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Build your menu. Check the price per guest.

Choose your dishes and portions, then add the event date, guest count and selling price. Check the food cost before confirming the quote and the kitchen plan together.

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15 days free, then $49/month per kitchen. Card required; $0 today. Cancel before day 16 in Settings → Billing, no call required. What to prepare · Plan and team limits

Illustrative menu-to-quote record
Menu180 guests
Summer wedding dinner
DishPer guest
  • Herb roast chicken1 portion
  • Lemon herb potatoes180 g
  • Seasonal green salad120 g
  • Lemon tart1 slice
Default price
$68.00 / guest
Equipment
3 chafers
Quote pathSame menu
  1. DraftMenu + 180 guests
  2. Review the number$26.93 food / guest
  3. Confirm$68.00 / guest quoted
Price for a 30% food-cost target$89.78 / guest39.6% food cost at the quoted price

Sample quote from the product tour. The dishes shown are examples, not its cost breakdown. Food cost excludes labor, rentals, tax and profit.

Three files. One customer waiting.

The dishes are in a menu document. The revised count is in an email. The number you plan to send is in a spreadsheet. The copying only looks harmless while all three agree.

Menu documentWhat they chose
Guest-count emailWhat changed
Quote sheetWhat you say
One event record should carry what the customer chose and what the kitchen has to run.

Know what the quote is carrying before you confirm it.

A new event starts with a menu, date, guest count, and price. See the food cost while the job is still a draft, then freeze the plan, math, and money together.

  1. 1Menu

    Choose what each guest receives.

  2. 2Date

    Put the job on the calendar.

  3. 3Guests

    Set the count the kitchen must serve.

  4. 4Price

    Test the number against food cost.

  5. 5Confirm

    Freeze plan, math, and money.

Review happens before confirmation, while the number can still be changed deliberately.

Cost before commitment.

For this 180-guest tour event, $68 per guest puts food cost at 39.6%. The same panel names $89.78 as the price that would meet the 30% target.

  • The order price can override the menu default.
  • Guest-count changes update the draft estimate.
  • Confirmation freezes the agreed plan and money.
CostCook pricing panel showing $12,240 revenue, $4,847.96 theoretical food cost, $26.93 food cost per guest, 39.6% food cost, and guidance to charge at least $89.78 per guest to meet a 30% target.
Real CostCook product-tour frame at 0:29.
Confirmed CostCook event showing 180 guests at $68 per guest, quoted food cost of $26.93 per guest, current food cost of $27.13, and Shop, Prep, and Pack tabs below.

Compare without rewriting.

The confirmed quote stays frozen while today's cost remains visible beside it. The original number does not disappear just because a supplier price moved later.

The quote should know what the kitchen has to pack.

Confirmation is not the end of the record. The same frozen event becomes the source for Shop, Prep, and Pack, so the kitchen runs the job that was priced.

  1. Build menu
  2. Set guests
  3. Review cost
  4. Set price
  5. Confirm
  • Shop
  • Prep
  • Pack
One confirmed event feeds three working views without rebuilding the menu or guest count.

The complete Menus & Quotes list.

Only the shipped capabilities directly involved in building, pricing, and confirming the job.

13relevant capabilities

Menu managementWhat each guest gets, priced.5
  • Menu workspace. Dishes, portions per guest, and price, saved in one piece.
  • Self-pricing. Cost per guest against selling price, plus the price that would hit your target.
  • Equipment templates. Each menu carries its equipment counts. Chafers times three stays times three regardless of guests.
  • Used-by guards. A menu that orders still use will not delete out from under them.
  • Overridable pricing. The menu’s per-guest price is the default an order can override.
Quote and confirmationPrice the draft, then protect the commitment.8
  • Costed before commitment. A new order is a menu, a date, guests, and a price, estimated live as you set it up.
  • Pinned money bar. The numbers stay on screen while you work, and guest-count changes autosave quietly.
  • Confirm freezes everything. Confirmation saves the plan, calculations and quoted price together. Later price changes do not rewrite that quote.
  • Honest reopen. Reopening keeps the frozen prices and says so. Once purchasing starts, reopening is refused.
  • Clean duplication. Copy an event into one draft. A double-tap cannot make two.
  • Quoted vs today. Confirmed orders compare the frozen quote with current prices, and say when they cannot.
  • Aged plans flagged. An old frozen plan is marked old. It is never silently recomputed.
  • Frozen prep notes. Draft orders use the current prep notes. Confirmed orders keep the notes saved when you confirmed.

Frequently asked questions

The practical questions to settle before the number leaves your kitchen.

What is menu management software?

Menu management software keeps dishes, portions per guest, the default selling price, and reusable equipment counts together. In CostCook, the menu can then become the starting point for a costed event.

How does CostCook calculate a catering quote?

A draft combines a menu, date, guest count, and price. CostCook computes the food cost per guest and food-cost percentage, then shows the price that would meet the configured target before you confirm.

Can an event use a different price from the menu default?

Yes. The menu carries the default per-guest price, and an individual order can override it without changing the reusable menu.

What happens when I confirm a quote?

Confirming saves the event plan, calculations and quoted price together. Later ingredient prices do not rewrite the quote you gave.

Will later ingredient prices change the quote I already gave?

No. A confirmed event keeps its frozen prices. CostCook can compare the original quote with current prices later without silently rewriting the commitment.

Can I reopen a confirmed event?

You can reopen while preserving the frozen prices, and the screen says that clearly. Once purchasing has started, reopening is refused so completed work is not invalidated.

Ready for the customer. Ready for the kitchen.

Bring one real menu, set the guest count, and follow the number into the plan the kitchen will run.

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