Recipes, costing & waste
Build recipes from your inventory products. 86’d uses your approved invoice prices to calculate each recipe’s cost and cost % against its menu price, flags recipes affected by recent ingredient cost increases, and records waste so you can see what was lost and why.
Operations Pro and Group. The staff Recipe Viewer can be enabled per person.
- Chefs and kitchen managers
- Bar managers costing cocktails
- Owners reviewing menu margins
Recipe costs are calculated once on a spreadsheet and never updated, so price increases quietly erode margins.
Costs that move with your invoices, and a list of which recipes to review when they do.
What’s included
Recipes
Ingredients, yields and portions, grouped by type and category.
Cost & cost %
Recipe cost vs. menu price, shown as Within Target, Watch or Above Target.
Cost-increase alerts
Recipes affected by recent ingredient cost increases are listed at the top.
Waste log
Record waste by item, reason and value; totals feed Money Leaks.
Recipe Viewer
Staff can view approved recipes and specs in their app when you allow it.
Walkthrough
- 1Make sure your products have current prices (approve recent invoices).
- 2Open Inventory → Recipes → New recipe; add ingredients and portions from your products.
- 3Enter the menu price and check cost % against your target.
- 4Review any recipes listed as affected by cost increases.
- 5Ask staff to log waste with a reason; review totals weekly.
What you need
- Products with invoice prices
- Recipe ingredients and portions
- Menu prices
- Waste entries
- None required
- Recipe editing for managers; Recipe Viewer per person
What it produces
- Recipe cost and cost %
- Cost-increase list
- Waste totals
How it connects
- Inventory & invoices
Invoice prices drive costs
- Sales & reporting
Product mix × recipe cost estimates item profit
- AI insights & Ask 86’d
Waste totals are part of the AI context
A margarita moves from Within Target to Above Target after a tequila price change. The bar manager reviews the pour spec and the menu price, then records the decision in the manager log.
Illustrative only—not a customer result.
Questions
Where do ingredient prices come from?
From the products in your inventory, updated by approved invoices or manual edits.
Is cost % theoretical or actual?
Recipe cost % is theoretical (what the recipe should cost). Compare it with counts and variance for actual usage.
Related
Inventory & invoices
Counts, par levels, vendors and AI-assisted invoice capture you review line by line.
Read moreSales & reporting
See sales, labor, discounts and open issues for each location, compared with your own targets.
Read moreRecipe costing basics: from invoice price to plate cost
Read moreLast reviewed 2026-10-04. All guides
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