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Recipes

Recipes connect kitchen operations with inventory control. Use recipes to standardize dishes, calculate ingredient needs, reuse prep recipes, calculate cost per portion, and deduct stock when POS sales are processed.

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Creating a recipe

Go to Manage → Recipes and click Add new recipe. A recipe can contain ingredients, sub-recipes, quantities, trim percentages, and storage rules.

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Recipe structure

A recipe can contain:

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Recipe lines

Each recipe line is added one at a time using the Add line section at the bottom of the form sheet. Use the Line type toggle to choose between: A line contains either an ingredient or a sub-recipe — not both.

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Adding ingredient lines

When adding an ingredient line:

1. Select the Ingredient from your ingredient master list
2. Enter the Qty per portion — the quantity needed for one portion
3. Enter the Trim % — preparation loss percentage, optional and defaults to 0
4. Select an Issue storage — optional, defaults to the recipe’s default storage
5. Click Add line

The quantity per portion is required and must be greater than 0.

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Example ingredient lines

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Trim percentage

Trim is used when more stock is needed than the usable quantity in the recipe. Examples:

• Peeling vegetables
• Trimming meat
• Cleaning fish
• Removing stems
• Cooking or preparation loss

Mathership stores trim as a decimal internally. If you enter a whole number like 10, it is treated as 10%. Formula used for ingredient needs: Required quantity = quantity per portion / (1 - trim percentage)

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Trim entry reference

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Sub-recipes

Recipes can include other recipes. Use sub-recipes for preparations that are reused in several dishes. When adding a sub-recipe line:

1. Select Line type → Recipe
2. Select the recipe from your recipe list
3. Enter the Portions — how many portions of the sub-recipe are used
4. Click Add line

The current recipe is excluded from the picker to prevent direct cycles.

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Examples

When a recipe uses a sub-recipe, Mathership expands the sub-recipe and calculates all ingredient needs from the lower-level recipe.

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Sub-recipe portions

When adding a sub-recipe, you define how many portions of the sub-recipe are used in the parent recipe. Mathership multiplies the sub-recipe by the number of child portions needed.

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Recipe cycles

A recipe should not contain itself, directly or indirectly. Invalid example: The recipe picker excludes the current recipe when editing to prevent direct self-reference. If a cycle is detected during POS deduction, Mathership stops that expansion and creates an exception.

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Editing a recipe

You can update:

• Name
• Default issue storage
• Ingredient lines
• Sub-recipe lines
• Quantities
• Trim percentages
• Issue storage per line

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Deleting a recipe

Only delete a recipe when it is no longer needed. A recipe may not be deletable if it is used as a sub-recipe in another recipe. Open the Used in recipes section on the recipe detail page to find parent recipes that contain it.

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Recipe detail page

Opening a recipe shows a full view of the recipe with live stock and costing data.

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Header

The header shows the recipe name and an active or inactive badge. Click Edit to update the recipe.

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Meta strip

Below the header, the meta strip shows:

• Default issue storage — the fallback storage for deductions
• Aggregated allergens — allergens collected from all ingredient lines across the recipe
• Created date

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Stats

Four stat cards show live data:

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Health warnings

If any of the following are detected, a warning banner appears:

• Recipe uses inactive ingredients
• One or more ingredients are not mapped to a vendor product

Ingredients without product mappings cannot be received through orders.

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Recipe lines table

The recipe lines table shows all ingredients and sub-recipes.

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Storage scope selector

In the top right of the recipe lines section, choose a specific storage unit or All storages to see stock and portions data scoped to that location. This is useful when the same ingredient is spread across multiple storage units. Click any ingredient row to go to the ingredient detail page. Click any sub-recipe row to go to that recipe’s detail page.

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Used in recipes

If this recipe is used as a sub-recipe in other recipes, a Used in recipes section shows those parent recipes. Click any row to open the parent recipe.

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POS mappings

If this recipe is connected to POS items, a POS mappings section shows all active connections.

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Connecting recipes to POS items

Recipes can be mapped to POS items. This allows Mathership to deduct ingredients automatically when POS sales are processed. When the POS item is sold, Mathership multiplies the recipe quantities by the number of portions sold. See POS Integrations for setup details.

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POS deduction example

Recipe: If 10 burgers are sold, Mathership deducts: If trim is used, the deducted quantity is increased automatically.

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Portion multipliers

POS mappings can use a portion multiplier. This is useful when one POS item represents more or less than one recipe portion.

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Direct ingredient POS mapping

A POS item can also be mapped directly to an ingredient instead of a recipe. This is useful for simple items that do not need a full recipe.

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Storage selection for deduction

When Mathership deducts stock from a recipe sale, it tries to find the storage location in this order:

1. Issue storage on the recipe line
2. Preferred issue storage on the ingredient
3. Default issue storage on the recipe
4. Storage unit with available stock
5. First available storage unit as fallback

If no storage can be found, Mathership creates an exception.

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Inventory movements created by recipes

When POS sales are processed, Mathership creates inventory ledger entries. Recipe deductions are posted as: The value of the deduction is calculated using the weighted average cost of the ingredient.

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Weighted average cost

Mathership uses receipt entries to calculate the weighted average cost of an ingredient. This cost is used when recipe deductions, waste, transfers, or stock adjustments create inventory values. If no receipt cost exists yet, the cost may be treated as zero. This is shown as a warning on the recipe detail page when ingredients are missing cost data.

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Exceptions during POS processing

POS processing can create exceptions when something is missing or inconsistent. Negative stock does not always stop posting. It is reported as an exception so the issue can be reviewed.

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Recipe reports

Recipes can be used in inventory reporting. Inventory reports can be filtered by:

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Recipe costing

The recipe detail page shows Cost per portion, calculated from the current weighted average cost of each ingredient. If some ingredients have no receipt cost yet, the missing count is shown as a hint below the cost card. Mathership can support:

• Ingredient usage calculation
• Stock value deduction
• COGS reporting from ISSUE movements
• Recipe-related inventory analysis

The more accurate your ingredients, units, and receipt prices are, the more useful your recipe costing becomes.

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Best practices

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Good recipe names

• Pizza - Margherita
• Burger - Classic
• Sauce - Burger Sauce
• Dressing - Caesar
• Prep - Tomato Sauce Base

Avoid vague names such as Sauce, Mix, Test, or Recipe 1.

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Recommended ingredient units

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Storage rule order

1. Set issue storage on recipe lines for ingredients that always come from a specific place
2. Set preferred issue storage on ingredients used consistently from one storage
3. Set default issue storage on recipes where most ingredients come from one storage

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Common workflows

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Create a new menu recipe

1. Create missing ingredients in the ingredient master list
2. Go to Manage → Recipes and click Add new recipe
3. Enter the recipe name
4. Set a default issue storage if all ingredients come from the same place
5. Add ingredient lines with quantities and trim percentages
6. Add sub-recipes if needed
7. Click Create
8. Map the recipe to the POS item
9. Test with a small POS sale

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Create a prep recipe

1. Go to Manage → Recipes and click Add new recipe
2. Create the prep recipe with all its ingredients
3. Save it
4. Open a final recipe and add the prep recipe as a sub-recipe line

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Update a recipe

1. Open the recipe
2. Click Edit
3. Update quantities, trim, ingredients, or sub-recipes
4. Save the recipe
5. Review POS mappings if the recipe changed significantly

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Process POS sales

1. Make sure POS items are mapped to recipes
2. POS sales are synced or imported through the active integration
3. Mathership expands recipes into ingredient needs
4. Stock is deducted from the selected storage units
5. Review exceptions if any are returned

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Troubleshooting

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Summary

Recipes are the link between kitchen operations and inventory control. They help you:

• Standardize dishes
• Reuse prep recipes
• Calculate ingredient needs
• Deduct stock from POS sales
• Improve inventory accuracy
• Support food cost and COGS analysis
• Monitor producible portions from current stock

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