Know what the kitchen is actually spending
Ingredients counted at the unit you buy them in, received against the order at the back door, and written off with a reason when they turn, so the food cost you quote is one you can defend.
Highland Single Malt 12yr
SPR-WSK-012
Botanical Dry Gin
SPR-GIN-004
Reposado Tequila
SPR-TEQ-009
Barrel-Aged Bourbon
SPR-BRB-021
Coastal Sauvignon Blanc
WIN-WHT-018
Brut Champagne
WIN-SPK-007
What the week actually looks like
None of this is a software problem yet. It is the shape of the trade, and it is what the setup below is built around.
01
The price of everything moved this week
A crate costs what it costs on the day. Menu prices set against last quarter's cost are a slow leak nobody notices until the quarter closes.
02
Waste leaves no trace
Stock that spoiled and stock that was eaten by staff both disappear the same way: as a number that was there on Monday and is not there on Friday.
03
Ordering happens from memory
Whoever is on shift at 6am rings the supplier and guesses. Twice a month that guess is wrong in the expensive direction.
How it runs instead
Four steps, in the order this trade meets them. Everything else is a keystroke away, not a module you buy.
- 01
Receive at the back door
Check the delivery against the order line by line. Short deliveries stay outstanding on the same order instead of vanishing, and the price you were actually charged becomes the cost.
- 02
Count in the unit you buy
Buy the case, count the case, hold the sell unit underneath it. Lot numbers and expiry dates ride along on anything that turns.
- 03
Write off out loud
Spoilage, breakage and staff food are adjustments with a reason attached, so waste is a figure you can read rather than a gap you infer.
- 04
Read the margin, not the takings
Sell-through and profit per line come off the same movements the counts do, per site and net of VAT.
The screens you open on
Track what the kitchen actually consumes, and see the margin on a plate before the week closes.
- Point of Sale
- Stock
- Suppliers
Set at signup and changed whenever you like. It decides what you land on, not what you can reach.
- Ingredient-level stock with expiry dates
- Supplier orders raised against par levels
- Waste recorded with a reason, not written off quietly
What restaurants & cafés usually switch on
Settings, not plans or add-ons. Turn any of them on later, or never.
- Lot numbers and expiry dates
- Received against a batch, watched by the day, and written off with a reason when they turn.
- A sell unit that isn't the stock unit
- Buy the bottle, sell the pour: sixteen to a bottle, priced per pour and counted per bottle.
- Stock tracking off entirely
- For labour, hire and made-to-order, where there is nothing on a shelf to count.
Where you trade
The market run is not a purchase order
Half of what a kitchen here buys comes back in a taxi with no invoice, at a price that was negotiated that morning. Record it as a receipt at what you paid and the cost is right. The system does not require a supplier document to believe you. What it does require is that the figure came from somewhere, which is why every adjustment carries a person and a reason.
2 kitchens
one food-cost figure
“We used to price the menu off what things cost in January. Now I can see the week the tomatoes moved.”
Yemi Adeleke · Owner, Fig & Flame
Questions from restaurants & cafés
Does it cost a dish from its recipe?
Not today. Stock is counted and costed at the ingredient, and margin is reported per line on what you sell. Dish-level costing from a recipe is a real gap. If that is the thing you need, say so before you move, and we will tell you honestly where it stands.
Can the kitchen and the front be separate?
Yes. A kitchen, a bar, a floor and a store are all location kinds, each with its own stock, its own registers and its own access, under one business.
What about expiry?
Lot numbers carry expiry dates, and anything near turning surfaces before it does. Writing it off records the lot, the quantity and the reason.
Most of you are two of these at once
A hotel is a bar, a kitchen and a shop. You never pick one and lose the rest.