Deli management software for a counter that changes every day
A deli sells food it made this morning out of ingredients it bought last week, at a counter where half the stock has a date on it. Two things decide whether that is profitable: what each tray actually costs, and how much of it goes in the bin. Bakery Dashboard tracks both, on the same system that handles the prep list and the catering orders.
Cost prepared food properly
Salads, spreads, sandwich fillings and hot trays are recipes like any other: ingredients with a price, a yield and a portion size. Enter them once and each knows its cost per pound and its margin at the counter price. When a supplier raises the price of chicken, everything containing chicken reprices at once — which in a deli is most of the case.
- Cost per pound, per portion or per tray
- Nested recipes, so a base sauce costs into everything built on it
- Labour time and a share of overhead on top, for a true cost
- Products ranked by margin, worst first
Date codes and shelf life, before the bin
Every batch carries its own shelf life and gets flagged while it can still be sold or marked down, rather than on the morning it has to be thrown. Removals are logged with a reason, so the weekly waste figure breaks into causes you can act on. Over-prepping on quiet days is a different problem from a line that never sells.
- Shelf life per item, tracked by batch
- Printable ingredient and shelf-life labels
- Waste reported by reason, per item and per week
Prep lists built on what the counter sold
Production planning reads the last few weeks of sales per item, so the morning prep list reflects a Tuesday rather than a Saturday. Anything already made is counted first, so nothing gets prepped twice.
Catering and standing orders in the same place
One-off catering jobs and standing wholesale accounts sit on a single date timeline, filed under the customer they belong to, and feed the same prep plan as the counter. Delivery runs record what actually went out and what came back.
Ingredient and nutrition labels
For anything sold packaged, the app builds an ingredient statement in descending order of predominance by weight — the order food labelling law requires — and a Nutrition Facts panel with daily values, both calculated from the same recipe you costed. Both print.
Deli management software: common questions
- What does deli management software need to do?
- Cost prepared foods by weight rather than by the each, keep shelf life and date codes under control, turn recent sales into a prep list, and handle catering alongside the counter. Bakery Dashboard covers all four on one login, with margins falling out of the same data.
- Can it cost recipes by weight rather than per item?
- Yes. Ingredients carry pack sizes and densities, so a recipe costs correctly whether you work in pounds, ounces, litres or each, and a tray recipe can report cost per pound as well as per portion.
- Does it handle catering orders?
- Yes. Custom orders sit alongside standing wholesale accounts on one date timeline, grouped by customer, and feed the same production plan as the counter, so nothing is prepped twice or forgotten.
- Can it print ingredient and nutrition labels?
- Yes. Ingredient statements are ordered by descending predominance by weight, as labelling law requires, and a Nutrition Facts panel with daily values is calculated from the recipe. Both are printable.
Keep reading
Recipe costing software that prices every bake to the gram: ingredient cost, labour, overhead and true margin per product. Start a free trial.
Food business management software for anyone who cooks to sellFood business management software for bakeries, delis, caterers and small producers: recipe costing, stock, production, orders and live profit in one login.
Run the whole bakery from one place
Delis is one part of Bakery Dashboard. Recipes, inventory, production, deliveries, sales and live P&L come with it.