Closing the shop

If you help manage Longwood Loop, you can close the shop and send out reports to all of the vendors each week. Instructions for how to close the order cycle are below.

Closing an order cycle

Order cycles will automatically close at the specified day and time that you set when creating the cycle (right now, that is Wednesdays at 16:00/4pm).

Creating order reports

Once the order cycle is closed, you need to create reports and send out emails to everyone letting them know what produce sold and to whom.

Preparing the packing list file

First, make a copy of the most recent packing list in the Google Drive > Longwood Loop > Packing lists folder.

To do this, you will right-click on the most recent packing list and then select 'Make a copy' from the dropdown. Then, open the new Google Sheet and update the name from 'Copy of <yyyy-mm-dd> Longwood Loop - packing list' to the new date. Finally, remove all of the entries from the prior order cycle on all 3 pages so that only the header is left in each.

Packing lists - empty

Once you have an empty copy of the Packing list sheet, you are ready to gather the data to fill the sheet in.

Downloading reports from Open Food Network

Navigate to Open Food Network, log in, and then choose 'Administration' from the Profile dropdown. Then select 'Reports' from the blue header at the top.

You will need to generate 3 different reports to fill in the Packing list sheet.

Name	Description
Customers	Addresses
Packing Reports	Pack by Customer
Packing Reports	Pack by Supplier

Open Food Network - reports selection screen

For each report page, you will make the same selections to generate the report.

From the Order Cycle dropdown, select the most recent order cycle. Then click the checkbox for 'Download as CSV', and click 'Search'. This will generate the .csv file for the report and save it to your computer.

Open Food Network - reports - select order cycle

Open Food Network - reports - all options selected

Repeat this process for all 3 reports - you should have 3 files that download to your computer called 'customers_<yyyymmdd>', 'packing _<yyyymmdd>', and 'packing _<yyyymmdd> (1)'.

Open Food Network - reports - downloads

You will need to open these reports to access the information to complete the 'Packing list' Google Sheet we created at the beginning of this process. You can open the files using Microsoft Excel, if you have that program installed on your computer. Otherwise, you can upload these reports to the Packing lists folder and open them using Google Sheets.

To open these files using Google Sheets, either drag and drop the files into the Packing lists folder or select the + New button and then File upload and select the packing and customer files.

Google Drive - Packing lists folder - after uploading new files

You can then right-click on the file name and choose Open with > and then Google Sheets to open the file.

Formatting report contents

Customers list

Open the Customers file. Remove columns F and G (called 'Hub' and 'Hub Address'). Copy the remaining contents (except row 1, which is headers) into the previously created packing list file - in the tab called 'Customer details'. Finally sort the sheet based on column F ('Shipping Method') to group all of the orders by their destination hub.

Formatting customer list

Packing list - by supplier (producer)

Find the packing file that is grouped by supplier - this will be one of the two files with 'packing' in the file name. You will see all of the supplier's items grouped together in column B.

Delete column C (called 'Code') and move the 'Quantity' column to the left of the 'Product' column. Then copy the contents from columns B to G into the previously created packing list file - in the tab called 'By supplier'. The columns called 'Hub' and 'TempControlled?' are not necessary and should not be copied over into the final packing list file.

Formatting packing list by supplier

Packing list - by customer (buyer)

Find the packing file that is grouped by customer - this will be one of the two files with 'packing' in the file name. You will see all of the customer's items grouped together (columns C and D show the customer name).

Move the 'Quantity' column to the left of the 'Product' column. Then copy the contents from columns C to H into the previously created packing list file - in the tab called 'By customer'. The columns called 'Hub', 'Code', and 'TempControlled?' are not necessary and should not be copied over into the final packing list file.

Your packing file for the week is now complete and all 3 of the tabs should have content in them. You can delete the original files from Google Drive, if uploaded there. Only the final packing file should be visible in the Packing lists folder when you are done.

Sending emails

After creating the reports, you will need to send emails to all of the producers who sold items, and also to the Longwood Loop coordinators who are picking up and dropping off items around the Loop on delivery day.

Producer email

The producer emails are sent to every producer who sold something in the order cycle. These are sent immediately following the order cycle closing (typically for the order cycle closing at 4pm, emails are sent before 6pm) to alert producers to what will be picked up the following day.

Producer email template

To: <producer email>, [e-mail]

Subject line: Longwood Loop | <vendor name> - orders for pickup <date>

Email body:

Hi <name> -

Orders for this week are below. Robyn will be in touch to coordinate pickup for tomorrow.

<paste in table of products sold>

Thanks,

<your name>

Sample producer email

Sample producer email

Current producers

Producer	Contact name	Email address
Annemarie's Veges & Fruit	Annemarie Bruin	[e-mail]
Benson Lodge Beef	Belinda Turnbull	[e-mail]
Blueberry Country Southland	Nathalie Sterkins	[e-mail]
Brightview Eggs	Casey Elstob	[e-mail]
Crazy Tree Honey	Robyn Guyton	[e-mail]
David and Jayne Valli	David and Jayne Valli	[e-mail]
Fiordland View Mushrooms	Camilla Remneblad	[e-mail]
Heather's Hazels	Heather King	[e-mail]
Hortus Vitae	Trish Burton	[e-mail]
Hospice Honey	Marcel Vergeer	[e-mail]
Kiki's French Croissants	Kirsty Tait	[e-mail]
Last Light Lodge	Violaine Dumas & Craig Rutland	[e-mail]
Little Piece of Paradise	Ian Backhouse	[e-mail]
MooDew	Julie & Gabbie Guise	[e-mail] [e-mail]
Natural Vege	Bridgette Batt	[e-mail]
Paddy Ashley	Robyn Guyton	[e-mail]
Robyn Guyton	Robyn Guyton	[e-mail]
Tasty Veg @ Holt Cottage	Faimie McGlen	[e-mail]
The Shepherds Hut	Nicky Fryer	[e-mail]
Wild South Honey	Robyn Guyton	[e-mail]

Coordinator email

Coordinator emails include all buyer contact information and the packing list for each order. This allows the coordinator to reach out to any buyers (if needed) and also gives the coordinators the full packing list per buyer to ensure all items make it to their intended destination.

Coordinator emails should include a copy of the contents of the 'Customer details' tab and a copy of the 'By customer' tab.

Coordinator email addresses:

• [e-mail]

• [e-mail]

• [e-mail]