http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ Ask questions about your business en-US Thu, 17 May 2012 04:48:50 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.3 q http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/search.php http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/myfax-vs-efax/page/2#post-645 Wed, 16 May 2012 13:50:34 +0000 rumi298 645@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>efax and Myfax needs extra charge to set up. They have also needs to install software. Thats totally irritating. I am using <a href="http://www.interfax.net" rel="nofollow">http://www.interfax.net</a> which has simple to use and no set up cost is required. i only pay what I use.You can try this.<br /> Thanks<br /> Rumi </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/rackspace-billing-trouble#post-643 Thu, 10 May 2012 09:30:56 +0000 mwilbanks 643@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Hi James,</p> <p>I work at Rackspace - I'm very sorry for the experience you've had so far! Please send me a quick email at mw at rackspace dot com and I'll be happy to investigate for you and help out.</p> <p>Matt Wilbanks </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/rackspace-billing-trouble#post-642 Thu, 10 May 2012 09:23:48 +0000 Jason Huie 642@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Hi James,<br /> Thanks for posting about this. I've not personally heard of any problems like this with Rackspace, but I can completely understand your frustration. I've used Rackspace many times for their CloudServers and always found the customer support to be helpful. I've contacted customer support at Rackspace and alerted them to this problem and I've been told that someone should be contacting you soon to help you out with this.</p> <p>Here are some helpful tips when dealing with Rackspace customer support:</p> <ul> <li>Keep a cool head and remember that even though you've been dealing with this for days/weeks/months the person you're talking to is probably new to the situation.</li> <li>Use the "Live Chat" feature by logging into your account first and then clicking on Live Chat. Using chat generally keeps my frustration in check and removes any emotion behind my words.</li> <li>Don't be afraid to ask to escalate the issue if your problem is not being solved. Sometimes an issue can be solved by talking to a different representative, but sometimes the issue requires someone with more decision making power.</li> </ul> <p>Please let us know if you are able to resolve this issue with RackSpace, we're eager to hear about the resolution to your RackSpace troubles. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/rackspace-billing-trouble#post-641 Thu, 10 May 2012 01:38:59 +0000 JamesOsaka 641@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Hello has anyone had troubles with rackspace service and trying to cancel your account? </p> <p>Here’s my Rackspace experience. I have a small software / consulting biz. We needed a server account that could handle 30 to 100, 30 mb uploads per day and store those file for a sixth month period. We talked with several companies and chose rackspace based on their promise of support.</p> <p>Less than a week into the account we were kicked off rackspace for “excessive file usage.” Our account was closed without notice and our customers were without service. This despite, us telling the rackspace sales staff exactly what our account would entail. </p> <p>“Unfortunately we have had no choice but to lock down and rename the folder XXXXXX due to excessive file and directory creation depriving other users of inodes.”</p> <p>Warm regards,</p> <p>Matt Oglesby, RHCE</p> <p>We had to scramble to find a new server and incurred quite a bit of labor cost in the process as well as lots of complaints from our customers. The service staff were also quite rude and hung up on us several times. </p> <p>To add insult to injury Rackspace has continued to charge us the $USD 170 fee for a further 3 months. </p> <p>This is aprox. my 20th contact to try to cancel our account but to no avail. This is clearly a case of predatory billing. </p> <p>What kind of company kills the server account of a small biz without notice, cancels their account and then continues to charge for 3 months despite repeated requests to cancel the account? </p> <p>If you own a small business and need a company you can rely on I suggest you look elsewhere.<br /> Rackspace is Risky for small biz. </p> <p>If anyone wants to give me a hand with this I’m happy to update my post. Former account number: 634413</p> <p>James </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/migrating-email-godaddy-google-apps/page/2#post-637 Thu, 03 May 2012 11:19:20 +0000 April 637@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Hi Tram,</p> <p>It sounds like your MX Records were not set-up properly. What's your domain name so I can check your MX records? (I use mxtoolbox.com) </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/migrating-email-godaddy-google-apps/page/2#post-636 Thu, 03 May 2012 11:17:09 +0000 Reece Freeman 636@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Thanks for the question, tram. I have our team looking into this and hopefully we'll be able to have a solution for you as soon as possible.</p> <p>If anyone else has a question or comment about the migrating steps listed above, feel free to <strong><a href="http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/register.php">create a free account</a></strong> and post to this thread. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/migrating-email-godaddy-google-apps/page/2#post-634 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:59:10 +0000 tram 634@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Hi guys, I had an existing google apps account set up with my domain name and then transferred my domain name to godaddy. </p> <p>I am now trying update my google apps account so that i can continue using the same domain name email address that i was using before even tho godaddy is hosting it now. </p> <p>I tried updating the MX record using the link mentioned above<br /> (Visit this URL: <a href="https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/google/gmail_login.asp" rel="nofollow">https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/google/gmail_login.asp</a> and log-in with your GoDaddy.com account.) </p> <p>I can now send emails from this google apps account but cannot receive. (I found them in godaddy webmail service)</p> <p>What else do I need to do? I would like to keep as simple as possible and keep using google apps. Thanks! </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/fax-adapter#post-633 Wed, 02 May 2012 16:49:47 +0000 Casey Jones 633@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Hi Keith,</p> <p>While Nextiva and a select few other online fax companies sell Analog Telephone Adapters, they are not heavily promoted or supported in the online fax space. RingCentral also sells an ATA for about $70 for sending faxes from your machine. eFax has also partnered with HP to sell an all in one scanner printer that can also send and receive faxes for the same cost as Nextiva's fax adapter : <a href="http://www.amazon.com/HP-Photosmart-7510-All-Printer/dp/B005N3FMDE" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/HP-Photosmart-7510-All-Printer/dp/B005N3FMDE</a></p> <p>If it's as cheap to replace your fax machine with an all in one printer as it is to connect your fax machine to an adapter, I say go for it. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/fax-adapter#post-632 Wed, 02 May 2012 16:22:11 +0000 Reece Freeman 632@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Hi Keith,</p> <p>Thanks for the interesting question. We'll definitely look into online fax adapters like the one offered by <a href="http://online-fax.choosewhat.com/redirect?id=3233">Nextiva</a> and see if any other <a href="online-fax.choosewhat.com">Online Fax</a> companies have similar products. This is something I had never heard of before, but I'll send this post along to our Online Fax guru, Casey, to see what he knows about these adapters. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/fax-adapter#post-631 Wed, 02 May 2012 12:38:00 +0000 keithg1964 631@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>I know FaxTiva offers a fax adapter that connects the fax machine to the internet to send faxes, what other companies offer this. Faxtives device is $150. This info should be part of the chart. It is an important item to consider. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/how-do-i-link-newsletters-facebook#post-629 Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:01:02 +0000 April 629@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>The STARTicle has been updated for Facebook Timeline:<br /> <a href="http://www.choosewhat.com/starticles/add-a-newsletter-signup-form-to-facebook" rel="nofollow">http://www.choosewhat.com/starticles/add-a-newsletter-signup-form-to-facebook</a></p> <p>Let me know if you run into any issues! </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/how-do-i-link-newsletters-facebook#post-628 Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:38:32 +0000 April 628@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Hi Greg,</p> <p>Great question! It's actually very easy to add a newsletter sign-up to your Facebook page.</p> <p>I wrote a Choosewhat.com STARTicle that has detailed step-by-step instructions: <a href="http://www.choosewhat.com/starticles/add-a-newsletter-signup-form-to-facebook" rel="nofollow">http://www.choosewhat.com/starticles/add-a-newsletter-signup-form-to-facebook</a></p> <p>As the article says, if you are using an email marketing provider with Facebook integration, adding a newsletter form can be as easy as one-click. I know iContact, Constant Contact, MailChimp and GetResponse all have 1-click integrations. If they don't, no sweat. There are just a few extra steps.</p> <p>**Just a note: The process was written before Facebook Timeline, but most of the steps should still apply. Our content team is updating the STARTicle with instructions for FB Timeline. I will post here when it is finished - probably Monday 4/30/12. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/why-use-quickbooks#post-627 Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:14:38 +0000 Reece Freeman 627@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Thanks for the post DeBorahBeatty. You make great points, it is "Best to start with the best." Although, I haven't been able to find that price for QuickBooks Pro Plus anywhere. From what I've seen, the cheapest you can acquire <a href="http://quickbooks.intuit.com/proplus/">Pro Plus</a> is by paying for a year up front and end up spending around $20.80 per month. If you can, please link me to where you see that pricing. We'd love to feature that on <a href="quickbooks.choosewhat.com">ChooseWhat's QuickBooks comparison section</a>. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/why-use-quickbooks#post-626 Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:52:50 +0000 DeBorahBeatty 626@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>The one thing about QuickBooks desktop versions is that when you grow, you can upgrade your version (like from Pro to Premier to Enterprise). If you are using the online version, it is very difficult to get all of your transactions into a new version. </p> <p>The other plus for QB is that it is an automatic double entry system which means both sides of the transaction are taken care of for you once your Chart of Accounts is set up. If you start with Peachtree or something else and want to convert to QB later, sometimes your data will not transfer correctly or completely. Best to start with the best. </p> <p>And with Intuit's new Pro Plus option, you can get 24/7 support, latest version upgrade and their add on services like Intuit Data Protect (online backup), QuickBooks Mobile (connectivity with a smartphone) and other goodies included for as little as $12.95/month. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/how-do-i-link-newsletters-facebook#post-625 Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:47:03 +0000 DeBorahBeatty 625@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>It used to be quite easy to submit your blogposts to Facebook. Now, since they've changed their format, the easiest way is to join Networked Blogs and then they'll post on your page. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/myfax-vs-efax/page/2#post-621 Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:20:41 +0000 Anonymous 621@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>DO NOT USE myfax - BRUTAL outages and no answers or explanation at all. They were out last night for several hours and their websites were down as well. Incidentally, I was told I could to their support website to check the network status - when I was called back 14 hours after leaving several tech support voicemails.</p> <p>On April 3rd to 5th calling fax machines were provided a message that the number did not exist (Yeah - you want clients to hear that!) or were forwarded to a random voicemail box. </p> <p>When I asked for a credit for the huge amount of added work that my staff had to do I was told No credit will be made as WE DO NOT HAVE ANY SLA or availability promise.</p> <p>So if you use fax for distributing jokes to your grandparents then <a href="http://online-fax.choosewhat.com/internet-fax-service-reviews#MyFax" title="ChooseWhat's MyFax Online Fax Review">MyFax</a> is perfect for you. </p> <p><strong>If you use fax for business then STAY AWAY FROM MYFAX.</strong></p> <p>We are in the process of changing to <a href="http://online-fax.choosewhat.com/internet-fax-service-reviews#FaxAge" title="ChooseWhat's Faxage Online Fax Review">Faxage</a> - much better if you do VERY high volume incoming.</p> <p>This is 100% factual and I do not work for any fax related companies or anything else like that.</p> <p>Good Luck! </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/drupal-questions#post-620 Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:49:56 +0000 Jason Huie 620@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Hi Adir,<br /> Unfortunately, plugins from one CMS almost never work with another CMS. Drupal has a strong community with many plugins, so you might want to take a look at the features you are wanting in WordPress and try to find a comparable plugin for Drupal. With things like ease-of-use, collaboration, and design, it sounds like you are more concerned with the fundamentals of Drupal. In this regard, there is nothing that you can really do - if you like the way WordPress handles templating and setup, then my recommendation is to move to WordPress. Our team here has worked with both Drupal and WordPress and we've also found that WordPress is a little bit easier to live with in the long run. I hope this points you in the right direction and please let me know if you have any other questions. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/drupal-questions#post-619 Mon, 23 Apr 2012 05:10:10 +0000 AdirAkerman 619@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>I can see loyal got some useful information, thanks moderators! I was just wondering about some Drupal specifics which is how I came across this question.<br /> If I were already working with Drupal but had to add some features I can only find on <a href="http://wordpress.org/">Wordpress</a>, what would you recommend I do? I'm thinking about things like ease-of-use, collaboration, and stuff like easily applying design with templates (which are more difficult for less technical members of the team that would need to do this with Drupal). I wouldn't move from Drupal completely, but maybe there are other solutions out there. Thanks :) Adir </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/facebook-office/page/2#post-618 Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:43:16 +0000 AdirAkerman 618@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>I agree with @Koby. This is an issue at almost every office or work environment, but then again, there are so many other types of distractions like blogging, tons of other social networks, news sites, the works! The best route to take is to hire people you believe are committed and that earn your trust. Realistically speaking, if a member of my team find themself on Twitter a few times a day but is amazingly efficient, it's only sane. Maybe we should define it as the cigarette break of the 21st century :-P. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/dropbox-or-carbonite#post-617 Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:34:36 +0000 AdirAkerman 617@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Note that with Dropbox, versioning doesn't mean easy collaboration: I have seen that when a few people are working on a file, Dropbox creates duplicated, or what they call conflicted versions. Then you have to manually merge the files. So when there's a team of people working on something, these online backup services don't usually do the trick (file-sharing but not *collaboration*). Google docs is an option for this, maybe an integration between the two would be best. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/postcard-online-printing#post-615 Mon, 23 Apr 2012 03:50:52 +0000 Reesedonald10 615@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>The best way to have a good and quality postcard find the the best online printing website first! Co'z if you have it you can chose some different types of design and its really great! </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/incoming-faxing-options#post-612 Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:08:57 +0000 Koby Wong 612@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>I don't believe this functionality is built in to any of the fax systems. One solution you could do (although not super clean) is to set up filters on an email address that forwards faxes based on the Caller ID of the fax sender. Let me know if you'd like further help in setting something like that up. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/incoming-faxing-options#post-611 Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:40:42 +0000 keithg1964 611@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Does anybody know if any or all of these services allow you to direct the email to a different email address based on the sender of the fax? </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/dropbox-or-carbonite#post-610 Fri, 20 Apr 2012 03:20:35 +0000 jameszpalmer 610@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Dropbox and Carbonite, both are having the basic platform for backup of our files searching,automatic backup and remote access.Dropbox has a additional feature like sub-accounts,file syncing and public and private file sharing, because many user need to share specific files with other people.The storage capacity and prices of both are maximum in equal level.</p> <p>[url=http://www.backup-uk.com/]backup online storage[/url]<br /> [url=http://www.backup-uk.com/]unlimited backup service[/url] </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/myfax-vs-efax/page/2#post-609 Fri, 20 Apr 2012 02:45:56 +0000 Viksn 609@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Guys, thank you for this discussion! At first I wanted to use <a href="http://online-fax.choosewhat.com/internet-fax-service-reviews#MyFax" title="ChooseWhat's MyFax Online Fax Review">myfax</a>, but when I read about it here I began to research and finally I found <a href="http://online-fax.choosewhat.com/internet-fax-service-reviews-page-2#Popfax" title="ChooseWhat's Popfax Online Fax Review">Popfax</a>. The coolest thing for me was their mobile applications... (they have a description here <a href="http://www.popfax.com/news/article_1354.html)" rel="nofollow">http://www.popfax.com/news/article_1354.html)</a> For when you're outside your home or office and you can send faxes... cool! </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/myfax-vs-efax/page/2#post-605 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:28:41 +0000 Koby Wong 605@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>MyFax was acquired by j2 in December 2010. Thanks for the insight about your great experience with FaxLogic Robert! </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/myfax-vs-efax/page/2#post-603 Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:48:37 +0000 rmw 603@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Dear Elizabeth,</p> <p>I have unfortunately had the same experience. We had three <a href="http://online-fax.choosewhat.com/internet-fax-service-reviews#MyFax" title="ChooseWhat's MyFax Online Fax Review">MyFax</a> accounts that we have used for years, but in the past year (when did J2 buy them?), I can remember over a dozen outages. The most recent one lasted over 24 hours. I have no idea what the heck is going on over there, but it finally got to the point where we had to make a change. After doing a fair amount of research, we decided to go with FaxLogic. They got us up and running the same day with three new numbers (all under one account, which is nice). It has only been a couple of months, but they have been rock solid (on top of offering some very useful new features that I really like, such as being able to add private notes to a fax). I recommend them without hesitation.</p> <p>Sincerely,<br /> Robert White </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/myfax-vs-efax/page/2#post-602 Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:25:28 +0000 Koby Wong 602@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Thanks for sharing Elizabeth. We've received overwhelmingly great feedback about MetroFax, so I'm glad your experience is in line with it. MyFax just had another outage last week, and we updated our review to mention this. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/myfax-vs-efax/page/2#post-601 Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:04:55 +0000 ELIZABETH0217 601@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Here is a list of all the companies J2 brands</p> <p>j2 Global's brands include eFax, eFax Corporate, Onebox, eVoice, My1Voice, Electric Mail, FuseMail, Fax.com, Send2Fax, jConnect, RapidFAX, SmartFax, TrustFax, MyFax,Campaigner and KeepITsafe.[3]</p> <p>If you have used two of the service companies listed above and had problems with both, there is likely a good reason. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/myfax-vs-efax/page/2#post-600 Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:55:43 +0000 ELIZABETH0217 600@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>I've had nothing but problems lately with <a href="http://online-fax.choosewhat.com/internet-fax-service-reviews#MyFax" title="ChooseWhat's MyFax Online Fax Review">Myfax</a> and recently changed to <a href="http://online-fax.choosewhat.com/internet-fax-service-reviews#MetroFax" title="ChooseWhat's MetroFax Online Fax Review">metrofax.com</a>. So far I like them. FYI, for the people who don't know, efax and myfax are owned by the same company. As of 2010 the company owner is the same which may account for the VERY poor customer service. The customer service was so lacking that when I found out the owners of efax and myfax are the same, everything made sense. If your looking for terrible customer service and mediocre servers, then myfax is for you. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/virtual-pbx-compatible-with-skype#post-596 Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:31:46 +0000 Casey Jones 596@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Hello,</p> <p>Skype appears to have a pretty rocky history with smoothly integrating full PBX functionality. As OP pointed out, OnState is no longer in business. Until Summer 2011, Skype had an open agreement with an open source software service called PBX Asterisk that allowed you to power a traditional PBX box with Skype service. Skype now offers their own service for powering your traditional PBX box called Skype Connect for about $7.00 a line, but you still must buy or own expensive PBX hardware.</p> <p>Many users would benefit from obtaining their Virtual PBX capabilities through a vendor that includes pbx and voip functionality under the same package. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/virtual-pbx-compatible-with-skype#post-588 Wed, 04 Apr 2012 07:41:21 +0000 ChyrillStucker 588@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Hello friend,</p> <p>I was facing the same problem during the time of expansion of my business. What I did was I contacted a hosted PBX provider. They provided me with complete VoIP telephony solution for my business’ growing needs. They provided me with a softphone on my computer and I could process all my calls and faxes too. I would suggest you try the same. I would also like to recommend you my virtual PBX service provider The RealPBX. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/quickbooks-online-updates#post-586 Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:19:47 +0000 Reece Freeman 586@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>QuickBooks Online news and updates for the week of March 25th, 2012: </p> <p>QuickBooks Online will not be accessible via Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 3.x after April 2012. If you use either one of these now out-dated browsers, you will need to upgrade as soon as possible to keep using QuickBooks Online without any disruptions. </p> <p>QuickBooks Online is currently undergoing an infrastructure overhaul which will decrease page load times and improve overall browsing performance. The software has been updated to allow you to copy estimates over into invoices with the click of a button. In addition, QuickBooks Online now gives users the ability to personalize emails before sending estimates, invoices, or sales receipts. They have also integrated the Intuit PaymentNetwork with statements, so customers can pay off invoices by simply clicking the "Pay" button in their statement and invoice emails. QuickBooks Online has added other feature enhancements to the Income List, Reports List, and Sales Receipt pages.</p> <p>Previous QuickBooks Online updates in 2012:</p> <p>In February, QuickBooks Online added an Income List that shows invoices, estimates, and sales receipts. This feature will allow you to filter all of these transactions by status (open, closed, overdue, etc.), date, and customer. In addition to this, the software has given users the ability to copy estimates with the Online Essentials and Online Plus versions. This means you won't have to manually re-enter duplicate information on estimates each time you create a new one.</p> <p><a href="http://quickbooks.choosewhat.com/quickbooks-online">Click here to see our QuickBooks Comparison Grid and Reviews</a> </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/startup-profitability#post-585 Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:05:52 +0000 Koby Wong 585@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>Thanks so much for the super thorough and insightful post Blake. The reviews for Le Truc on Yelp are making my mouth water. I'll definitely come to your food truck next time I'm in San Fran. Super cool to see ya'll accept credit card payments with Square, too. </p> http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/set-up-a-fax-number/startup-profitability#post-584 Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:52:17 +0000 bktally 584@http://www.choosewhat.com/forums/ <p>CameronJ, </p> <p>The overhead costs should be, on average, about 1/3 of your total food cost. The other 2/3 being equal between ingredient costs and labor to produce the food. </p> <p>Your Overhead Rate is a function of dividing your Total Budgeted Overhead Costs by your Labor Hours for any specific menu item (Total Budgeted Overhead/Labor Hours = Overhead Rate). Labor Hours are defined as the base pay rate plus any other additional costs associated with those employees (example: Unemployment Insurance, Workers Compensation, Social Security &amp; Medicare taxes, Health Benefits, Vacation &amp; Sick Pay, etc). Overhead Rates consist of Advertising &amp; Marketing, Repair &amp; Maintenance, Supplies, Training, Utilities, Communications, Research &amp; Development, Taxes, etc. This equation will give you your overhead cost per menu item and help determine how you should price the item to maximize profit. </p> <p>The first thing you need to do to get a handle on your projected food costs is to put together all of the recipes that you are going to be selling off of your food trailer. Create Batch Recipes (scaled recipes for large quantity production that become their own inventory item when produced and can be used in other recipes) for each of these menu items making sure they account for the proper yield, including known waste, and labor. To better understand the labor cost for any menu item time yourself, or whomever will be in charge of executing the recipe on a daily basis, to see how long it takes to produce the item. </p> <p>Once you have your labor costs figured out use the formula above, including raw ingredient costs per recipe, to calculate the Total Food Cost and then mark it up to give you the desired profit. If the Total Food Cost is to high to give you the profit you would like make adjustments until you are where you want to be (example: cheaper ingredients, less skilled labor, etc). </p> <p>Hope this helps to answer your question - not the easiest thing to explain through a forum. </p>