Summary
A recipe in Edify represents a menu item you make on site. Each recipe should correspond to an item on your POS or something produced by a CPU. Setting recipes up accurately lets Edify track production costs, calculate COGS, and show profitability for every menu item.
This article covers building a recipe from scratch and everything on the recipe form - setup, pricing, ingredients, packaging, allergens and instructions. To find, edit in bulk, or export recipes you already have, see Managing recipes.
Creating a recipe
Open Recipes from the left-hand menu.
Select Create recipe in the top right.
Work through the form (setup, pricing, ingredients, packaging, allergens and instructions).
Select Save.
The buttons along the top of the form - the delete (bin) icon, Recipe Book, Production, Import and Save - stay with you as you scroll, so you can save at any point.
💡 You don't have to complete everything in one sitting. Set the Status to Draft while you build, then switch it to Active when the recipe is ready to use.
Recipe setup
The left-hand panel holds the recipe's core settings.
Field | Description |
Recipe Name | What this recipe is called. This is the only required field to save. |
Status | Active (available at its assigned sites), Draft (saved but not live), or Archived (hidden but recoverable). See Managing recipes for when to use each. |
Product Class | The category the recipe falls under in your Cost of Sales - for example a cheese toastie would be Food. Select Manage to add, rename or remove classes. |
Recipe Yield | How much one batch of the recipe makes - enter a quantity and a unit (for example 1 kg of sauce, or 10 cookies). |
Assign to Sites | Which sites produce this recipe. Add each site so it appears there; Clear Sites removes them all. |
Type | Turn on Sub-Recipe if this recipe is used as an ingredient inside other recipes (for example a sauce, dough or filling). |
Inventory & Costing | Turn on Count in Stocktake if the recipe is produced by a CPU or made through the Production Planner. Turn on Exclude from COGS to leave it out of COGS reporting. |
💡 A recipe is a menu item you make and sell on site. A sub-recipe is something you make on site that becomes an ingredient in other recipes — like a batch of sauce used across several dishes.
Adding ingredients
Main ingredients are the ones always used to make the recipe.
In the Ingredients section, select + Add Ingredients.
In Ingredient, search for the item. The single search covers Master Products, supplier SKUs and sub-recipes together.
Optionally set a Custom name to override how the ingredient reads on this recipe.
Enter the Quantity and choose the Unit.
Enter a Yield loss % if the ingredient loses some volume in prep (see below). Leave it at 0 if not.
Select Add, or Add & next to keep adding without closing the window.
💡 Only Master Products, supplier SKUs and sub-recipes can be added as ingredients. If an item isn't set up as one of these, it won't appear in the search.
Ingredient yield loss
Yield loss accounts for the part of an ingredient lost in preparation - trimming, peeling, cooking off, and so on. Entering a yield loss lets Edify work out the raw quantity you actually use, not just the amount that ends up in the finished dish.
Edify calculates the raw quantity from the amount you enter:
Raw quantity = ingredient quantity ÷ (1 − yield loss %)
For example, if a recipe needs 100g of prepared avocado and you lose 20% to the skin and stone:
Input | Value |
Ingredient quantity (after prep) | 100g |
Yield loss | 20% |
Raw quantity used | 125g |
Add yield loss only where prep causes meaningful waste - coffee beans, avocados, whole vegetables, fresh meat or fish. Pre-portioned or fully usable items such as milk don't need it.
💡 Adding yield loss increases the recipe cost, because it reflects the true amount of raw ingredient needed. This is expected. Waste, transfers, production and sales all then deduct the raw quantity.
Variable ingredients
Variable ingredients are optional extras or swaps a customer can choose. They link to the modifiers on your POS, so the right stock is deducted when a modifier is sold.
In the Variable ingredients section, select + Add Variable Ingredient.
Choose the Type - Extra or Replacement.
For a replacement, use the Replaces dropdown to choose which main ingredient it swaps in for.
Fill in the ingredient details (Ingredient, optional Custom name, Quantity, Unit, and Yield loss %) the same way as a main ingredient.
Select Add, or Add & next to add another.
An Extra is added on top of the recipe - the base ingredients are still deducted in full, plus the extra. A Replacement swaps in for a base ingredient, so Edify deducts the replacement instead of the ingredient it replaces.
Packaging
Packaging lets you set which packaging products are used for each dining option.
In the Packaging section, select + Add Packaging.
Search for the Product in your catalogue.
Optionally set a Custom name.
Enter the Quantity and choose the Unit.
Choose the Dining options the packaging applies to - Dine in, Take away or Delivery.
Select Add, or Add & next.
💡 Square does not currently distinguish between dine-in and take-away. If you use Square, either apply packaging to all sales or set up separate eat-in and take-away recipes. Contact the support team if you'd like help.
Allergens and instructions
Allergens are pulled automatically from the products in your recipe. They appear in the Recipe Book so your team can answer customer questions.
Instructions & photo is where you add method notes and images. Anything added here shows in the Recipe Book, so your team knows how to make the dish. See Managing recipes for how the Recipe Book displays.
Importing details from another recipe
If a new recipe is similar to an existing one, import its details rather than building from scratch - useful for seasonal variations or menu items with small differences.
On the recipe form, select Import.
Choose the Source recipe to copy from.
Under Fields to import, tick what to bring across: Recipe yield, Ingredients, Variable ingredients, Packaging, Instructions and Allergens.
Select Import.
Complete anything that wasn't imported (such as the recipe name) and adjust ingredients as needed.
Select Save.
⚠️ Replacement variable ingredients only import if you also import the main ingredients they replace.
Pricing
The right-hand Pricing panel suggests retail prices based on the margin you want to make.
Field | Description |
Recipe type | Hot or Cold. Cold items are not taxed on take-away orders, so this affects the suggested prices. |
Desired Margin % | The gross margin you're aiming for. |
VAT % | The tax rate applied to the recipe. |
GM % and SRP ex VAT | Shown separately for Dine-in, Take-away and Delivery. Enter a target gross margin and Edify suggests the retail price (excluding VAT), or work the other way around. |
Commission % | Any commission (for example a delivery-platform fee) to factor into the pricing. |
Editing a recipe
To change a recipe later, open it from the Recipes list and select Edit. The full editing flow, including bulk changes across several recipes at once, is covered in Managing recipes.