# Best software for calculating food cost?



## c0ffeemom

I am a personal chef expanding into catering.  I need a good program to help with calculating food costs.  Any suggestions?  Pros/Cons?

Thanks!


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## petemccracken

I've been using MasterCook for about 12 years as a personal chef as well as a restaurant owner and it has served me well, especially when the price is about $20

Take a look at [product="27030"]Mastercook V14 [/product] , the new owners of MasterCook who are planning to upgrade it as well.

It does recipe costing per serving, menu costing, shopping lists, recipe scaling and, if you use FireFox as your browser and RecipeFox as an add-on, you can capture internet recipes with a single click from over 300 websites, even more than one at a time.


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## adamburgerdavis

I'm curious why you need a program? It's a very simple process to figure out food cost.

Here's an example and bear with me on the prices because i'm making them up.

Grilled Strip Steak with sauteed mushrooms and onions for $27

Let's say the steak you get is $15 a pound and you buy a ten pound strip. That's 10x15= $150 strip

You have 160 oz of steak and it cost $150...so 150/160 will get you $0.94 per oz

You serve a 12 oz steak. So 12x0.94= $11.28 for your steak

The shittake mushrooms you buy are $20 a case and you get 10 pounds per case 

You have 160 oz of mushrooms and it cost $20...so 20/160 will get you $0.13 per oz

You serve 4 oz mushrooms. So 4x0.13= $0.52 for your mushrooms

The onions you buy are $9 per bag and you get 50 pounds per case 

You have 800 oz of onions but after peeling you can only use 700 oz and it cost $9...so 9/700 will get you $0.02 per oz

You serve 4 oz mushrooms. So 4x0.02= $0.08 for your onions

You use 1 oz of butter to saute the mushrooms and onions together.

Butter is $4 a pound so 4/16= $0.25 an ounce

You use 1 oz so 1x0.25= $0.25

Salt is always said to be $0.10 as is pepper so that's an extra $0.20 per dish

So you add all the totals for the cost of the food

11.28+0.52+0.08+0.25+0.20= $12.25

For the Food cost % you take what you pay for the ingredients divided by what it's sold for.

12.25/27= 45%

That may see like a high food cost but it's most likely close to a steak entree. Plus you'll be making $14.75 for every steak you sell.

So you're catering? You cater a party for 50 steaks and you spend 16 hours preparing the food.

50x14.75= $737.50

737.50/16= 46.01 an hour...not too bad!!!

I know there's a thousnad other things to consider other than simply the ingredients, ie gas, water, elecricity, waste, advertisements, accidents, the list goes on. But you were simply asking for food cost. There's the longest possible answer


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## chefedb

Agree You dont need program  make your own geared to your needs.... You know your cost and you know size of portion  in ounces, the rest is  easy.


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## petemccracken

After reading ADB and EDB responses, I realized I misread the OP and have to concur, for costing standard menu items, a simple spreadsheet or even pencil and paper is all that is necessary. A Google search will turn up several free spreadsheets, try searching _culinary spreadsheets_


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## chefbuba

I'm old fashioned.....A $2 calculator does the job for me.


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## nicole borges

I've just taken over a kitchen that has had no costing/controls set in place.... being rather overwhelmed with the task at hand I was looking for a program that wouldn't break the bank but user friendly for me to literally input the information/prices and or recipes and it would spit out my food cost for that menu item.... is this program master cook what you would recommend? I would normally do it via spreadsheets, but time is of essence as well i'm trying to lessen the load on my plate..... thanks for any help! Nicole


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## petemccracken

Nicole,

Mastercook might work, however, Mastercook does NOT interface with purchase invoices!

All pricing must be manually input by ingredient and it does not provide separation by vendor. It would be tedious to adjust ingredient costs on any periodic basis.

With new ownership, perhaps the ingredient pricing process may change.

Remember, it is only a $20 program!


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## nicole borges

Pete;

Thoughts on IPro food cost software?

http://www.FoodSoftware.com/default.asp

Thanks! Nicole


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## petemccracken

Not familiar with it, I've downloaded the demo and will get back to you in a few days.


Nicole Borges said:


> Pete;
> 
> Thoughts on IPro food cost software?
> 
> http://www.FoodSoftware.com/default.asp
> 
> Thanks! Nicole


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## skibo

Master cook is the worst program you can use. Besides all the problems, if you ever need to transfer it to a Mac, good luck. It can be done but you will get a few headaches. Closest program I found that is thus far the best one out there is Cookn for Mac. The only thing missing on it though is the food cost for each dish, spice,marinade you made. Far superior than MCook.


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## petemccracken

Mastercook 14 is in beta testing (I know, because I'm a beta tester /img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif) with release scheduled shortly. Bookmark http://www.mastercook.com/ for updates, just looked and the schedule is for release this month (June 2013)

Though only for PCs, the new owners of Mastercook are projecting a "cross platform", i.e. Mac, Linux, etc., version will follow the release of v14.


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## gphng

Hi Pete,

I have bought IPro months back, but just don't have any clue how to use it. Even I have read the help topic, I found it is very complicated. Can helps please?

Gphng


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## gphng

Hi Nicole, I have bought Ipro months back, I have read through help topic and still don't understand. Seem's to be very complicated. Any advice?

Regards

gphng


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## petemccracken

Update!

Mastercook 14 will be available starting at 6:00 am on Tuesday, June 25, 2013 for download!

I believe current users of v11 may receive a discount.

Mastercook 14 includes a one year subscription to a new Mastercook web site that provides on-line storage of your recipes, accessible with any internet capable device


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## mdkchicago

Does anyone know if MC allows for copy/paste of recipe text? I have an archive of recipes I want to add but am not finding a software that will allow copy/paste.

Thanks!

mdk


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## petemccracken

Mastercook does have an Import Assistant that allows copy/paste.

Additionally, Mastercook will directly import text files with a minor amount of editing and formatting, not Word files, text, through the use of a generic import. It does require the separation of the sections of a recipe in a specific order as well as the insertion of a recipe start identifier such as @@@@@.

Also, through the use of http://www.notetab.com and some http://recipetools.gotdns.com/, the process can be easily automated.


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## mdkchicago

Thank you! I am close to purchase time and will look more carefully at MC.
mdk


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## cooking monster

Ok so I have read quite all of the responses and though they are all sound advise I will throw my two cents in anyway!

I have used a program called Resort Executive from http://www.resortsoftware.com for many years. I started with their program called resort chef and over the yeas as my roles have changed I updated to resort restaurant then resort hotel and exec. Read about them to determine which is best for you.

Why?......

Advantages - Although, as a few have said recipe costing is easy and can be done with a simple spread sheet (true!) I chose to begin a recipe database with these programs, and through trail and error I have come up with a system that works for me and I can take with me to any job in any part of the world without re-writing recipe costings. The program allows for accurate costings...... Far, far beyond and far more accurate than a spreadsheet will ever do for you. If you take the time input yields / wastage etc it's amazing what your actual costs are! The exec and restaurant programs allow for vendors, invoice input and updates your costing each and every time as well as the ability to do menu engineering, prep lists, market lists, recipe scaling, order list per supplier (that can be printed to a fax sheet). Recipe costing has become easier as now all my base stocks and base sauces, dressing etc are separated and I just add them to a new "plated" recipe and it has served me well..... I have over 500 recipes in there now and it is easy to search, i have categorized them into multiple segments ie - salads, vegetarian, Asian, French ...etc ....and if I want to find, say a vegan French salad I just click on those tabs and the list appears!

Down side - To get it set up takes time and occasional frustration! - Getting vendors in, each item, the cost and purchase weights etc is a lot of work. .....And I wish they had a cloud based search feature for a phone app!

The hotel and Executive version allows for multiple outlets, (executive version allows multiple venues) and labor costing (though I don't tend to use that feature). I have been part of three restaurant openings and a resort hotel with multiple outlets and banqueting over the past six yeas and with a few tweaks here and there it has been a great and accurate tool. Though it is only as accurate as the information you put into it.

...... and I'm obsessed with order!

Good luck!


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## chef aj

Another option to look at is through your main-liners ordering software (assuming you have one).  Both Reinhart and US. Foods have recipe programs that do costing and scaling and they draw from current prices in their catalog, so there is no need for you to update yourself.


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## kareemauf87

Untitled.jpg




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kareemauf87


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Jul 15, 2014








Hello,

A.K.A Giggz, working as Costing and Pricing Executive for Lufthansa Airline Catering Unit.

did a good combined excel sheet that help to calculate the food cost.

For more help you can email @ [email protected]

Best Regards,

Giggz

Costing & Pricing Executive


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## johninvenice

It really depends on how intensive you need the program to be. The ideal system is tied into your POS so that inventory management is comprehensive, but this often requires expensive add-ons, especially with Halo or Aloha. Software like CostGuard, KitchenCut and MasterCook have a lot of features and are all fine products, with features that often extend into other operations. Simpler programs like CostGizmo are inexpensive but efficient calculators, with little learning curve, useful for most small restaurant and catering business. There are a lot of free spreadsheets, but they usually don't take care of the most tedious part of costing, which is conversions between weight and volume (or count). Since recipes are generally measured in volume but most goods are purchased by weight (at least in the U.S.), you want a calculator that can allow for easy conversions. Optimally, you should be able to enter the ingredients as purchased, establish a conversion once at any scale, and enter your recipes as made.

The question is really what do you want to do with the costing information. If it needs to dynamically integrate into your daily operations, then you'll need to put some money into comprehensive software that has all the whistles and bells you need. If you just need to maintain accurate Cost of Goods by recipe, a good Excel program or spreadsheet can serve your needs for under sixty bucks. It doesn't matter if the software has a thousand features, if you are only going to use a handful.


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## mike0624

For more on food cost info and resources visit www.foodcostacademy.com.


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## pastry15

Hi John,

I saw your comment about kitchen cut.  Does it calculate based on the cost of US foods?  I noticed that the cost of the program is listed in GBP


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## ruthkoontz

Pastry15,  I believe he was referencing US Foods the company, not the country.    I have purchased from US Foods in the past and they have a food costing program built into their web site.


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## pastry15

I wasn't referring to the company US foods, I was referring to the fact that Kitchen cut software was showing british pounds not us currency, and wanted to make sure the recipe food costs were based on US food cost, and not European.  Thanks for the input though


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## jfryw8

Lots of replies saying you don't need a program, probably true for a personal chef. But, if you have dozens *(or hundreds) of recipes it is great to have a program where if the cost of your ingredients change, you can just change the cost of the items in an ingredient "library" and it will recalculate the cost of all of your recipes all at once. So if I have butter, chicken and wild mushrooms in 9 recipes I only need to type in new prices for those 3 items and the costing of all 12 recipes is adjusted. It is also great for scaling recipes, as I often do. I may need the recipe for 35 one day and 245 the next time. That is not a costing issue, but that ability is built into most costing programs.


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## atruesdale

jfry28,

I've developed my own primitive spreadsheet that does what you describe for my new personal chef business, but with just 2 dozen dishes, it's already cumbersome.  That's why I'm looking for software to replace it.


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## atruesdale

I just tried Kitchen Cut. It insists on using metric units of measure, a deal-breaker for us in the States. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/frown.gif


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## chef mel

Over the years I have developed all my programs using Microsoft Excel that works from Inventory to Menu Costing linking cells from one program to another. It would be difficult to explain all the details in this reply, but if you need help and you want to be successful, I can be helpful.

Chef Mel

[email protected]


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## chefstubbs

The best program is at restaurantexcel.com it has everything you need.




  








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chefstubbs


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May 26, 2015







Master inventory list with product yields, Printable recipe cards, Recipe food costs, Printable order guides, Printable individual vendor guides, price check sheets, menu food costing, Printable Menu food costs, printable prep sheet, Conversion charts, Inventory sheets and Calculator.


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## bo bryant

I am blown away by the lack of food costing prowess I am seeing in these threads.  I would like to posit a thought for you to consider.

That 15 lb. strip... requires trim.  The yield of an average whole striploin is somewhere south of 80% (if you trim it properly and back out your vein steaks).  Now your cost for 15 lbs. of steak just got turned into 13 lbs. of usable product.  Now you go from $.94 an ounce to $1.39 or from $11.28 per 12 oz. steak to $16.64 per steak.

Assuming the rest of your pricing is all the same (even though your yields on onion and lack of yield on mushrooms is modest at best) your price per plate is now $17.69 with a food cost of 66% vs. 45%.  That 21% margin swing on profit is why people need a food cost program.  Just the training alone you get from buying a food cost program is worth its weight in gold... so silly little errors like this are not missed.

BTW, not accounting for this yield would have resulted in an under purchase of product which would have left the consumer agitated or the chef misrepresenting the portion amounts on the menu.  A food costing tool is just as useful for forecasting your purchases as it is for calculating your cost.  The only profit comes from the bottomline after calculating what you bought and what you earned.  How you buy the product is critical.  Leaving the customer short on expectation could result in not being called back.  Buying too much product means you are going to be eating well but the perfect balance means everyone is happy,because the math is right and that means money in the bank account!


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## chefboyog

Bo Bryant said:


> I am blown away...
> 
> That 15 lb. strip... requires trim. The yield of an average whole striploin is somewhere south of 80% (if you trim it properly and back out your vein steaks). Now your cost for 15 lbs. of steak just got turned into 13 lbs. of usable product.
> 
> ... so silly little errors like this are not missed.


15 x .8 (80%) = 13?

I got 12, mahbe my software broke.


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## c0ffeemom

I know its been a while but wanted to share that I found a great food cost software called QSROnline. If you are looking for similar software I would highly recommend checking it out at www.qsronline.com - you can even get a free trial to try it out!

Have a great day!


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## kareemauf87

KareemAuf87 said:


> Untitled.jpg
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __
> kareemauf87
> 
> 
> __
> Jul 15, 2014
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> , working as Costing and Pricing Executive.
> did a good combined excel sheet that help to calculate the food cost.
> 
> For more help you can email @ [email protected]
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Giggz


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## foodpump

atruesdale said:


> I just tried Kitchen Cut. It insists on using metric units of measure, a deal-breaker for us in the States. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/frown.gif


 O.k., look, you're driving down a highway and every car you see has tire chains on, is farting along at 40 mph, and has at least 20 car lengths between each car. Now, you'd figure it would be prudent to do the same, right?

In terms of food costing, inventory, and scaling out recipies, the imperial weight system is probably the worst, most frustrating and mistake prone systems to use. Why?

Base units are 16's, Sixteen oz to the lb. After 1 oz things really get weird, because then you go to fractions, and 'puter programs will use decimal fractions. Bad. We're Chefs here, decimal fractions are O.K. for machinists and rockets scientists. An oz is 28 grams, which is alot if you're dealing with spices, booze, or even tenderloin. But even that oz or fraction thereof was dirt cheap salt, a mistake in reading decimal fractions could cause a lot of mistakes in a batch of whatever the cook/baker was scaling out.

Most important is money. Money is in base units of 10's, not 16's, right?

Look, I've been cooking for 35 yrs now starting back in the day when the rest of the English speaking world used "imperial gallons" (160 fl oz) and the 'mericans used "U.S. gallons" (128 fl. oz). The biggest "A-ha" moment for me was working for a Chicago-ean in Singapore who refused to have any imperial measurements in his kitchens--4 of them to be precise. This guy had every recipie scaled out to the last gram, and had food costs that any Chef would dream of

My "program" is a simple spreadsheet that I update anytime I get a price change. First column is the weight of the item--say a 25 kg sack of flour, next column is price, then date, last column is price per kg. This is the most important one. Everything is converted into $/ kg, flour, eggs, butter, meat, booze, oil, milk, everything. Doesn't matter if the packing is in imperial or metric, it's the price per kg that I want and need.

Thus, my recipies call for 200 grams of chicken, 24 grams of butter, 10 grams oil, 30 grams wine, etc Every items is multiplied by the $/kg amount of the ingredient. This also makes it very easy doing inventory calucations


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## hpope66

John W said:


> I have used many systems over the years including
> 
> Resort Chef
> 
> Kitman
> 
> Star Chef + Fourth Hospitality
> 
> Marketboomer
> 
> CAlcmenu
> 
> plus many others over my 30 years in the industry
> 
> However the best I have seen on the market that is built by chefs for chefs and is by far the easiest system to operate, which also does everything the above systems and more is Kitchen CUT.
> 
> www.kitchencut.com
> 
> It has International consultancy advice and features and every form, tool, calculator you could wish for in the management part of the site.
> 
> The system is cloud based and is superb either for businesses or chefs to take with them and develop and fully costed portfolio of recipes and menus accessible anywhere in the World.
> 
> Many of the top chefs in the industry have endorsed this website and it is constantly developing and improving all the time. unlike other systems on the market.
> 
> The other superb thing about this system it is a fraction of the cost.


You might want to disclose that you're obviously being paid to promote this program since your face is plastered all over it's website. Just saying... I doubt your opinion here is unbiased.


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## foodpump

hpope66 said:


> You might want to disclose that you're obviously being paid to promote this program since your face is plastered all over it's website. Just saying... I doubt your opinion here is unbiased.


Hmmmmm... "cloud based" calculating software that is significantly cheaper.... Which would also mean that the Website or host would have access to the Chef's information....

Information like how much the Chef pays per unit, and more importantly the volume the Chef purchases of certain items.

Information that any broadliner sales wreck--uh, 'scuse me--, sales rep., would pay for...

Which would explain the "significantly cheaper" cost of said service.....

A-yup, a $2 calculator is a pretty good....


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## ericslomski

chefbuba said:


> I'm old fashioned.....A $2 calculator does the job for me.


I used to do this for the longest time  but I have seen some benefit in using different programs for better long-term organizing.


Skeba Nick said:


> I've tried using http://costbrain.com which seems to be another alternative to kitchencut. Kitchencut also looks interesting, I'm scheduling a demo, and also scheduled a demo for costbrain. Using just a calculator takes a ton of time. Using software even for a small fee seems worth it if it helps track spending and food margins.


CostBrain looks nice and simple, I might check that out. I think ive used the KitchenKut a while ago and didn't really like it.


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## backtobasics2

Does anyone have any experience with Recipe-Costing.com ??


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## maria51015

Great information for a new Culinary  Arts student. Thank you all


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## spillit

adamburgerdavis said:


> I'm curious why you need a program? It's a very simple process to figure out food cost.
> 
> Here's an example and bear with me on the prices because i'm making them up.
> 
> Grilled Strip Steak with sauteed mushrooms and onions for $27
> 
> Let's say the steak you get is $15 a pound and you buy a ten pound strip. That's 10x15= $150 strip
> 
> You have 160 oz of steak and it cost $150...so 150/160 will get you $0.94 per oz
> 
> You serve a 12 oz steak. So 12x0.94= $11.28 for your steak
> 
> The shittake mushrooms you buy are $20 a case and you get 10 pounds per case
> 
> You have 160 oz of mushrooms and it cost $20...so 20/160 will get you $0.13 per oz
> 
> You serve 4 oz mushrooms. So 4x0.13= $0.52 for your mushrooms
> 
> The onions you buy are $9 per bag and you get 50 pounds per case
> 
> You have 800 oz of onions but after peeling you can only use 700 oz and it cost $9...so 9/700 will get you $0.02 per oz
> 
> You serve 4 oz mushrooms. So 4x0.02= $0.08 for your onions
> 
> You use 1 oz of butter to saute the mushrooms and onions together.
> 
> Butter is $4 a pound so 4/16= $0.25 an ounce
> 
> You use 1 oz so 1x0.25= $0.25
> 
> Salt is always said to be $0.10 as is pepper so that's an extra $0.20 per dish
> 
> So you add all the totals for the cost of the food
> 
> 11.28+0.52+0.08+0.25+0.20= $12.25
> 
> For the Food cost % you take what you pay for the ingredients divided by what it's sold for.
> 
> 12.25/27= 45%
> 
> That may see like a high food cost but it's most likely close to a steak entree. Plus you'll be making $14.75 for every steak you sell.
> 
> So you're catering? You cater a party for 50 steaks and you spend 16 hours preparing the food.
> 
> 50x14.75= $737.50
> 
> 737.50/16= 46.01 an hour...not too bad!!!
> 
> I know there's a thousnad other things to consider other than simply the ingredients, ie gas, water, elecricity, waste, advertisements, accidents, the list goes on. But you were simply asking for food cost. There's the longest possible answer


Thanks for your patience! This helps!


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## STEPHEN WOODARD

The real pisser is updating prices and items. Always changing. Excel works for me but nothing will be anymore accurate than the info you put into it. Question? Do you value inventory at current prices or the price paid at the time of purchase?


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## granola girl

I now teach a series of 6 modules for people wishing to start a Cottage Food Operation under the New Economics Women's Biz Center, I recommend cookkeepbook.com for Cost of Good analysis class. It is free, Was started by two cottage food bakers who needed to figure out what their products are costing to make. Adding in the ingredients is the most tedious part. After that it is super easy to create the COG.


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