Overview
A recipe links a menu item to the ingredients it uses . When the item sells, DishInk multiplies each recipe line by the sold quantity and deducts stock. Recipes also power the servings-left badge on the POS and the food-cost band on the menu.
Recipe fields
Creating a recipe
1
Open Menu Management
Go to Menu → Items and open the item.
2
Switch to the Recipe tab
Every menu item has one.
3
Add ingredient rows
Pick an ingredient, enter quantity per serving, confirm unit matches.
4
Save
The recipe is now active. The food-cost card recalculates and the servings-left badge appears.
The food-cost card
- Healthy — under 30% — green
- Warning — 30 to 40% — yellow
- Critical — above 40% — red
Servings-left badge
DishInk calculates the maximum servings possible given current stock:ignore_stock
Use when you don’t want a recipe to deduct — typical cases:
- Complimentary bread, butter, water
- Promo giveaways
- Items sold rarely enough that manual counting is easier
Tips
- Enter ingredients in the same unit you receive them in — easier stocktake.
- Recalculate food-cost after every price change or supplier switch.
- Use portions/servings units for prep items (e.g. “burger patty” as a piece rather than tracking mince grams).
- Test a recipe by selling one item and confirming stock drops in Adjustments.
Common mistakes
- Mismatched units. 200 in recipe but ingredient stored in kg = 200kg deducted. Always match.
- Missing ingredients. Forgot to add cheese to the burger? Cheese stock never drops.
- Selling price at K0. Food-cost card shows infinity — always set the price before publishing.
ignore_stockon high-volume items. Kills margin visibility. Only use for genuine non-tracked items.