Running a butchery in Kenya: track meat by the kilo and stop losses

ShelfWise · Updated 1 November 2026

A butchery can be busy all day and still make less than it should. Meat is sold by weight, in small amounts, often by “give me 200 shillings”, and losses hide in trimmings, spoilage and weights nobody checks. Here's how to see where the money goes.

1. Weigh what comes in

Record every delivery in kilos, not just in shillings. Weigh it when it arrives and compare it with what the supplier says. A few kilos short on each delivery adds up to thousands of shillings a month.

2. Know your price per kilo after trimming

Not every kilo you buy is a kilo you sell. Bone, fat and trimmings reduce what you can sell at full price. Weigh what you trim from a delivery a few times to learn your usual loss, then set your selling price so the kilos you actually sell cover the whole cost.

Cost per kilo bought = what you paid ÷ kilos delivered.
Cost per kilo sold = what you paid ÷ kilos you can sell after trimming.
Price from the second number, not the first.

3. Sell by amount without guessing

Most customers ask for an amount, not a weight. Guessing the weight for 200 or 350 shillings either gives meat away or upsets the customer. With a POS that sells by amount, you type what the customer wants to spend and it shows exactly how much to weigh out, and takes that weight off your stock.

4. Record spoilage and trimmings, every day

Meat that goes bad, and trimmings you throw away or sell cheaply, should be recorded, not just removed. Otherwise your stock says you have meat you don't, and real losses hide among them.

5. Close the day by weight

At closing, weigh what's left of each kind of meat and compare it with what your records say should be there. Do it daily and a gap points to a day and a shift, while everyone still remembers.

6. Match cash and M-Pesa to sales

Small sales and busy counters make it easy for M-Pesa payments to go unrecorded. When payments to your Till are matched to sales automatically, you only check the few that don't match. See connecting M-Pesa.

7. Know today's profit

With cost and selling prices per kilo recorded, you can see an estimate of the day's profit instead of waiting for the month's end.

Common questions

How do I calculate the selling price of meat per kilo?

Divide what you paid by the kilos you can actually sell after trimming and bone, then add your margin. Pricing from the delivered weight alone usually undercharges.

Can a POS sell meat by amount, like 200 shillings of beef?

ShelfWise can: type the amount and it shows the weight to cut and takes that weight off your stock.

Does ShelfWise connect to a weighing scale?

Not directly. Read the weight from your scale and type it in.

Start your free trial Butcheries & bakeries