Menu - Recipe Book
Updated Wed 28 Oct 2026
Running the report
Report options
Recipe revision
Every time you change your recipes, AuraPOS keeps a new recipe revision, so you can see your recipes as they were, as they are, and as they will be. Pick the revision the report must show. The report covers your whole brand menu; there is no category or store option.
You will see up to three choices:
- Draft recipe: the revision you are busy editing. It isn't used by your stores yet.
- Live recipe: the recipes your stores are using now.
- Pending recipe: approved recipes that start on a future date. You only see this while one is waiting to go live.
- Previous recipe: the recipes used before the live ones, with the dates they were used.
Older revisions are not listed.
The report at a glance
The first page also has a Selected parameters box. Next to RECIPE REVISION it shows the revision you chose, with the date and time (your brand's local time) it started, for example Live recipe: active from Mon 14 Sep 2026 at 10:00 until an unknown future date. The recipe book has no sales period: every figure comes from the recipes and your brand's model costs.
- Menu item recipes: every menu item, category by category, with its recipe, its cost for sit down and take away, and its GP.
- Manufactured item recipes: every item you make yourself, with its batch recipe, yield, cost per batch and cost per unit.
- Sub-recipes: every sub-recipe, with its ingredients and cost.
Menu item recipes
Every menu item on your live menu that has a recipe in the revision you chose, grouped by menu category in your menu order. Each item shows the stock items that go into it and what it costs your brand to make, for a sit down order and for a take away order.
| Base recipe |
Sit down recipe |
Take away recipe |
Model recipe cost sit down (excl) |
Model recipe cost take away (excl) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burgers 1 | |||||
| Classic Cheeseburger [R86.96 excl] 2 | |||||
| Stock Items 3 | |||||
| Beef patty 150g - Each: | 1.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 14.20 | 14.20 |
| Burger box - Each: | 0.000 | 0.000 | 1.000 | 0.00 | 4.50 |
| Burger bun - Each: | 1.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 3.10 | 3.10 |
| Cheddar slice - Each: | 1.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 2.40 | 2.40 |
| Serviette (SER) - Each: 4 | 0.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 0.05 | 0.10 |
| 1 x Burger Garnish sub-recipe exploded 5 | |||||
| Lettuce - Kg: | 0.020 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.90 | 0.90 |
| Onion - Kg: | 0.015 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.30 | 0.30 |
| Tomato - Kg: | 0.030 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.90 | 0.90 |
| Classic Cheeseburger cost price (excl): 6 | 21.85 | 26.40 | |||
| GP: 7 | 74.9% | 69.6% | |||
1 Menu category
Items are grouped by menu category, in the same order as your menu.
2 Menu item and selling price
The item's name and its selling price excluding VAT on your brand's default sales channel. If the item has a different price on different menus, the highest price is shown and used for the GP. Two different menu items that happen to share a name are listed separately, each with its own recipe and totals.
3 Stock Items
The stock items added straight onto the menu item's recipe, A to Z, each with its unit of measure. The three quantity columns are:
- Base recipe: used for every order.
- Sit down recipe: added only when the item is eaten in.
- Take away recipe: added only when the item is taken away or delivered.
Quantities always show three decimals; the zeros at the end are printed in light grey so the real amount stands out.
4 Sit down and take away costs
An order is either sit down or take away, never both, so each line has two costs:
- Model recipe cost sit down (excl) = (Base recipe + Sit down recipe) × the stock item's model cost.
- Model recipe cost take away (excl) = (Base recipe + Take away recipe) × the stock item's model cost.
Here the serviette costs R0.05 each: one for sit down (0.05), two for take away (0.10). The burger box is only used for take away, so its sit down cost is 0.00.
5 Sub-recipes on a menu item
When a sub-recipe is added to a menu item, the report breaks it down into its stock items under a heading such as 1 x Burger Garnish sub-recipe exploded. The number in front is how many of the sub-recipe the item uses; each quantity is already multiplied by it. The same sub-recipe is listed on its own in Sub-recipes.
6 Cost price
The total of each cost column: what the item costs your brand to make, excluding VAT, at your brand's model costs. In the example: 14.20 + 0.00 + 3.10 + 2.40 + 0.05 + 0.90 + 0.30 + 0.90 = 21.85 for sit down.
7 GP
Gross profit as a percentage of the selling price excluding VAT: (selling price − cost price) ÷ selling price. Sit down: (86.96 − 21.85) ÷ 86.96 = 74.9%. Take away: (86.96 − 26.40) ÷ 86.96 = 69.6%. The GP is blank when the item has no price or its stock items have no model cost.
Manufactured item recipes
Every item your brand makes itself (sauces, doughs, prepped mixes), A to Z, with the recipe for one batch in the revision you chose. Use it to see what a batch costs and what one unit of the finished item costs.
| Quantity | Model unit cost (excl) |
Total cost (excl) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Burger Sauce (BS01) 1 | |||
| Yield per batch: 5.000 Lt 2 | |||
| Burger Sauce Recipe 3 | |||
| Mayonnaise - Lt: | 3.000 | 38.00 | 114.00 |
| Mustard - Kg: | 0.250 | 60.00 | 15.00 |
| Paprika - Kg: | 0.050 | 180.00 | 9.00 |
| Tomato sauce - Lt: | 1.500 | 22.00 | 33.00 |
| Burger Sauce (BS01) cost price per batch (excl): 4 | 171.00 | ||
| Cost price per Lt (excl): 5 | 34.20 | ||
1 Manufactured item
The item you make, with its stock code in brackets.
2 Yield per batch
How much of the finished item one batch of this recipe makes, in the item's unit of measure.
3 Recipe name and ingredients
The name of the recipe, then every ingredient A to Z with the quantity for one batch, its model cost per unit and the line cost (quantity × model unit cost).
4 Cost price per batch
The total of the line costs: 114.00 + 15.00 + 9.00 + 33.00 = 171.00.
5 Cost price per unit
The batch cost divided by the yield: 171.00 ÷ 5.000 = 34.20 per Lt. If the item has no yield set, this line shows n/a instead.
Sub-recipes
Every sub-recipe in the revision you chose, A to Z. A sub-recipe is a named group of stock items (a garnish, a packaging set) that you can add to many menu items at once. Each one is listed whether or not a menu item uses it.
| Quantity | Model unit cost (excl) |
Total cost (excl) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Burger Garnish 1 | |||
| Lettuce - Kg | 0.020 | 45.00 | 0.90 |
| Onion - Kg | 0.015 | 20.00 | 0.30 |
| Tomato - Kg | 0.030 | 30.00 | 0.90 |
| Burger Garnish cost price (excl): 2 | 2.10 | ||
1 Sub-recipe and its stock items
The sub-recipe's name, then each stock item A to Z with its quantity, model cost per unit and line cost.
2 Cost price
What one of this sub-recipe costs: 0.90 + 0.30 + 0.90 = 2.10. A menu item that uses it once (like the Classic Cheeseburger above) carries exactly these lines and this cost.
Frequently asked questions
Why is one of my menu items missing?
The report only lists items that are on a live menu right now and that have a recipe in the revision you chose. An item with no recipe lines in that revision, an archived item, or an item in an archived category is left out. Open the item's recipe in the revision you chose and add its stock items.
Why is the GP blank for an item?
The GP needs a selling price and a cost. It is left blank when the item has no price on your brand's default sales channel, or when none of its stock items has a model cost, because a cost of zero would show a misleading 100% GP.
Why do the costs differ from my store's stock reports?
The Recipe Book uses your brand's model cost for each stock item, the same for every store. Store reports can use the cost your store actually paid, so the figures will not always match.
Which selling price does the report use?
The price excluding VAT on your brand's default sales channel. If the same item has different prices on different menus, the highest price is used. Prices on other sales channels (delivery apps, for example) are not used.
Why are the sit down and take away costs different?
Some stock items are only used for one type of order, such as a take away box or an extra serviette. The sit down cost adds the Sit down recipe quantities to the base recipe; the take away cost adds the Take away recipe quantities instead.
An item I make myself is listed under Sub-recipes, or missing from Manufactured item recipes. Why?
Its recipe isn't linked to the manufactured item in the revision you chose, so the report can't tell it is a batch recipe. The item's own settings are not the problem. Contact AuraPOS support with the item's name and the revision you ran, and we'll link it for you.
A manufactured item has fewer ingredients than I expected. Why?
The report shows exactly the ingredients saved in that revision. If the recipe was imported, an ingredient whose stock item didn't exist yet is skipped. Add the missing stock items, then add them to the recipe.
Why does Cost price per unit show n/a?
The cost per unit is the cost per batch divided by the Yield per batch. If the manufactured item has no yield set (or it is zero), there is nothing to divide by, so the report shows n/a. Set the item's yield and run the report again.
Why can I only choose three recipe revisions?
The report offers the draft, the live (or pending) and the previous revision, which covers what you are working on, what is in use, and what came just before. Older revisions are not listed.
Glossary
- Base recipe
- The stock items used every time the menu item is sold, whether sit down or take away.
- Cost price
- What it costs your brand to make a menu item or sub-recipe, excluding VAT, at model costs.
- Cost price per batch
- What one batch of a manufactured item costs to make: the total of its ingredient line costs.
- Draft recipe
- The recipe revision you are editing. It is not used by your stores until it is approved and its start date arrives.
- GP
- Gross profit percentage: the share of the selling price (excluding VAT) left after the cost price.
- Live recipe
- The recipe revision your stores are using now.
- Manufactured item
- A stock item your brand makes itself from other stock items, in batches, such as a sauce or a dough.
- Model cost
- The cost per unit your brand sets for a stock item, the same for every store.
- Pending recipe
- An approved recipe revision that starts on a future date.
- Previous recipe
- The recipe revision used before the live one.
- Recipe revision
- A saved version of all your brand's recipes, with the date it started being used.
- Sit down recipe
- Extra stock items used only when a menu item is eaten in.
- Sub-recipe
- A named group of stock items you can add to many menu items at once, such as a garnish or a packaging set.
- Sub-recipe exploded
- A sub-recipe on a menu item, broken down into its stock items so you can see each one's quantity and cost.
- Take away recipe
- Extra stock items used only when a menu item is taken away or delivered.
- Yield per batch
- How much of a manufactured item one batch of its recipe makes.