# Recipes and plate costing

A recipe lists what goes into one menu item. Mays prices each ingredient from your vendor prices and shows the plate's cost, cost % and margin.

For: Admins, Managers · On: Web · [Help Center](https://www.mays.app/help) › [Inventory](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory) · Last updated October 17, 2026 · Mays Team

A recipe lists what goes into one menu item. Mays prices each ingredient from your vendor prices and shows the plate's cost, its cost % and your margin.

**Where:** **Inventory → Recipes** on the web. The line under the title sums up where costs come from. The list shows each recipe's number of **Ingredients**, its **Cost**, **Price** and **Cost %**. A cost % above 35% shows in red.

![The Recipes list for South, under the line "Ingredients are costed at your cheapest vendor price (or imported cost); cost % is cost ÷ price.": Avocado toast costs $2.13 and sells for $9.50, 22.4%; Butter croissant (inactive, greyed) $1.25 of $4.25, 29.4%; Latte $1.25 of $5.00, 25%; Oat milk latte 16 oz $1.32 of $5.75, 23%; Vanilla latte 16 oz $1.16 of $6.25, 18.6%](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__recipes-and-costing__01-recipes-list.3ada0597e1.png)

## Build a recipe

A recipe is **one serving**. Enter the amounts for one plate or one drink.

1. Click **New recipe**.
2. Enter the **Recipe name** and the **Serving price $** you charge.
3. Pick a **Menu list** if you use them (see below).
4. Under **Ingredients**, click **+ Add item…**, search for an item and pick it. Add each ingredient the same way.
5. For each ingredient, set:
   - **Qty** and **Unit**: the item's count unit, any of its alternate units, or a standard measure such as **g** or **fl oz**;
   - **Yield %**: the usable share of what you buy (see below).
6. Click **Save recipe**.

Open the recipe again to see its **Cost**, **Cost %** and **Margin**, and the cost of each line. They're worked out when the recipe is saved and each time you open it.

![Editing Avocado toast at $9.50 in the Food menu list: cost $2.13, cost % 22.4%, margin $7.37; ingredients 2 slices of Sourdough loaf at $0.40 and 1 Avocado at 70% yield costing $1.73](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__recipes-and-costing__02-recipe-form.6387865816.png)

## How the cost is worked out

For each ingredient: **amount in count units × cost per count unit ÷ yield**.

- **Cost per count unit** is the cheapest active vendor price for this location, divided by its pack size. A vendor's price for this location beats its price for all locations. If your items were imported from another system with their own cost, that cost is used instead.
- **Yield** accounts for trim and cooking loss. With a 70% yield, every usable ounce costs 1 ÷ 0.70 as much as an ounce on the invoice.

| Avocado toast | Amount | Cost |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sourdough loaf ($24.00 a case of 6 = $4.00 a loaf) | 2 slices = 0.1 loaf | $0.40 |
| Avocados ($58.00 a case of 48 = $1.21 each), 70% yield | 1 each | $1.21 ÷ 0.70 = $1.73 |
| **Plate cost** |  | **$2.13**, 22.4% of $9.50 |

Because costs are worked out from current prices, a new price shows up in every recipe that uses the item: one you enter on the item, one from a posted invoice, or one from **Sync catalog** for a vendor product mapped to the item. See [Vendor invoices](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/vendor-invoices) and [Vendor catalogs](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/vendors-and-vendor-catalogs#vendor-catalogs).

A line shows **$0.00** when the item has no vendor price, or when its unit can't be converted to the item's count unit. Add the price, or add the unit on the item. See [Inventory items](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/inventory-items).

## Draft ingredients from a recipe card

The **Draft from an SOP / prep sheet** box uses AI to read ingredients from text you paste:

1. Paste the recipe or prep sheet into the box.
2. Click **Draft ingredients**.
3. Check what was added under **Ingredients**, fix quantities and units, and click **Save recipe**.

Only ingredients that match one of your items are added. Anything it can't match is left out without a message, so compare with your card. If the AI can't answer, nothing is added and the box is cleared. Drafting doesn't use AI credits.

## Menu lists and modifiers

- **Menu lists** (**Inventory → Menu Lists**) group recipes, such as *Drinks* or *Food*, each with a **Target cost %** to compare with the list's actual cost %.
- **Modifiers** (**Inventory → Modifiers**) use the same form for add-ons and swaps, such as an extra shot. They're used for POS modifiers. See [POS mapping and automatic depletion](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/pos-mapping-and-depletion).

For both, see [Menu lists and modifiers](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/menu-lists-and-modifiers).

## Good to know

- **Recipes belong to the location you're on.** Recipes shared with all locations come from an import. Only admins can change them; managers see *view only*.
- **A recipe always opens in its own location**, even from a saved link or a page reload while another location is picked in the sidebar. Its **Menu list** box and **+ Add item…** show that location's lists and items, plus the ones shared with all locations.
- **A recipe can only use its own location's menu lists, items and sub-recipes**, or shared ones. If a save names one from another location, nothing is saved and you see a message such as *The menu list "Smoothies" belongs to another location*. Pick one from this location and save again.
- **Deleting a recipe can't be undone.** It stays in the list, dimmed, and can't be switched back on. Its POS mappings are removed too, so sales of that item stop taking its ingredients out of stock, and the sale item shows as unmapped on **Inventory → POS**, ready to map to another recipe.
- **No batch yield or sub-recipes on the web.** Sub-recipes brought in by an import show with ↳ and are costed, but you can't add one here.
- **Changing a recipe changes recent usage too.** Mays recalculates the last three days of sales every night with the current recipe.

## Related articles

- Inventory: [Inventory items](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/inventory-items) — Items are what you count, order and cost, like a carton of oat milk or a pound of espresso. Each has a count unit, other units such as a case, and vendor prices.
- Inventory: [Vendors and vendor catalogs](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/vendors-and-vendor-catalogs) — Vendors are the suppliers you buy from. Set how each one takes orders, which locations use it, and each location's delivery days, cutoff and minimum order.
- Inventory: [POS mapping and automatic depletion](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/pos-mapping-and-depletion) — Map each item you sell in Square or Union to a recipe, and every night Mays takes that recipe's ingredients out of stock for what you sold.
- Inventory: [Vendor invoices](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/vendor-invoices) — Record what vendors delivered and charged. Scan or photograph an invoice, upload its PDF, share it from your phone or email it in, and the AI drafts it; check the lines next to the document, then post it to add the stock and update your prices.
- Inventory: [Theoretical vs actual usage](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/theoretical-vs-actual-usage) — Compare what your sales say you used with what you actually used. The Theoretical page shows each ingredient's deliveries, waste, transfers and recipe use.
- Inventory: [Inventory at a glance](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/inventory-overview) — Inventory tracks what you stock, what it costs and what you use, from items and vendors to counts, orders, invoices and waste. It's part of the Pro plan.
- Inventory: [Menu lists and modifiers](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/menu-lists-and-modifiers) — Group recipes into menu lists, such as Drinks or Food, and compare each list's food cost % with a target. Modifiers cost the add-ons you sell, like an extra shot.
- Inventory: [Inventory reports](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/inventory-reports) — Three reports for a location: theoretical COGS against your sales, what your stock is worth and how many days it lasts, and actual vs theoretical usage.

## Still need help?

Send us a support request and a real person on the Mays team will get back to you.

[Contact support](https://www.mays.app/contact?topic=support) · [Call +1 (561) 286-3939](tel:+15612863939)

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/recipes-and-costing