Production processes and recipes

Also known as: production processes, production batches, recipes, cost analysis, mise en place, in-house production.

This is the ‘preparation’ part — when you turn raw ingredients into something else (burgers, a sauce, a marinade) and need that new batch to remain traceable. It relies on ingredient batches, so first enable Kitchen Traceability. The Recipes and Production options will appear in the admin menu.

Defining a recipe (optional)

A recipe is a reusable template — a cost breakdown:

1. Open Administration → Recipes → New recipe.
2. Select the ingredient being produced (e.g. Burger), the expected yield (e.g. 40 units) and an optional expiry date.
3. Add the component lines: each input ingredient and how much is used per batch.

It is not compulsory to use recipes — production also supports ad-hoc processing, where you choose inputs and outputs on a case-by-case basis.

Recording a production run

1. Open Production → Produce and select a recipe (or ad-hoc), then a scale or target quantity.
2. Confirm which container you are using for each ingredient (see below).
3. brasio uses the FEFO method to draw the required quantity of each input from your batches — starting with the one with the nearest expiry date — and generates a new output batch with its number, production date and an expiry date calculated as the earlier of (production date + shelf life) and the ingredient with the shortest shelf life (a batch cannot last longer than its most perishable ingredient).
4. Print the ‘PRODUCED’ batch label with the production date, expiry date and the input batches used.

Choosing the container: when opening it

True traceability happens in the kitchen, with the container in your hand. That’s why, during production, each ingredient in the recipe shows you which container to use:

• Pack opened — there’s already a container of that ingredient that’s been started. You’ll see when it was opened (opened 2 days ago). Use it: it’s the one on your worktop.
• No pack open — there isn’t one that’s been started yet. Tap New pack and take a photo of the label on the pack you’ve just opened. The batch code and use-by date are read, and the batch is created instantly. See Scan labels.

This means there’s no need to register the goods in advance: the batch is entered into the system the moment someone breaks the seal, which is when the information is reliable.

The order of consumption is first what’s already open, and amongst unopened items, the one with the nearest expiry date. This is what any well-run kitchen would do: finish the opened pack before opening another, whilst still adhering to FEFO.

If stock is low

If the system believes there is not enough of an ingredient, the preparation is recorded anyway and is marked as Not enough stock — batch recorded anyway.

This is deliberate: if you’ve made the burgers, you’ve made them. Refusing to save the batch because the theoretical count doesn’t add up would actually destroy the traceability record you need. The label tells you where to check the stock afterwards — it’s usually an unrecorded loss or an out-of-date count.

Batch cost

If you have specified the cost of the packs used in the production run, each batch produced shows its Batch cost and the cost per unit produced — what a burger actually costs you, including ingredients.

When the price of any of the packages used is missing, the batch is marked as Partial cost: the figure you see is accurate but incomplete, so do not treat it as the final cost. This is explained in Cost prices and margins.

Producing without deducting stock

If your kitchen tracks pack prices rather than quantities, untick Deduct from stock when producing. The batch still records which packs it came from and what it cost — priced at the pack's rate for the full recipe quantity — but nothing is deducted, so you can produce as many batches as you like without phantom stock limits. The till remembers your choice.

Reviewing a production run

Every line in Production → Production runs can be opened. Tap a run to see its full detail:

• The output batch: batch number, quantity produced, use-by date and how much remains.
• The ingredients consumed, each with its batch number, the quantity drawn and its share of the cost.
• The total batch cost, with the Partial cost note when any of the packs was never priced.
• Who made it, and any notes.

Recording the pH of a batch

For acidified products sold to the public (sauces, preserves), you can record the batch's pH at end of cooking. The batch has to cool before you can measure it, so it's added afterwards: open the run from the history, tap Add pH and enter the reading — it's stamped with who recorded it and when, and can be corrected later. You can also attach a proof photo of the pH meter reading; it's stored with the batch as evidence for an inspection.

Deleting a run entered by accident

Open the run from Production → Production runs and tap Delete run (managers only). Stock deductions are reversed and the output batch is retired; the run stays in the history marked Voided — a traceability record is never erased. A run whose output batch has already been used in another run or drawn from can no longer be deleted.

Genealogy and withdrawal

Each batch records exactly what it contains. From any batch, you can see:

• Made from — the production process and each incoming batch (with supplier).
• Used in — every batch that this batch was used in, recursively (a sauce that went into a dish that went into…).

So, if a supplier reports a faulty batch of meat, the Recall view shows every batch of burgers that used it and when they were in service — the ‘one step ahead’ approach required for an inspection or a recall.