The problem
Milk, bakery and coffee invoices and cash-and-carry receipts pile up in a drawer until someone types them into the accounts on a Sunday night. If a café gets 70 documents a month and each takes 4 minutes to key in and code, that's 280 minutes, about 4.7 hours a month, and food costs stay a guess until it's done.
What the AI does
Dext is bookkeeping software. Its site says you can send receipts and invoices by mobile, email, WhatsApp or desktop, it reads the supplier, line items and due date, categorises them by rules you set, and publishes them to your accounting software, with you reviewing and approving. Its FAQ names Xero as one integration. You photograph a till receipt or forward a supplier email, check what Dext read, and approve it into Xero. Line item extraction is a paid option and isn't needed to start. Supplier allergen and specification sheets go in your food safety records, not into the bookkeeping.
A worked example
A 30-seat café in Cardiff with 7 staff gets about 70 documents a month: 20 supplier invoices for milk, bakery and coffee, and 50 cash-and-carry and till receipts. The owner already pays for Xero Grow (£39 a month) and photographs each receipt on the day.
Before
4 minutes per document to key in and code: 70 x 4 = 280 minutes, about 4.7 hours a month
After
About 1.5 minutes per document to check and approve: 105 minutes, about 1.8 hours a month
What it's worth
About 2.9 hours a month saved (175 minutes), worth around £58 if your time is worth £20 an hour. Dext's default of 250 documents and 5 users is £24.17 a month excluding VAT, billed annually at £290; monthly billing isn't shown on the page; estimated at roughly £30 (the page says annual is up to 19% cheaper). A smaller document allowance may be cheaper if Dext's slider offers one, so check. Xero Grow at £39 is assumed already paid; Xero Ignite allows only 10 bills. Without Xero Grow, the two together cost more than this saves.
How to set it up
- Check with your accountant or bookkeeper that you'll send documents to Dext and that they use your Xero file.
- Start a Dext free trial and connect it to Xero.
- Set up rules for common suppliers such as milk and bakery so they land in the right cost category.
- Photograph receipts the day you get them and forward supplier emails to your Dext address.
- Each week, check what Dext read against the paper, match invoices to delivery notes, and approve into Xero.
What goes wrong
- Xero says smart document capture is included on all plans (xero.com/uk/accounting-software/store-files). Try that first on your trial and pay for Dext only if it saves real time.
- Dext can misread amounts or dates. Check each figure before you approve, and match invoices to what was delivered.
- Dext is priced by documents and users; past 250 documents a month you need a higher band, so count your receipts.
- Different foods can have different VAT treatment, so ask your accountant how to code them rather than trusting the automatic category.