

Ring up a mixed drink on a test receipt. You will see two lines.

• Reports > Tax report: the revenue split across the high and the low rate
• Reports > Sales report: how often each main product sold, with the chosen mixers underneath

A mixer does not appear as its own sales line, even though the option is linked to an existing product. The report counts only the main lines and lists the chosen parts underneath as a summary, for example “Coke (12x)”. That revenue is still included in the amount on the main line. If you also sell that same coke on its own, that does get its own line.