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Budgets

Budgets let you set spending targets for different cost categories and track how your actual spending compares to the plan. This helps you keep food costs under control and spot overspending before it becomes a problem.

How budgets are organised​

A budget is set up around budget accounts — named categories of spending. For example:

  • Food cost per meal (how much ingredients cost per portion)
  • Kitchen supplies
  • Ingredient purchases

Each account has a yearly budget target that the system automatically distributes across the months.

Setting up a budget​

Go to Administration → Budgets in the main menu.

  1. Create a budget account — give it a name and choose the type of cost it tracks
  2. Set the yearly budget — enter the total amount you plan to spend in this category for the year
  3. The system divides it evenly by month; you can manually adjust individual months if your spending is seasonal

Monitoring spending​

Once orders, purchase orders, and write-offs are recorded in the system, the budget view automatically shows:

  • Planned — what you budgeted
  • Actual — what you have actually spent
  • Difference — how much over or under budget you are

You can view this month by month or for the full year.

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Budget tracking works best when purchase orders and inventory write-offs are recorded consistently. The more complete your data, the more accurate the budget comparison.