Build recipes, calculate menu cost, and link POS products

Recipes calculate estimated menu cost from inventory ingredients. A recipe can optionally link to a POS product so managers can compare cost per yield with the selling item.

Prepare inventory costs

Before creating a recipe, open the inventory item list and confirm every ingredient has the correct default unit and default unit cost. A missing item cost produces an incomplete recipe estimate unless you enter a line-level override.

Create a recipe

1. Open Admin → Inventory → Recipes & cost.
2. Select New recipe.
3. Under Basics, enter the name, description, Yield quantity, and Yield unit.
4. Under Ingredients, choose an inventory item and enter Qty, Unit, and any Waste %.
5. Use Cost override only when this recipe line intentionally differs from the item's default unit cost.
6. Select Add line for each additional ingredient.
7. Under POS product (optional), enter the catalog product ID and notes when the recipe should be compared with a selling product.
8. Select Create recipe.

Yield is the amount produced by the full recipe, not the number of ingredients. For example, a batch yielding 12 portions should use a yield quantity of 12 and a suitable unit such as portion.

Review cost and margin

Open the recipe from Recipes & menu cost. The Cost summary rolls ingredient line costs into the recipe total and cost per yield. The list shows the recipe line count and estimated cost.

When the estimate looks wrong, check:

• Ingredient quantity and unit.
• Default unit cost on the inventory item.
• Waste percentage.
• A stale or unintended cost override.
• Yield quantity and unit.
• The optional POS product link.

Changing an inventory item's cost affects later recipe calculations; it does not rewrite historical sales or purchase documents.

Edit or archive

Use Edit to change basics, ingredient lines, yield, or the POS link. Select Archive recipe only when the recipe should be hidden from the active list. Archiving keeps ingredient lines in the database for audit and does not delete inventory items or POS products.

After a material recipe change, compare the new estimate with a recent supplier cost and verify the linked POS product before using the margin figure for pricing decisions.