Standardized recipes

What every recipe needs

• Dish name, total portion yield and portion size.
• Ingredients with their unit of measure and quantity.
• Preparation method, cooking time and temperature.
• A photo of the dish and special instructions.
• Unit purchase cost, cost of each ingredient, of the recipe and of the portion.
• Selling price and the ratio between raw material cost and sales.

Advantages

• Consistency regardless of who cooks: the dish comes out the same.
• Training: new staff learn much faster.
• Continuity: returning customers look for the dish they tried; losing that consistency is one of the most common causes of failure.
• Costing: you know how much each ingredient weighs in the cost and where to adjust.
• Pricing: comparing cost and price shows each dish's profitability.
• Stock control: the system deducts recipe quantities when a dish is sold.

Adjusting the content

With a costed recipe, the chef can work "in the lab" to lower costs without losing quality:

• Ingredient prices: look for better suppliers for the most expensive ones.
• Each ingredient's share: review proportions between the main item and the side.
• Substitutions: replace an ingredient with a cheaper one within good culinary practice (for example, passion fruit instead of berry cheesecake).