Coffee and dairy will not sit still
Green coffee and milk reprice through the year, and when a cafe’s menu rests on two or three ingredients there is nowhere for that movement to hide.
For cafes and coffee shops
Know what every drink costs to pour
PlateSense is inventory and drink costing software for cafes and coffee shops, where a whole menu rests on two or three ingredients whose prices keep moving. It reads your roaster and dairy invoices, converts the bag and the case into the grams and ounces you actually pour, and gives every drink a current cost that includes its syrup, its milk, and the cup it goes in.
The problem
What a coffee shop is up against
You buy in bags and pour in grams
Coffee arrives as a five pound bag and leaves as an 18 gram dose. Milk arrives by the case and leaves 12 ounces at a time. That division is where most cafe costing quietly gives up.
A six dollar ticket has no room to absorb a bad price
On a drink priced under ten dollars, twenty cents of unnoticed milk cost is a real share of the margin, and it repeats on every cup you sell that day.
How PlateSense fits
From the roaster invoice to the cup
Roaster and dairy invoices, read and priced
Forward the invoice or photograph it at the counter. PlateSense pulls out each line with its pack size and price, matches it to what you carry, and shows you which of your few core ingredients moved.
- Reads roaster, dairy, and distributor invoices without a per-supplier template
- Keeps cups, lids, and sleeves as inventory items alongside the coffee
- Price Watch names the ingredient that moved and by how much
PLATESENSEInvoices · ExampleSupplier invoice / #2260
A delivery, ready to review.
Coffee and dairy supplier · 3 ingredients
Ready for your approval| Ingredient | Received | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Espresso blend4 bags × 5 lb | 20 lb | $295.00 |
| Whole milk6 cases × 4 gal | 24 gal | $128.40 |
| Oat milk2 cases × 12 qt | 24 qt | $70.80 |
Price Watch · Espresso blend$13.60 → $14.75 / lb · up 8.5%
Nothing added to stock yet$494.20
Cost a syrup batch once, then price it by the pump
A house syrup, a cold brew batch, or a sauce is a prep recipe with a yield you set once. PlateSense divides the batch cost into a cost per pump or per pour, and every drink that uses it picks that cost up.
- Batch cost and cost per pump for house syrups and batches
- See which drinks depend on each batch recipe
- Change the recipe once and every drink on it re-costs
PLATESENSEPrep recipes · ExamplePrep recipe / Syrups
Vanilla syrup
Batch yield · 100 pumps$0.08per pump
| Ingredient | Batch cost |
|---|---|
| Vanilla extract | $4.10 |
| Cane sugar | $3.84 |
| Filtered water | $0.06 |
Total batch cost$8.00
Used in these menu items
16 oz vanilla latteIced vanilla cold brew
A cost per cup that includes the cup
Each drink is built from its shot, its milk, its syrup, and its packaging at today’s prices. PlateSense shows the food cost percentage and what the drink actually contributes, so a price change on the board is a decision rather than a guess.
- Cost and contribution for every drink on the menu
- Packaging costed as a line, not rounded away
- Compare a 12, 16, and 20 ounce build of the same drink
PLATESENSEMenu items · ExampleMenu item / Build Sheet
16 oz vanilla latte
Menu price · $6.25
$4.76Contribution per drink
| Build Sheet | Cost per drink |
|---|---|
| Espresso blend18 g double shot | $0.59 |
| Whole milk12 oz | $0.50 |
| Cup, lid & sleeve | $0.24 |
| Vanilla syrup2 pumps · Prep recipe | $0.16 |
Food cost · 23.8% of selling price$1.49
Contribution is selling price less ingredient cost.
Examples use illustrative figures, not customer data.
Questions
Coffee shops ask
Can PlateSense cost drinks by the shot and the ounce?
Yes. PlateSense stores a purchase unit and a stock unit for every item with the conversion between them, so a five pound bag of espresso becomes the grams in a dose and a case of milk becomes the ounces in a latte. You answer the conversion once when the item is set up and PlateSense reuses it for every future delivery, which is what makes a per-drink cost possible without re-doing arithmetic each time prices change.
Does PlateSense handle house syrups and batched cold brew?
Yes. In PlateSense a syrup, sauce, or cold brew batch is a prep recipe with its own ingredients and a batch yield, so it is costed once and then priced per pump or per pour. Any drink can include that batch as a single line, and when an ingredient in the batch reprices on a supplier invoice the batch cost and every drink built on it move together.
Can I include cups, lids, and sleeves in a drink cost?
Yes. Packaging arrives on the same supplier invoices as everything else, so PlateSense tracks cups, lids, and sleeves as inventory items and they can sit on a drink’s Build Sheet like any ingredient. Leaving packaging out is a common reason a cafe’s costing looks healthier on paper than it is at the end of the month.
Ready to know your real food costs?
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