How it all connects: from ingredients to a sold-out dish

FoodyAdminLast updated: Sun May 24

The big picture

Six pieces work together. Once you understand the chain, everything else clicks:

  • Stock — the raw ingredients you buy (tomatoes, tuna, oil, buns).
  • Preparations — things you make from stock in batches (a sauce, a dough, a marinade).
  • Recipe — what one dish uses: its ingredients and preparations, with quantities.
  • Item (article) — a dish on your menu, shown to customers inside a menu group.
  • Availability — computed from the recipe + current stock: low stock or sold-out, automatically.
  • Food cost — also computed from the recipe.

The flow:

Stock  ┐
       ├─→  Recipe  ─→  Item  ─→  shown to customers
Preps  ┘                 │
                         ├─→  Availability  (low / sold-out, automatic)
                         └─→  Food cost      (margin per dish)

An order is placed  ─→  the recipe is deducted from Stock  ─→  Availability updates

So a dish isn't an island: it points at a recipe, the recipe points at stock and preparations, and that single link makes availability and food cost work on their own.

Set it up in this order

1. Add your ingredients to Stock

Enter the raw ingredients you buy, with their unit and current quantity. → Stock management

2. (Optional) Build your Preparations

If you make sauces, doughs or bases in batches, define them once and reuse them across dishes. Producing a batch credits stock; dishes that use it recover automatically. → Preparations

3. Create your items

Add each dish to your catalogue (name, price, photo, category). → Creating a menu item

4. Give each item a recipe

On the item's Recipe tab, link the ingredients and preparations one portion uses, with quantities. This is the link that powers everything downstream. A dish with no recipe is always available and has no computed cost. → Ingredients & portions

5. Put items in a menu group

Items only appear to customers once they're in a menu group. → Categories & items

6. Availability now works on its own

With recipes in place, dishes go low stock and sold out automatically as stock runs down, and come back when you restock. Tune it with rules, or override a single dish. → Availability

What you get once the chain is connected

  • Automatic sold-out — no more manually switching dishes off when an ingredient runs out.
  • Accurate food cost — margin per dish, rolled up from the recipe.
  • Self-updating stock — every order deducts its recipe, so your numbers stay honest.
  • One place to change things — update a preparation's recipe once and every dish follows.

Where to go next