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Food cost, leftovers and plate waste

Record what was left after each meal and what became of it, and weigh the plate waste. Every night SmartMy Feast works out the cost per plate and food cost % of each outlet and meal. It sets what was cooked against who came, with the reasons in plain words.

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Compare plans How it works

Why it matters

A mess or canteen cooks before it knows who will come. When too much is cooked, the food is thrown away; when too little, the last diners go without. Most kitchens only find out at the end of the month, from the purchase bills. SmartMy Feast compares each meal the morning after. It looks at the people the kitchen cooked for, the people who were served, the leftovers and what was thrown away. It explains the gap in plain words. Examples are plan members who did not come without opting out, or more walk-ins than the usual for that weekday. It names those who missed the meal. The outlet manager hears about any meal served outside 90 to 105 % of the forecast. They can add a note such as an exam or rain.

The problem it solves

Food is thrown away every day, and nobody knows how much it cost or which dishes it was.
The kitchen cooks for 500 and 420 come, but no one can say whether it was no-shows, fewer walk-ins or a bad forecast.
You know the month's purchase bill but not the food cost of one plate, per outlet and per meal.
Leftovers that were reused, given to staff or donated are mixed with those thrown away.

How it works

After a meal the chef opens Leftovers on the kitchen tablet, or Food Service > Kitchen > Leftovers on the web. They choose the session and add each item left, its quantity and what happens to it: Reused, Staff meal, Donated or Discarded.
They type the plate waste in kilograms, if you weigh it, and press Record. Each item is valued at its cost.
Every night the system builds the figures of each outlet, day and meal. These are plates served, revenue, food cost, margin, cost per plate and food cost %.
For each meal with a forecast, it sets the people the kitchen cooked for against the people served, and writes why they differ.
Where a meal was served to fewer than 90 % or more than 105 % of the forecast, the outlet's managers are told.
The manager opens the meal in the Manager app or under Reports > Kitchen and Meals > Prepared and Served. They see the dishes with the most left over, the names of those who did not come. They add a note.

Everything it does

Leftovers and plate waste

One record per kitchen or outlet, date and session, numbered by itself
Each item left: item, quantity, unit and what became of it (Reused, Staff meal, Donated, Discarded; Discarded to start with), with a note
Value Left and Discarded Value are worked out at each item's cost
Plate Waste (kg): what diners left on their plates, typed once per meal
Once recorded, the items cannot be changed; changes to plate waste or the note are kept in the record's history
From the chef's tablet the entry is recorded at once

Cost per plate and food cost %

Plates: plan meals and token meals served, and dishes sold at the counter
An outlet with a kitchen: the kitchen's cost per plate for that meal times its plates, plus items sold from stock at cost
The kitchen's cost per plate: the actual cost of its finished production orders for the meal, over the plates served at every outlet it supplies
An outlet without a kitchen: the cost of the items it sold
Food voided at the table after the kitchen started it is counted at cost
Margin is revenue less food cost; food cost % is food cost as a share of untaxed revenue

Prepared against served

Prepared For: the forecast of the meal (plan members eating, the usual walk-ins and the manager's adjustment)
People Served: plan meals, token meals and walk-in bills
Served Less Prepared and Consumption %, with the leftovers of the meal
Why: plan members fewer or more than expected, and those who did not come without opting out. Also walk-ins against the weekday's usual, the manager's adjustment, leftovers recorded or not
Dish by dish: forecast, cooked, sold, left, discarded and the share eaten of what was cooked, the most left first
The names of plan members who did not come, with how often each missed in the two weeks before (the first 300)
The manager's note stays with the meal when the figures are built again

Reports

Meals and Money per Day: per outlet, day and session, as a pivot, graph or list
Prepared and Served: per meal, with Why and the Manager's Note
Leftovers and Plate Waste: value left, discarded and plate waste by kitchen and month
Rebuild Statistics: build the figures again for a period and chosen outlets
Waste of the month in the Group Dashboard: stock written off, leftovers discarded and food voided after cooking

Who uses it

Kitchen Manager / ChefRecords leftovers and plate waste, and reads cost and leftovers per meal.

Outlet managerGets the alert for a meal far from the forecast, sees who did not come and notes why.

AccountsReads food cost %, margin and cost per plate per outlet and rebuilds the figures after corrections.

Food AdministratorSees every outlet of the Entity and gets the alerts of outlets with no manager named.

Where you use it

Web: Food Service > Kitchen > Leftovers. Food Service > Reports > Kitchen and Meals > Prepared and Served, Meals and Money per Day, Leftovers and Plate Waste, Rebuild Statistics
The SmartMy Feast Kitchen tablet app, chef mode: the Kitchen tab, Leftovers (needs the network; built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
The SmartMy Feast Manager app: Reports > Kitchen and Meals > Prepared and Served and Meals and Money per Day, for 7, 30 or 90 days. Built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
Not on the diner portal or the SmartMy Feast app: diners and parents do not see cost or waste figures
Not built: weighing plate waste on a connected scale; the weight is typed

What you control

Settings

Which outlets a kitchen supplies: on the outlet, Kitchen
Outlet Managers and Kitchen Managers: who gets the alerts and sees the outlet in the Manager app
The alert range of 90 to 105 % is fixed, not a setting

Notifications

Food: Meal Far from the Forecast: to the outlet's managers (if none, the kitchen's managers; if none, the Food Administrators). It goes after the night's figures are built. In the app and by email, and app push once the apps are in the stores. Sent at once. Each person can switch off a channel such as email, not the alert

Questions

Where does the cost per plate come from?

From the kitchen's finished production orders for that meal: what was really used, at cost, over the plates served at the outlets it supplies. A dish cooked without a production order brings no cost into the figure.

Do leftovers we give to staff count as waste?

No. Each item left is marked Reused, Staff meal, Donated or Discarded. Only Discarded counts as waste; the rest is shown as value left.

When are the figures ready?

They are built every night for the day before, and the day before that for late corrections. Prepared and Served in the Manager app builds the last seven days again when you open it, and Rebuild Statistics does it on the web.

Can we see who did not come to a meal?

Yes. For each meal the manager can open the plan members who neither opted out nor came. It shows how often each missed in the two weeks before. Diners and parents do not see this list.

Which plan has it?

Leftovers, plate waste, cost per plate, food cost % and Prepared and Served come with Scale, with recipes and production.

Related features

KITCHEN PRODUCTIONRecipes, forecasts and production plansWrite each dish as a recipe with its yield, preparation loss and cost. Each meal gets a forecast of how many will eat and what to cook. The kitchen's day becomes a production plan with the raw materials it needs. Any shortfall goes to the store in one click.MEAL PLANNING AND ENGAGEMENTAre you eating? Headcount before the cut-offPlan members say Eating or Not eating for each meal before its cut-off, on the portal or in the app. At the cut-off the members' count is frozen, walk-ins are added from the last four weeks, and the kitchen cooks for that number.STORES AND PURCHASEStore issues, stock counts and wastageThe kitchen asks the main store for what it needs with an indent, the store approves and issues it, and every movement is recorded. Stock counts show what is really there, and wastage is written off with a reason, with an approval when the value is large.ACCOUNTING AND REPORTSDaily sales and meals served reportsSee what each outlet, counter, cashier and item sold and how it was paid. See how many plan meals were planned, opted out, served and missed per meal. The reports open as a pivot, a chart or a list, and the meal figures are built every night.ACCOUNTING AND REPORTSFood service dashboard and outlet scorecardsOpen Food Service and see the day's sales, bills and reversed bills at once, in every plan. On Scale a nightly scorecard per Entity adds food cost %, waste, stock value, items to reorder and what you owe customers. It has charts per outlet and analyses of stock, purchase, production and discounts.PORTAL AND APPSManager app with alertsSmartMy Feast Manager puts the mess or canteen on the manager's phone. It shows today's and tomorrow's meals with the forecast, prepared against served with the reasons, and money and food cost. Also ratings, approvals and the week's menu. Its screens sit in the Menu under the same areas as the web.

See it with your own menu.

Tell us how many outlets you run and how people pay today. We will show you a day in your mess or canteen on SmartMy Feast.

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