Recipe Cost & Price Tracking Software
Ycater is a recipe costing software that calculates per-portion cost automatically and compares supplier invoices against your agreed prices. The real cost of a dish depends not only on today's supplier price, but also on the exact quantity of every ingredient in the recipe. Ycater combines recipe data with stock/price data to calculate per-portion cost automatically and track how supplier prices change over time.
How is per-portion cost calculated?
The quantity of each ingredient in a recipe is multiplied by that ingredient's current unit price, summed, and divided by the number of portions. When a supplier price changes, the cost of every recipe that uses that ingredient is recalculated automatically — no manual re-computation required.
Agreed price vs. actual invoice amount
Ycater's price tracking is not an invoice-to-invoice comparison — it is an invoice-to-agreed-price comparison: you record the price agreed in your contract for each supplier/product pair, and if an incoming invoice deviates from that price, a warning is generated (see the e-invoice import module).
Why this distinction matters
Comparing two invoices against each other can miss the case where the price has already drifted away from the contract. Ycater always uses the price you agreed with your supplier as the reference point.
Reporting
Cost changes and price deviations are visible on the main dashboard and in recipe details; you can compare across periods.
Frequently asked questions
When does cost get recalculated?
The moment you update an ingredient's unit price, the per-portion cost of every recipe that uses it is recalculated automatically; you don't need to open recipes one by one to update them manually.
Who sets the agreed price?
The agreed price is a value you record yourself for each supplier/product pair; when a contract changes, updating that value carries the comparison forward on the new figure.
Is invoice-to-invoice comparison used at all?
No — Ycater's reference point is always the price you agreed with your supplier. Comparing two invoices directly could miss a case where the price had already drifted from the contract, which is why that method isn't used here.
Can I compare across time periods?
Yes, cost and price-deviation data on the main dashboard and in recipe details can be viewed by period, so you can compare a given range against another.
Want to test cost and price tracking with your own supplier list?