Print All
Now you can select this option to print or save as PDF every one of your dishes, recipes, sub-recipes and list of ingredients and suppliers associated with a menu IN ONE GO. No more flitting backwards and forwards - save loads of time and have the printed versions handy in the kitchen or for training.
Tech Spec
The system security is achieved using 128-bit encryption to protect data right through the user's browser, which is the same level as online banking. The platform on which CaterCost is hosted is backed by one of the largest software developers in the world and is already used by several Blue Chip companies worldwide. It is a proven platform with all the usual items of system robustness including mirrored servers and real time back up – ensuring the end user doesn’t have to worry or spend money on these vital items.
At around a £1 a day, it’s miles more affordable than other big fancy-pants systems – we know you don’t need a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
Audit log
Unlike other systems we don't let you delete an ingredient if it's in use in a recipe or dish. The audit log feature will help you identify recipes and dishes that contain specific ingredients.
Also - see what your additional users have been up to in our 'last actions' audit log.
Allergen tracking and menu scanning
With CaterCost you can flag 14 food allergens against supplied ingredient info and CaterCost will track that allergen through every sub-recipe and dish you use it in. Far less room for user error 14 Allergens listed to comply with new legislation 13th Dec 2014
Menu scanning
Make a menu public and it will generate a unique QR code allowing anyone with a Smart Phone or Tablet to scan and view full nutritional data and allergenic ingredients contained in every dish on the menu.
Stock count
Grab your Ipad and count your locations stock - as you enter the detail the system calculates a cumulative stock holding. Close of the stock count, enter sales and purchases for the period and see an accurate GP and Food Cost for that period.
Set locations in your system to count by where items are physically stored!
Choose Sterling, Dollar, Baht, Euro or any currency
Customise your location to reflect your country’s tax and currency on all your costings, spec sheets and menus
Free-type ingredients in any language.
Print dish and recipe specification
CaterCost food cost calculator allows you to print a PDF style sheet showing recipe and dish ingredient details, method, photo, nutritional components – with and without costs and GP
CLICK HERE TO VIEW SAMPLE RECIPE SHEET
CLICK HERE TO SEE SAMPLE DISH SPEC
Conversion function
Goodbye to calculators and spreadsheets forever. This isn't a thinly disguised 'glorified spreadsheet', it's a truly user-friendly menu costing system that speaks your language.
When creating a recipe or dish you can choose metric, imperial, a clove, a pinch, an onion, a fillet, a head, a bunch. We know that not everything comes neatly in grams!
Recipe within a recipe
Component dishes – no problem. We understand that loads of your menu dishes contain mini recipes within recipes.
That's why CaterCost remembers all your batched items and lets you add a fully costed dollop, drizzle or a decent-sized portion to your plate with just the click of the mouse!
CLICK HERE TO VIEW DEMO
Easily get extra accuracy by creating recipes to accurately account for shrinkage.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW DEMO
CLICK HERE TO SEE A SAMPLE RECIPE SPEC SHEET
Profit Alerts
Keep on top of price fluctuations. The only system that alerts you on the home page to dishes selling below your desired Gross Profit.
When your suppliers' prices go up, the system automatically updates all dish spec and warns you if any dishes have slipped below your target GP.
Add a photo / Add method
Leave nothing to chance whoever’s in the kitchen with an accurate photo of every dish and a written dish preparation method.
Sales Mix
Create an up-to-the-minute accurate theoretical profit report by entering actual sales against every dish sold on the menu. See profits as a cash margin and as a Gross Profit percentage for any given sales period.
Pre-load and copy function
Pre-populated to save you time. Don't you just hate the thought of starting from scratch? That's why we've pre-loaded the system with 600 basic store cupboard ingredients and 200 average conversions (fruit, veg, slices, egg sizes, etc).
Overwrite our existing store cupboard suppliers with yours or use 'copy' function to fast-track to getting fully costed.
Safe and secure
Demystify the kitchen and maintain standards. CaterCost builds a library of all your food specifications, giving you the security that your standards will stay consistent - whoever's in the kitchen!
One administrator per outlet means you're always in control. Add additional users and set permissions for extra security.
Running on the Microsoft Azure Platform, CaterCost system security is the same as online banking.
Nutritional info
Give your customers the info they want - yes really! Whatever you may think, more and more people are asking what's in the food they eat. All the big boys are doing it and now you can too.
CaterCost automatically puts nutritional info against all your recipes and dishes at the same time as calculating the cost. Now it couldn't be simpler for you to sign up the the Government's Responsibility Deal!
There is extensive nutritional info in the system or you can enter your own - whichever you prefer.
Auto-calculate batch size
With a three way functionality, CaterCost will automatically calculate your batch size and let you play around with portion sizing - dropping 5 grams per portion is a great way to boost the profits - your customers won't notice but your bank account will.
Print menu
Now you can print today's menu at the touch of a button. Download a PDF and print direct from your office PC or Mac.
Choose icons to highlight vegetarian, gluten allergy, lactose intolerance, low salt items, select low calorie thresholds or display the full calories for every dish.
CSV menu downloads available too!
Dish spec as quick as a wink
Writing a dish specification has never been a chef's favourite job. CaterCost takes the pain away. All items in your store cupboard and in your component recipes are at your finger tips, all supplier specific, fully costed and nutritionally analysed for you to add to recipes and dishes in what ever quantities you choose.
This really is a dish spec as quick as you can type - no calculators, no spreadsheets, no messing around.
One-click price change
Price fluctuations are a real nightmare and yet if they go unnoticed they can erode your margins by stealth.
CaterCost lets you make just one change to your store cupboard item price, click 'save' and the effects of that change get nested throughout every recipe, every component and every dish automatically.
If the change brings any item below your desired GP threshold it will pop up in your alerts!
'Swap', 'Copy' and 'Supplier Intelligence'
Save time re-writing dish specs for similar dishes - simply make a copy and edit the bits you want to change.
Easily see the impact on your profit when you buy the same ingredient from multiple suppliers with the swap function.
Compare prices per 100 grams with the unique 'Supplier Intelligence" wizard.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW DEMO
With four sites and over a £million + turnover on food – small details have a big impact, I was sceptical at first – nothing has really ever got me to a point where I have an accurate library of fully costed recipes that we can use to shape our menus. That was before I discovered CaterCost. This is really IT.
I’m happy, my team is happy, the boss is happy.
Matt Davies
Executive Chef at The Lewis Partnership, Stafford.
Keeping on top of price fluctuations used to take me hours of tedious calculations adjusting my menu prices, now it just takes a few minutes. Price increases are fed straight to my dishes and the system alerts me when margins have fallen.
Chris Adey
Bistro 46, Brixham
Before CaterCost I worked out our selling price by multiplying a rough cost price by four which is pretty basicI know, and I wasn't really taking into consideration the changes in ingredient costs. I needed to make a decent margin of at least 60% but wasn't really sure how often I was achieving this.
Adam Johnson
Owner, The Plough, Harborne
CaterCost has really helped us push up margin. Every time we put a new special or dish on the menu we can cost it. We can also see all our menu items in one place, which really helps us engineer the menus - it is particularly valuable at Rockfish where we are expanding with new restaurants.
My chefs use CaterCost every day and it has become part of daily business operation, we wouldn't be without it now.
Restaurateur of the Year 2012 and Chef on TV's Saturday Kitchen.
Proprietor of The Seahorse, Dartmouth - Best Seafood Restaurant Good Food Guide 2013 and Rockfish - Best UK Independent Fish & Chips Restaurant 2013
Does size matter?
Up until now, the independent caterer has always been disadvantaged when it comes to having the time and resources to do this sort of stuff. CaterCost food profit calculator is the tool you’ve been waiting for and is created by someone who knows you haven’t got a team in a big head office somewhere to do it for you.
