The platform

One costing engine behind every kitchen decision.

PlateCost connects supplier invoices, recipes and POS tickets into a single layer that tracks costs, recommends prices, predicts waste and drafts purchasing.

Recipe · Dinner mains
Pan-roasted salmon, beurre blanc
Sample data
IngredientLine cost
  • Atlantic salmon fillet$4.96
    200 g · $24.80/kg +8% this week
  • Fingerling potatoes$0.54
    150 g · $3.60/kg
  • Haricots verts$0.60
    80 g · $7.50/kg
  • White wine, dry$0.44
    40 ml · $11.00/L
  • Butter, unsalted$0.28
    30 g · $9.20/kg
  • Shallot$0.08
    20 g · $4.10/kg
  • Herbs, oil, garnish$0.26
    — · batch
Plate cost
$7.16
Menu price
$29.00
Margin
$21.84
Food cost 24.7%target 24%

Suggestion: salmon rose 8% on Monday's invoice. Repricing to $30.00 brings this dish to 23.9%, back under target.

Workflow

Everything starts with an accurate plate cost.

  1. 01
    Invoices & POS
    Supplier prices and sales
  2. 02
    Recipes
    Ingredients mapped to dishes
  3. 03
    Plate cost
    Live cost and margin per dish
  • Menu pricing
  • Prep & waste
  • Supplier orders

Real-time food cost tracking

PlateCost ingests supplier invoices, maps every ingredient to every recipe and menu item, and cross-references POS sales to calculate actual food cost percentage as it happens. Drill down from total food cost to category, recipe or a single ingredient.

Why it matters

No more end-of-month surprises: a price rise shows up on the dishes it affects the day the invoice lands, while there is still time to respond.

In practice

  • Executive chefs monitor daily food cost % by menu category and catch deviations early
  • F&B directors compare food cost across outlets within a hotel property
  • Owners track actual vs. theoretical food cost to find portioning or shrinkage issues
  • Purchasing managers see the menu-wide impact of an ingredient price change

Waste prediction & reduction

Models use historical sales, weather, local events, day-of-week trends and seasonality to predict demand at the ingredient level, then generate daily prep recommendations. Waste is tracked by category, shift and station.

Why it matters

Less over-production without 86-ing popular items, and the data managers need to coach teams and fix processes.

In practice

  • Kitchen managers work from prep sheets calibrated to predicted covers
  • Sous chefs track waste by station and shift to find training gaps
  • Multi-unit operators benchmark waste across locations
  • Sustainability teams report food waste trends for ESG programs

Automated supplier ordering

PlateCost monitors inventory levels, predicted demand and supplier pricing to draft purchase orders. It compares prices across your suppliers, factors in delivery schedules and minimum order quantities, and times orders around cutoffs.

Why it matters

Hours of weekly order building turn into a review-and-approve step, and you buy from whoever is cheapest for each line.

In practice

  • Purchasing managers replace manual order building with drafted POs
  • Chains consolidate purchasing across locations for volume pricing
  • Kitchen managers approve orders from their phone before cutoff
  • Finance tracks spend by supplier, category and location
Connections

Works with the systems in your back office.

PlateCost reads sales from your POS and prices from supplier accounts. Custom POS and ERP connections are available through the API on Enterprise.

POS

  • Toast
  • Square
  • Clover
  • Lightspeed
  • Aloha

Suppliers

  • Sysco
  • US Foods
  • Performance Food Group

Inventory & procurement

  • MarketMan
  • BlueCart

Accounting & back office

  • QuickBooks
  • Xero
  • Restaurant365
  • 7shifts

Your recipes stay yours

  • Encryption at rest and in transit

    Operational data is encrypted in storage and over the network.

  • Role-based access

    Chefs, managers and finance see what their role needs. SSO and SAML on Enterprise.

  • Data ownership & export

    Recipes, costs and supplier data remain your property and can be exported.

See your own menu costed.

Request access and we'll set up PlateCost with your POS and suppliers during onboarding.

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