Turn today's order log into a prep list
UNIQUE hands back each value once — the fast way to turn a raw log into a prep list.
Task:
You run a food truck. Today's point-of-sale log recorded every order as it came in, and the popular items repeat many times. In E2, use UNIQUE to list every distinct item sold today from B2:B9, so you know what to prep more of tomorrow.
Interactive Spreadsheet
Hints
+5 XPno-hints bonusSolve it on your own to keep the bonus. Each hint gets one step closer to the formula.
The data in this exercise
This is the grid you start with. Cell references in the task — B6, C2 — point at the row numbers and column letters below.
| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Order Time | Item | Price | Items sold today | |
| 2 | 11:02 | Al Pastor Taco | 4.5 | ||
| 3 | 11:15 | Elote | 3.75 | ||
| 4 | 11:20 | Al Pastor Taco | 4.5 | ||
| 5 | 11:30 | Carnitas Taco | 4.5 | ||
| 6 | 11:45 | Al Pastor Taco | 4.5 | ||
| 7 | 12:05 | Elote | 3.75 | ||
| 8 | 12:20 | Horchata | 3 | ||
| 9 | 12:40 | Carnitas Taco | 4.5 |
What this exercise teachesMay contain the answer
UNIQUE walks the range once and remembers what it has already returned, so a taco that sold three times still only prints once — the same result Remove Duplicates gives you, except this one recalculates itself the moment tomorrow's log is pasted in rather than needing to be re-run every shift. It preserves the order values first appear in rather than resorting them, which is why Al Pastor Taco leads the list here: it was the first order of the day, not the best seller.