Food business management software for anyone who cooks to sell
Bakeries, delis, caterers, commissary kitchens and small producers run on the same four numbers: what an ingredient costs, what a recipe costs, how much you made, and how much you threw away. The name on this product says bakery because that is where it was built, but nothing inside it assumes bread.
The same problem in different aprons
A caterer costing a menu, a deli costing a tray and a producer costing a batch are doing identical arithmetic on different units. Ingredients are handled by weight, volume or count with the conversions built in, so the unit you buy in and the unit you sell in never have to match.
- Recipes costed to the gram, ounce, litre or each
- Nested recipes, so a base costs into everything built on it
- Labour and overhead added for a fully loaded cost
- Margin per product, with the worst offenders surfaced
Make the right amount
Production plans come off what actually sold, per item and per outlet, with existing stock counted first. That matters more in food than almost anywhere else, because the cost of over-producing is not storage. It is the bin.
Stop losing money to dates
Shelf life is tracked per batch and flagged while stock can still be moved. Every removal carries a reason, so waste becomes a report broken down by cause rather than a number that makes everyone feel bad once a month.
Sell through more than one channel
Counter sales, wholesale accounts, standing orders and one-off catering jobs are tracked as separate channels on the same items, so you can see which is actually carrying the business. Deliveries record what went out and what came back, and returns are counted as returns.
Know the profit while you can still act on it
Ingredient costs, labour, overhead, sales and waste all land in one place, so profit and loss is available for the week you are standing in. It connects to QuickBooks for comparison, and installs on a phone so it gets used where the work happens.
Food business management software: common questions
- Is this only for bakeries?
- No. It was built in a bakery and the name reflects that, but nothing in the product assumes bread. Delis, caterers, commissary kitchens and small manufacturers use the same recipe costing, stock tracking, production planning and margin reporting.
- What size of business is it for?
- Anything past the point where a spreadsheet stops holding — usually more than one place to deliver to, or enough products that nobody can keep the costs in their head. There is no minimum number of outlets or items, and a single-site operation just uses fewer of the modules.
- Does it replace a POS?
- No. It sits behind the till rather than at it. A Square connection can import sold units so sales are not typed twice, but taking payment stays with your point-of-sale system.
- Can staff use it without seeing the finances?
- Yes. Delivery and floor logins are separate accounts that work on their employer’s data and only reach the screens they need, and the recipe station is a read-only checkbox view available in English and Spanish.
Keep reading
Deli management software for prepared foods: recipe costing by weight, shelf life and date codes, prep lists, catering orders and live margins.
Food manufacturing software for producers who are not an enterpriseFood manufacturing software for small producers: batch costing, production planning, wholesale accounts, nutrition and ingredient labels, real COGS.
Run the whole bakery from one place
Food businesses is one part of Bakery Dashboard. Recipes, inventory, production, deliveries, sales and live P&L come with it.