5.2. Adding and Editing Recipes

A recipe shows which raw materials a product is made from and in what quantity. In Ritapos, when a product with a recipe is sold, its raw materials leave stock automatically. The recipe is also the basis of portion cost. In this lesson you will learn to enter recipes correctly, reflect trim loss and handle portion sizes.

What a standard recipe is

A standard recipe makes sure a product is prepared with the same ingredients, quantities and method every time. Cost control sources treat the standard recipe and standard portion as the basis of control (Dopson and Hayes, 2015; BC Cook Articulation Committee, 2015). A systematic review of cost control studies also lists the standard recipe, standard yield and standard portion among the basic standards of cost control (Çakır and Özgür Göde, 2025).

The recipe you enter in Ritapos should match the recipe the kitchen really follows. Otherwise stock and cost figures will not reflect reality.

Recipe, sub-recipe and production recipe

Under Stoklar & Reçeteler > Reçeteler (stocks and recipes, recipes) you can define three kinds of recipe:

• Reçete (recipe): linked to a product you sell. Each product has one recipe, such as Adana kebab.
• Alt reçete (sub-recipe): a mix shared by many recipes, such as tomato sauce or a salad dressing. A sub-recipe has no separate stock line.
• Üretim reçetesi (production recipe): defines an intermediate item prepared in advance and kept in stock, such as rice cooked by the kilo or packed coffee. A production recipe also has a cost, and trim loss also leaves stock in production. See 5.5. Production Module.

Click the arrow next to the green + button on the recipes page to see the three options: Yeni reçete (new recipe), Yeni alt reçete (new sub-recipe) and Yeni üretim reçetesi (new production recipe).

The recipe list has the Reçete (recipe), Reçete maliyeti (recipe cost), Ürün maliyeti (product cost), Tarih (date) and İşlemler (actions) columns. Each row has Düzenle (edit), İşlemler (actions) and Sil (delete) buttons.

Save the recipe settings first

Before adding recipes, save the recipe settings. These are the unit costs of energy and water in your business:

• 1 kWh elektrik maliyeti (cost of 1 kWh of electricity)
• 1 litre su maliyeti (cost of 1 litre of water)
• 1 m3 gaz maliyeti (cost of 1 m3 of gas)

You can find these values on your utility bills. If you will not add energy and water to recipe costs, save the values as 0. If you enter usage under Kaynaklar (resources) in a recipe, the resource cost is calculated with these unit costs when you save the recipe. When you change the settings, the part of every recipe's cost that comes from these items is recalculated.

To open the settings, click the orange gear button next to the green + on the recipes page. In the Kaynak çarpanları (resource multipliers) panel, enter the unit costs and click Kaydet (save).

Adding a new recipe

1. Click Yeni reçete.
2. In Ürün ismi (product name), choose the product.
3. In the Ham maddeler (raw materials) section, fill in Ham madde (raw material), Birim (unit), Miktar (quantity) and Fire (trim loss) for each ingredient.
4. If the product contains a sub-recipe, add it in Alt reçeteler (sub-recipes). A sub-recipe has no quantity field; it counts once per portion.
5. Optionally, enter electricity (kWh), water (l) and gas (m3) use under Kaynaklar (resources).
6. Optionally, enter Planlama maliyeti (planning cost) and Ek maliyetler (extra costs) under Diğer maliyetler (other costs).
7. Add a description if needed and save the recipe.

Choosing the unit

The unit on a recipe line comes from the raw material's unit:

• A raw material defined in kilograms is entered in grams.
• A raw material defined in litres or cl is entered in ml.
• A raw material defined in pieces is entered in pieces.
• For packed units such as cases or packs, the unit inside the pack is used, such as grams for a "25 g pack".

Raw material units are covered in 5.1.1. Raw Material Management.

The quantity and trim loss fields

Miktar is the net quantity used in the portion. Fire is the quantity lost during preparation, such as peel or trimmed fat.

Trim loss is entered as an absolute quantity in the same unit as Miktar, not as a percentage. The quantity that leaves stock on a sale is Miktar plus Fire.

Example (sample data): a portion cost for Acılı Buffalo Kanat.

• Chicken wings: quantity 400 g, trim loss 20 g. 420 g deducted. At 0.18₺/g, 420 x 0.18 = 75.60₺
• Onion: quantity 3 g, trim loss 0 g. At 0.03₺/g, 3 x 0.03 = 0.09₺
• Hot sauce: quantity 30 ml, trim loss 0 ml. At 0.25₺/ml, 30 x 0.25 = 7.50₺
• Total ingredient cost: 83.19₺

At a sale price of 290.00₺, the portion's food cost is 83.19 / 290 x 100 = 28.69%.

Ritapos calculates recipe cost the same way. For each raw material, the sale price of the smallest unit is multiplied by Miktar plus Fire. The cost of sub-recipes and the amounts in the Kaynaklar (resources) and Diğer maliyetler (other costs) sections are then added. How to run the calculation and move recipe cost to the product is covered in 5.3. Cost Calculation.

Turning a yield test into recipe values

Meat, fish and vegetables lose weight when cleaned. The purchased state is called AP (as purchased) and the ready-to-use state EP (edible portion). A yield test finds the ratio between the two (Dopson and Hayes, 2015; BC Cook Articulation Committee, 2015).

• EP = AP - Trim
• Yield % = EP / AP x 100
• AP needed = EP needed / (Yield % / 100)

Example (sample data): 2,500 g of beef tenderloin was cleaned, leaving 750 g of trim. EP is 2,500 - 750 = 1,750 g. Yield is 1,750 / 2,500 x 100 = 70%.

If a portion uses 180 g of clean tenderloin, the AP needed is 180 / 0.70 = about 257 g. The difference is about 77 g.

In Ritapos you enter this result as absolute quantities instead of a yield percentage:

• Miktar: 180 g
• Fire: 77 g

Each sale then deducts 257 g of tenderloin from stock. Repeating the yield test a few times and taking the average gives a more reliable result.

Using sub-recipes

If you use the same sauce or mix in many products, define it once as a sub-recipe. Then add it to the Alt reçeteler section of the related recipes. When you change the sub-recipe, every recipe using it uses the same definition.

A sub-recipe has no stock quantity of its own. When the main product is sold, the sub-recipe's raw materials leave stock directly. The whole sub-recipe is deducted once per product sold, so define it with a one-portion quantity.

The sub-recipe form has the title Alt reçete (sub-recipe). First enter its name in İsim (name). Each line has Ham madde, Birim, Miktar and Fire fields. The raw material list shows each item with its unit, such as Domates - Kilogram. Below the lines are the Kaynaklar, Diğer maliyetler and Açıklama (description) sections.

Example (sample data): for one portion of tomato sauce, enter Domates (tomato) 50 g, Soğan (onion) 10 g and Sızma zeytinyağı (extra virgin olive oil) 5 ml. The Fire fields can stay at 0.

If you want to prepare the sauce in batches and track it in stock with its own quantity, use a production recipe.

Using variants for portion sizes

If you have sizes such as small and large, each size needs its own recipe. To do this, define each size as a variant product. Each variant is a separate product, so it has its own recipe.

Defining variants is covered in 4.3. Defining Variants and Add-on Groups.

When stock is deducted on a sale

• Stock is deducted when the order is completed. For each product, (Miktar + Fire) x quantity sold leaves stock.
• If a closed order is reopened or cancelled, the deducted quantities are added back. See 6.10. Reopening a Closed Order.
• Selling a product without a recipe does not change stock. Define a recipe for every product you want to track.
• Stock can go negative. This usually points to a missing invoice entry.

After changing a recipe

A recipe change affects stock deduction on new sales right away. Recipe cost and product cost, on the other hand, are kept separate by design: you can try the cost of different ingredients, quantities and trim loss in the recipe, while sales and cost reports use the Maliyet (cost) field on the product card (5.3. Cost Calculation). Move the cost you decide on to the product with the Tümünü hesapla (calculate all) and Tümünü uygula (apply all) steps.

Sources

• Çakır, Ş. and Özgür Göde, M. (2025). A systematic review of studies addressing the cost control process in food and beverage businesses. Journal of Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality, 7(1), 57-75. doi.org/10.48119/toleho.1643299
• Dopson, L. R. and Hayes, D. K. (2015). Food and Beverage Cost Control. 6th edition. Wiley. Chapters 3 and 5.
• The BC Cook Articulation Committee (2015). Basic Kitchen and Food Service Management. BCcampus. Chapters: Controlling Food Costs and Yield Testing. Controlling Food Costs, Yield Testing