Controlling costs and inventory, standardizing recipes, making staff training easier, keeping a consistent quality standard across dishes. These are just a few of the benefits of using recipe cards for restaurants.
That's why it's no exaggeration to say it's an essential document for the success of the business. It serves as a guide for a range of processes and can even help boost profitability.
If you want to understand more about this topic, keep reading this article, learn how to create a recipe card and download our free template!
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What is a recipe card for restaurants?
The recipe card is a document that gathers all the data about each of the dishes served at a restaurant. It's a reference both for the kitchen team and for management.
Because of that, in some cases it is split into Operational recipe card e managerial or financial recipe card.
Operational recipe card
When they check the operational recipe card, the people responsible for preparing the dishes have a detailed guide.
This helps keep the standard of flavor, presentation and quality consistent even when someone has to miss a day or there are changes on the team.
Managerial recipe card
The managerial or financial recipe card, in turn, contains information that is essential for planning purchases, controlling inventory, calculating costs and pricing dishes properly.
It's from this document that management can gain greater visibility into and control over the profit margin.
What should the recipe card include?
Each of the dishes at your restaurant should have its own recipe card. The more detailed it is, the better. This document usually includes information such as:
- Name of the dish
- Reference photo
- List of ingredients
- Quantity of each ingredient
- Recipe yield
- Preparation instructions
- Average prep time
- Equipment used
- Nutritional information
- Supplier details
- Cost of ingredients
- Total cost of the dish
- Taxes
- Suggested selling price
This list is a reference, but when creating your recipe card it's important to include information that matches your restaurant's routines and processes. Add everything that's relevant so management and the team can carry out their activities properly.
Also, one crucial step is keeping these documents always up to date. So check regularly whether the figures match what's actually being practiced and make any necessary adjustments.
Why use recipe cards at your restaurant?
Putting together a recipe card for every menu item takes work. That's why the task often gets postponed — a classic mistake, which happens because many restaurant owners don't understand how important this documentation is to the health of the business.
And there's no shortage of advantages to using recipe cards at your restaurant. Keep reading to find out what they are!
Ensuring a consistent quality standard for dishes
When customers go to a restaurant, they're looking for a dining experience. They want to savor that filet mignon they ordered on their last visit and feel the same satisfaction. They expect the same quality, every time.
In other words: maintaining a consistent quality standard is essential to customer loyalty, and the recipe card plays a key role in that.
As we saw earlier, it contains preparation instructions for the recipes. That covers the equipment to be used, the ingredients and preparation technique, and also how the dishes are plated.
This way, it's possible to ensure that the work in the kitchen is done consistently, no matter the occasion or which chef is in charge. As a result, a quality standard is maintained over time.
That's how that filet mignon always has the same flavor and the same flawless presentation. And really… what customer wouldn't want to come back for more?
Controlling costs and profit margin
Knowing how much it costs to produce each dish is the first step toward a financially viable business. Basic as it sounds, it's very common to find restaurants that have no clarity on their costs and end up with profitability on the floor.
To keep that from happening, the recipe card is an ally.
It shows the cost of each ingredient and how much of it is needed to prepare each dish. Based on that, management gets a clearer and more accurate view of costs and can set the profit margin more appropriately.
On top of that, understanding which menu items have the highest and lowest profit margins is strategic for planning offers that actually increase profitability. After all, it makes more sense to create promotions for the dishes with the highest profit margin.
Improving inventory and purchasing management
O controle de estoque is one of the most complex activities in running a restaurant.
Tracking supplies coming in and going out, calculating minimum and maximum inventory levels, keeping enough of every needed ingredient on hand, avoiding losses and waste, buying at the right time and getting good prices from suppliers.
All of this gets much easier when management knows the exact amount of supplies needed to produce each dish on the menu. And, as you already know, that information is on the recipe card.
It helps with efficient inventory management and ingredient purchasing, because it makes it possible to forecast the amounts of supplies used based on average demand and plan intelligently.
Making it easier to price dishes
Often, restaurant pricing is done in a hurry, based on a superficial cost calculation or on the prices charged by competitors. That's the recipe for failure.
Without knowing exactly what each dish costs, the risk of losing money is high — and the consequences can be fatal. That's why having a detailed breakdown of operating, supply and ingredient expenses is so important. All of that is on the recipe card.
With that reference, it's possible to price each menu item correctly and adjust prices whenever needed, without guessing at numbers and putting the financial health of the business at risk.
Check out Step by step: How to Price a Product
Helping with staff training
Finally, another advantage of using recipe cards for restaurants is having reference material for the training of new team members.
Since it provides instructions on the processes and routines of the kitchen or bar, it's a great guide for newcomers. That saves time for management and colleagues, who don't have to spend as much effort teaching new hires, and it helps speed up learning.
It also helps ensure that all instructions are passed on in line with quality and safety standards, preventing oversights and mistakes that could harm processes and results.
Step by step for creating recipe cards for restaurants
Now that you know all the advantages of using recipe cards, it's time to roll up your sleeves and start creating your own.
Follow the step by step below and download our free recipe card spreadsheet for restaurants! This template will make creating and updating them much easier. Enjoy! Just fill out the form below to get it in your email.
1. Identify the dish or item the recipe card refers to
The identification can be just the name of the dish or include other details such as a reference code, category, and so on.
2. Create a supply registry
Create a list of all the ingredients and supplies needed to produce the dishes. Include the supplier's name, price, quantity per package and unit of measure (grams, kilos, units). This registry will be the basis for all your recipe cards.
3. List the ingredient quantities
Now list the specific amount of each ingredient used in the recipe. You might, for example, use 500g of tomatoes to make a sauce, but the package you bought contains 1 Kg.
Pay attention to that difference, because it's essential for calculating costs.
4. Calculate the cost of each ingredient
Following the example above, if the tomato package contains 1 Kg and costs R$ 10, then the cost of the 500g used in this recipe is R$ 5. Calculate the cost of every ingredient used to get maximum accuracy.
5. Calculate the cost of each dish
The cost of the dish must take into account all the ingredients and also the recipe yield.
For example: a plate of spaghetti bolognese is made up of the pasta, the tomato sauce and the ground beef. The cost of each one must be calculated in detail and added up at the end to make up the total cost of the recipe.
On top of that, the cost of the recipe must be divided by the number of portions it yields. So if the total cost of the recipe was R$ 20 and it yields two portions, then the cost of each dish is R$ 10.
6. Add the extra costs
Don't forget to also account for costs beyond the ingredients when finalizing the price of each dish. This can include taxes and operating costs as well.
7. Include the profit margin
Choose which profit margin will be applied to the cost price to arrive at the selling price. The profit percentage can vary depending on the business.
8. Determine the suggested selling price
From the cost price and the profit margin, calculate the suggested selling price for each dish. This is the price that will appear on the menu for customers.
9. Describe the preparation process
The recipe card must also contain all the preparation instructions. It should spell out the cooking techniques step by step, which sides go with it, the plating, photos and other details.
10. Validate the recipe card
Once it's ready, validate the recipe card with your team. Check that it contains all the necessary information, that the descriptions are clear and that the figures really match reality. Make adjustments if needed.
11. Update regularly
A restaurant's recipe cards should be constantly reviewed and updated. Over time suppliers change, supply prices shift, the profit margin can be adjusted and processes get refined.
So don't forget to review these documents regularly!
Get to know EPOC and make managing your restaurant easier
As we've seen throughout this article, recipe cards are essential to running a restaurant well.
Creating these documents and keeping them always up to date is the best way to ensure not only healthy profitability, but also that a range of processes run smoothly.
If you want to do this as efficiently as possible, the ideal is to rely on a restaurant system like EPOC. Além de facilitar a criação e gestão das fichas técnicas, ele automatiza processos e integra todas as áreas: da frente de caixa ao controle de estoque.
With EPOC, when a sale is made, the system automatically sends the order to production and deducts it from inventory, based on the data in the recipe cards. It also generates a series of reports that give full visibility into managing the operation and the business.
If you want to learn more about EPOC and how it can make managing your restaurant easier, talk to our specialists and schedule a demo.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a recipe card for restaurants?
What should the recipe card include?
– Dish name;
– Reference photo;
– List of ingredients;
– Ingredient quantities;
– Recipe yield;
– Preparation instructions;
– Average prep time;
– Equipment used;
– Nutritional information;
– Supplier details;
– Cost of ingredients;
– Total cost of the dish;
– Taxes;
– Suggested selling price.
Why use recipe cards at your restaurant?
– Controlling costs and profit margin;
– Improving inventory and purchasing management;
– Making it easier to price dishes;
– Helping with staff training.
How do you create a recipe card for restaurants?
2 – Create a supply registry;
3 – List the ingredient quantities;
4 – Calculate the cost of each ingredient;
5 – Calculate the cost of each dish;
6 – Add the extra costs;
7 – Include the profit margin;
8 – Determine the suggested selling price;
9 – Describe the preparation process;
10 – Validate the recipe card;
11 – Update regularly.
