The menu price is printed, the protein price is not
A board price stays put for months while chicken, beef, and avocado move every few weeks. The gap between them is your margin, and nothing tells you it has closed.
For fast casual
Hold your food cost while prices move
PlateSense is inventory and food cost software for fast casual kitchens, where a fixed menu price meets a protein cost that changes every week. It reads your distributor invoices, costs the prep bases your whole menu is built on, and prices each bowl, burrito, and add-on from what you actually paid, so a price move shows up as a number you can act on rather than a surprise at month end.
The problem
What a fast casual kitchen is up against
A handful of prep bases carry the whole menu
One rice, one bean, one sauce can sit under a dozen menu items. Cost them wrong and every item on the board inherits the error.
There is no quiet hour to update a spreadsheet
Between deliveries and the lunch rush, costing is whatever someone can do from memory, so it gets done once a quarter and is out of date the week after.
How PlateSense fits
From the delivery door to the board price
The delivery updates the numbers, not a spreadsheet
Forward the distributor PDF or photograph the invoice at the back door. PlateSense reads every line, converts the case into the pounds and portions you work in, and holds anything it is unsure of for review.
- Reads broadline and cash-and-carry invoices without a per-supplier template
- Converts the case you buy into the portion you serve
- Nothing changes a cost until you approve it
PLATESENSEInvoices · ExampleSupplier invoice / #88214
A delivery, ready to review.
Broadline distributor · 3 ingredients
Ready for your approval| Ingredient | Received | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken thigh, boneless2 cases × 40 lb | 80 lb | $235.20 |
| Flour tortillas, 10 in4 cases × 144 ct | 576 each | $80.64 |
| Jasmine rice2 bags × 25 lb | 50 lb | $59.00 |
Price Watch · Chicken thigh, boneless$2.61 → $2.94 / lb · up 12.6%
Nothing added to stock yet$374.84
Watch the ingredients that actually set your cost
The few items that carry your menu get their own history: what you paid on each delivery, what the stock on hand is worth, and how the latest price compares with your average.
- Delivery-by-delivery price history for every ingredient
- Average stock cost alongside the latest delivery cost
- Price Watch flags the line that moved on today’s delivery
PLATESENSEInventory · ExampleProteins / Ingredient detail
Chicken thigh, boneless
On hand47 lb
Stock value$132.07
Average inventory cost$2.81 / lb
Latest delivery cost$2.94 / lb
Last four delivery prices / per lb
$2.55
$2.61
$2.72
$2.94
Earlier deliveriesLatest delivery
Last delivery: 80 lb$235.20
Every bowl and add-on priced from the invoice up
Each menu item has a Build Sheet of portions, prep bases, and packaging at current prices. PlateSense shows the food cost percentage and the contribution, so you can see which build stopped working before the quarter closes.
- Food cost and contribution for every menu item
- Prep bases carried in as one costed line
- Items whose food cost percentage moved are flagged
PLATESENSEMenu items · ExampleMenu item / Build Sheet
Chicken burrito bowl
Menu price · $12.95
$9.23Contribution per bowl
| Build Sheet | Cost per bowl |
|---|---|
| Chicken thigh, boneless6 oz portion | $1.10 |
| Black beans, pico & cheese | $1.16 |
| Guacamole2 oz | $0.94 |
| Bowl, lid & utensils | $0.31 |
| Cilantro lime rice1 portion · Prep recipe | $0.21 |
Food cost · 28.7% of selling price$3.72
Contribution is selling price less ingredient cost.
Examples use illustrative figures, not customer data.
Questions
Fast casual kitchens ask
Can PlateSense cost a build-your-own bowl or burrito?
Yes. In PlateSense each menu item has a Build Sheet listing the portions and prep recipes that make it up, so a bowl is costed from its protein portion, its rice base, its toppings, and its packaging rather than as a single guessed figure. Because a prep base is one costed line on that sheet, changing the base once updates every bowl and burrito that uses it.
What happens to my menu costs when a protein price jumps?
PlateSense compares each invoice line against what you last paid and surfaces the movement on Price Watch, then re-costs every prep recipe and menu item built on that ingredient. Items whose food cost percentage has moved are flagged, so a distributor increase becomes a short list of builds to reprice or re-portion instead of a number you find out about at month end.
How quickly can a fast casual kitchen get a real food cost?
Most kitchens get a real number from their first processed invoice on the same day. PlateSense is ordered so that the first invoice creates the inventory items, units, and suppliers behind it rather than asking you to build a full item list before you start, and no physical count is required to cost the menu.
Ready to know your real food costs?
Start your free account today. Forward your first invoice and watch your kitchen data come to life.
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