Aser One

LearnRestaurant & kitchen

Food costing from A to Z: bases, dishes and what they use

A base you cook ahead, the dishes that use it, and what each one costs and burns.

On the computer, 11 steps

Guide 6 of 8 in Restaurant & kitchen

What you need

  • Your ingredients, created and bought, so they have a cost.
  • The recipe of each base you cook ahead, such as a sauce.
  • The recipe of each dish, for one plate.

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  1. Open the base

    In Stock › Items, find the base and press the pencil. A new one starts from New item.

    Open the base
  2. Make it a base

    Switch on Track stock, Has ingredients and Ingredient. Bought and Sold stay off.

    Make it a base
  3. Its recipe, by the batch

    In Ingredients, type what one batch makes, here 2 kg, and what it takes. The cost per kg shows below.

    Its recipe, by the batch
  4. Use it in a dish

    In the dish’s Ingredients, add the base like any ingredient: 0.12 kg per plate.

    Use it in a dish
  5. Every recipe, one card

    Stock › Recipe Book shows each recipe with its cost and food-cost %. Press a card.

    Every recipe, one card
  6. What got dearer

    Purchase prices going up lists the ingredients whose last delivery cost more.

    What got dearer
  7. Read the tree

    Press the arrow on the base to see its own recipe. Press again to close it.

    Read the tree
  8. What one plate takes

    Exploded turns the base back into raw ingredients and checks them against your stock.

    What one plate takes
  9. Cook the base

    In Produced items, pick the base and type 2 kg. Its ingredients show, ready to leave the kitchen.

    Cook the base
  10. Add

    Press Add. The base enters stock, and its tomatoes, onions and oil leave it.

    Add
  11. Track its use

    In the dish, click the base’s name. Pick a period: what you made, what it took and its cost.

    Track its use

Every day

  • Record each batch you cook in Produced items.
  • Sell in the app, so each plate takes its base out of stock.
  • Check a base’s use when its stock does not add up.

What you see

The stew costs 165 KES a plate, 16 KES of it the base. Cooking 2 kg of base took 1.5 kg of tomatoes, 0.6 kg of onions and 0.15 l of oil.

Time and effort

Each base and dish needs its recipe once. After that, it is one line per batch you cook.

Common mistakes

  • Writing a base for one portion. Write it for the batch you really cook, with its unit.
  • Leaving Track stock off on a base you cook ahead. Then its stock is not followed.
  • Forgetting to record a batch. The dishes then take a base that never entered stock.

Try it on your own business.