There are three reasons to create "Custom Units of Measure"
To ensure you get accurate costing
To Prevent errors when your team preps your recipes
You may have a special preference for how you call out ingredient measures
Ensuring Accurate Costing
If you buy a 'Tub' of Ricotta cheese for $10, you'll need to know the weight or volume of that tub when using ricotta by weight or volume in a recipe.
For example, if that tub weighs 2.85 pounds, then you'll want to customize a unit of measure called 'Tub=2.85lb'
This way, if you use 1/2 lb of Ricotta in a recipe, meez can calculate that cost.
Prevent Prep Errors
We see this often with Chipotle peppers. Your recipe calls for 1 can of chipotle peppers in adobo. You typically get 13.4oz cans and this time the vendor sends 7oz cans.
By creating the custom unit of measure 'can=13.4oz' ; you'll ensure this can be clear as day that the recipe requires 13.4oz of chipotles in adobo. That safeguard can ensure the recipe is made correctly every time!
Personal Preference of Wording
We are all used to the standard yield units for serving sizes, i.e. '1 portion' ; '1 Serving' etc. But sometimes you want to get more specific -- maybe your recipe yields '20 Biscuits' or '40 Cookies.'
In this instance, you can create a unit of measure called 'Biscuits' or 'Cookies' that is equal to 1 piece. This can be a great way to make recipes easier to follow and understand.
Creating Recipe Conversions
You will also need to create Recipe Conversions whenever you would like to use multiple units of measure of that recipe.
For example, maybe you make a Salsa Verde that yields 1 quart. And you know that a quart of the sauce weighed 1000g, and one portion weighs 1.5oz. You can customize all of this so that you can use that recipe by any unit of measure you like.