Article Contents
Introduction
The batches feature is a very powerful tool that helps when adding recipes to your Menu / POS Items to get accurate costing.
It's very flexible, and can be used in a variety of ways. We’ve included some additional examples below to show how you can use it.
Pasta Sauce Batch
In this example, we have a pasta sauce that we create on site from ingredients in our inventory. We follow the recipe to create a yield of 12L. We then jar that sauce in 750ml bottles, and use as needed over the next few days.
In the sauce, we use five ingredients:
Canned Whole Peeled Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Basil
Yellow Onions
Peeled Garlic Cloves
Now we'll walk through the process of setting this up in our venue.
Set Ingredient Yield Percentage
In this example, the yellow onions we have in our inventory are whole with skin on. To get more accurate costing, we can set the yield percentage. This is how much we have available after it has been trimmed / peeled and ready for use.
On the “Items” page of the WISK Web Portal, click your cursor over the item and click the pencil icon
Click and drag the “Yields” slider to set the yield percentage of the item
The yield percentage is now set, and displays beside the item name. In this example, with a 90% yield, from our 3lb bag of onions, we have 2.7lbs that are usable
Now when the item is used in a batch or POS Item, the cost of the ingredient is based on the yield percentage
To learn more about yield percentages, please see:
Create Batch & Set Yield Amount
On the “Batches” page, click “Create new batch”
Enter the name and set the yield (in this example, Pomodoro sauce and 12L)
Click “Save”
Add Ingredients
To add ingredients to the batched item:
Click into the “Search for ingredient field” and type the name of the item. Click the matching search result
Enter the quantity and the unit of measurement, then click “Add”
The ingredient is added. Continue adding the rest of the ingredients
When all of the ingredients are added, you’ll see the cost of each ingredient, and the total cost of the batch
Note: Since we set the yield percentage for the yellow onions, the cost of the amount used reflects this:
With 90% Yield Percentage - 0.5lb / 2.7lb *$3 = $0.56
Without Yield Percentage- 0.5lb / 3lb * $3 = $0.50
Create a Batch Containing a Batch as an Ingredient
Now that we've created the initial batch, we can create another batch for our jarred sauce using the prepared sauce as an ingredient.
Click the “Create new batch” button
Enter the name and set the yield. In this example we’ll put Pomodoro Sauce (Jar) and set the yield to 750ml. The yield is the volume of the jar holding the sauce. Click “Save”
Click into the “Search for ingredient” field and enter the name of the batch you want to add. In this example, we’ll search for “Pomodoro Sauce”. You’ll see that it has (batch) beside the name.
Enter the quantity and unit of measurement, then click “Add”
The selected batch is added as an ingredient. The cost is based on the Pomodoro Sauce batch cost. In this example, the full 12L Pomodoro Sauce batch is $51.14. 750ml of that batch comes out to $3.20
Batch Used as Inventory Item
In this example, once the sauce is jarred, it is considered part of our inventory, and could be counted during an inventory count. Click the “Used as inventory item” checkbox.
After clicking the checkbox, a window opens and shows the item’s details. You can assign a category to the item or make any other changes if needed.
After closing the window, you’ll see a “Linked inventory item” button in the batch. Clicking it opens up the item details window again.
The batch is now an inventory item and can be viewed on the “Items” page in the WISK Web Portal and mobile app, and can be counted during inventory.
Note: If you stop using a batched inventory item in your venue, instead of archiving it the usual way, go to the batch and uncheck the "Used as inventory item" box.
When viewing the item in a completed inventory count, "Batch" displays beside the title to help differentiate it from regular items.
Cake Slices
In this example, we have a blueberry cheesecake that we order from a supplier. The whole cake is considered 1 unit because that’s how it’s ordered. However, it’s sold as individual slices in our venue. The cake comes pre-cut as 14 slices.
When mapping the POS Item, you could just divide 1 by 14 and enter that amount of cheesecake in units (roughly 0.0714 units), or you can create a batch and leave the calculations to WISK.
This example takes us through how to split something that is in a “unit-based” unit of measurement (as opposed to volume or weight) into smaller individual units.
If you'd like to learn more about batches and other unit conversions, please see:
Create Batch & Set Yield Amount
On the “Batches” page, click “Create new batch”
Enter the name and set the yield. In this example we’ll put Blueberry Cheesecake 9” (Slice). The cake comes as 14 individual slices, so we’ll set the yield to 14 units. Then click “Save”
Add Ingredients
Click into the “Search for ingredient field” and type the name of the item. Click the matching search result. In this example we’re adding the “Blueberry Cheesecake”
Enter the quantity and the unit of measurement, then click “Add”. In this example we’re adding 1 unit of Blueberry Cheesecake to yield 14 individual slices. Click “Add”
The ingredient is added, and the batch is complete
Using in a POS Item
With the cheesecake slice batch created, we can now use it in a POS Item.
On the POS Items page, open the POS Item and enter the batch name in the “Search for ingredient” field. Click the matching result. In this example we look for Blueberry Cheesecake 9” (Slice), and also see that (batch) appears beside the name.
Enter the quantity (in this example, 1 unit, because we are using 1 slice) and click “Add”
The cheesecake slice batch is added, and the costing updates. In this example, the full cheesecake was $30, and the slice which is 1/14th of the cake comes out to $2.14
Spices - Weight to Volume Conversion
As mentioned in the Batches - Unit Conversions article, you may have recipes that call for ingredients in a volume measurement, but you purchase and count most of your items by weight.
To use that item in your batches and POS Items, you need to create a conversion from weight to volume. This makes sure you're using the correct amount and getting accurate costing.
Note: If your recipes are already by weight, then you don't need to create conversions.
By using batches, you set how much of an ingredient is contained in a cup, tablespoon, teaspoon etc. You can then use that batch in other batches or POS Items.
Determine the Item's Weight Per Volume
To create a conversion, you need to know the ingredient's weight per volume.
A common volume measurement is one cup, which is equal to 8 fluid oz or 236.588ml. However, the weight of the item in a cup varies depending on its density, shape and even brand.
There are a number of online resources that provide conversions for ingredients, and you may even have your own in-house conversions to reference. You can also pick a volume measurement and weigh the ingredients yourself if needed.
Lets look at different types of salt as an example in this table from Serious Eats:
As you can see, the weight per cup varies depending on the type of salt used.
A cup of Table Salt (10 ounces; 280g) is twice the weight of Diamond Crystal kosher salt (5 ounces; 140g).
Creating the Conversion
Lets say that we use Diamond Crystal kosher salt in our venue, which is 5 ounces, or 140g per cup.
By knowing this value, we can create the conversion to use in our recipes.
From the “Batches” page, click “Actions” > “Create New Batch”
Give the volume conversion a clear name to set it apart from the regular item. Then set the quantity and unit of measurement of the yield (In this case, 1 cup).
Note: The “Cup” unit of measurement is in US customary units (1 Cup = 8 fluid oz or 236.588ml). If using another measurement system (for example, metric), you can create its equivalent by entering the yield amount in either oz or ml (250ml for metric)
Click "Save"
Click into the “Search for ingredient” field to find the item you want to convert
Click the item in the search results that appear. In this example, “Kosher Salt (Diamond Crystal)”
Enter the amount in a weight measurement that is equivalent to 1 cup. In this example, we’ll say that's 5 dry ounces of kosher salt (from the table in the previous section). Then click the “Add” button
Note: Remember when setting up your conversions, please refer to your venue’s conversions standards or consult a measurement converting resource. If consulting multiple resources, you may see variation between them. There are a lot of factors that can affect the density of an item (brand, type etc). Use an average to account for any variations.
The amount of the ingredient is added to the conversion, and displays the cost of the item. In the example below, 1 cup of kosher salt is $0.73
Using in a Batch or POS Item
Now that you've created this conversion, you can use it in POS Items or other batches. Even though we created the conversion using a cup, we can now use any volume-based measurement (teaspoons, tablespoons, quarts, etc) and it calculates the correct cost.
Find the POS Item or Batch on it’s corresponding page and click the “Ingredients” column
In this example, we have another batch called “Hamburger Buns” that yields 12 buns (units). Click into the “Search for ingredient” field and type the name of the conversion.
Click the matching item in the search results (“Kosher Salt Volume")
Enter the amount in the “Quantity” field, and select the unit of measurement. In this example, we have put 1.5 in the quantity field, will select teaspoons
Note: This recipe called for a teaspoon but we could add the converted batch using any volume measurement.
Click “Add”
The converted ingredient is added to the batch. The cost reflects the amount of the ingredient used based on the conversion. You can then add the rest of your ingredients (if necessary)
