Available in: Agile | Aware | Analyzer | Multi-Outlet
Why it's important
Converting between weight and volume is essential when calculating food costs. Ingredients are often purchased by weight but used by volume. Conversion helps ensure accurate measurements, which is critical for consistency in cost control and food preparation. For instance, if you purchase flour by the pound but measure it by the cup, you need to know the weight-to-volume conversion to accurately determine how much flour you need and how much it will cost. This ensures you're not over or underestimating your ingredient costs, leading to more precise budgeting and cost management.
How to use it
Create conversions for ingredients when their unit of measure differs from how they are used versus how they are purchased.
1) From any screen click on the Hamburger menu icon in the top left
2) From the dropdown, select Ingredient List
3) Use the search box or scroll to the ingredient that you want to convert
4) Click on the ingredient name in blue to open the ingredient view mode.
5) Click Edit to open the Edit mode.
6) Conversions:
- Lets you convert weight to volume and volume to weight.
- Calculates yield % and shrinkage, which can have the effect of changing the actual cost of your item
Use the Book of Yields dropdown to locate your ingredient
1) click +Add Book of Yields Conversion
2) Type in the ingredient name. If you find a match, you may see several choices.
You may need to be creative. For example, if you type cheese, you will not see mozzarella. Type mozzarella, and you will.
If your ingredient is not listed in the Book of Yields, you can create a manual conversion.
If you find your ingredient, the first item on the list is the actual ingredient as a whole. Additional items are usually the prep.
In this example, we have cauliflower, and the prep of Cut 1" florets.
Choosing the first conversion is for cauliflower trimmed and cleaned.
3) A whole head of cauliflower weighs approximately 30 oz, but once it's trimmed and cleaned, you've lost 40% of the cauliflower!
The cost of that item will reflect this new yield. It's no longer 100% now it's a 60% yield.
The after-shrinkage price will be used in recipes. Instead of .086 per ounce, it's now .144 per ounce. In terms of pounds, your lb usage over the course of the year will really add up if you don't use the after-shrinkage price.
4) Click in the +Add Book of Yields Conversion again and type cauliflower. Now choose the second option Cauliflower, Cut 1" flors
After trimming and cleaning and accounting for the shrinkage, The Book of Yields calculates both a weight-to-volume and volume-to-weight conversion for use in recipes.
5) When you are in Ingredient View Mode you will see Conversions like this:
Create your own conversion, a manual conversion.
1) Click the +Add Manual Conversion button
2) After Shrinkage cost
In this example, we purchase butter by the 1 lb brick, use it by the 1 lb brick, and have a 5% shrinkage.
Why 5%? Think about how much butter is left on the paper, cutting board, utensils, etc. You can lose 5%.
- Enter 1 lb in the "There Are" field
- Enter lb in the "Per" field (there are 1 lb per lb)
- Then enter 95 in the "Yield" field (this is a 5% shrinkage)
reciProfity calculates the After Shrinage cost for you.
With a 95% yield, reciProfity calculates that 0.95 lbs of butter is available in a single butter brick, but the recipe calls for 1 lb. This creates an After-Shrink price of $2.692. You might wonder how the cost for 1 lb of butter increased by $0.135. Butter may not be the best example since, typically, when the recipe requires 1 lb of butter, you unwrap it and add it to the mix without worrying about any residue left on the wrapper.
However, consider this: What if you do care about the residual amount on the wrapper? If we use the 95% yield example throughout the process, you would need to open a second butter brick to make up for the 5% loss.
To determine the original cost for 1 lb of butter, which is $2.577, you can calculate the 5% shrinkage by dividing $2.577 by the 95% yield. Then, multiply the result by 5 units of shrinkage, thereby increasing the cost by $0.135/lb.
Now that you understand the logic behind After-Shrink pricing, you can apply the same principle to any ingredient. For example, cauliflower has a 40% shrink, which means that for every 1 lb of raw product, you obtain 0.6 lbs of yield. The cost increased from $0.086 per ounce to $0.144 per ounce. While the cost variance may seem minor, small differences can significantly impact your business over time. The old saying goes, "Look after your pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves."
3) Converting weight-to-volume AND a Yield %.
In this example, we purchase butter by the pound, but we want to use it in a recipe by the cup and calculate a 95% yield.
- In the "There Are" field, enter how many cups of butter there are in a pound (2 cups)
- In the "Per" field, enter "lb" (there are 2 cups per pound)
- In the "Yield%" field, enter the expected yield after any loss or shrinkage
reciProfity now calculates the After Shrinkage price per cup of $1.346.
With all the relevant information entered, reciProfity calculates the After-Shrink cost per cup is $1.346. There is now sufficient information available for reciProfity to calculate any weight or volume measurement in your recipes. You don't need to enter any other conversions.
In Ingredient View mode, you will see this: