Thread: setting up a kit product

I have some products that I want to setup as kits. All of the components of the kits will be tracked by inventroy counts. I will be displaying the counts of the base product and the optional components on my product page. I see that for the optional components I just need to specify the product ID of that item (can this be a variant ID?) But how can I track the inventory of the base product without having to set it up as its own simple product first? I don't want it to show up on the site elsewhere too besides the kit page. Think of it like I sold hot dogs and condiments, I would not want someone to search for Hot Dog and have one result for a plain hot dog and another result for the hot dog kit, remember the key here is I have to track the inventory for EVERYTHING. Thanks

can this be a variant ID?

Absolutely, it actually has to be.

how can I track the inventory of the base product without having to set it up as its own simple product first

Simply go to the variant level of the kit product that you set up, and enter the inventory there. That base inventory will be deducted each time the kit is purchased, along with the inventory of any variants you tied the kit items to.