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Getting Started
Quick Start Guide: Your First 5 Minutes
Complete your first workflow - creating an input, product, and costing in 5 minutes
5 min read
Complete your first workflow - creating an input, product, and costing in 5 minutes
Welcome to MenuM8! This guide will take you through creating your first ingredient, recipe, and menu costing in just 5 minutes. By the end, you'll understand how MenuM8 helps you cost your menu accurately and profitably.
New to MenuM8? This guide assumes you've already created an account and logged in. If not, head to the sign-up page first!
MenuM8 follows a simple three-step workflow. Let's walk through it together with a practical example: costing a simple pasta dish.
Let's start by adding a basic ingredient: pasta.
Click Inputs in the main navigation menu
Click the New Input button (+ icon)
Fill in the following details:
Example: Dried Pasta
Dried Pastakg from the dropdown3.50 (price per kilogram)1 (the quantity this price is for)Click Save
You did it! You've created your first ingredient. MenuM8 now knows that 1 kg of dried pasta costs £3.50 (or your chosen currency).
If you want to make this example more realistic, add a couple more ingredients:
Now let's create a recipe using the ingredients you just added.
Click Products in the main navigation
Click the New Product button (+ icon)
Fill in the recipe details:
Example: Pasta Pomodoro
Pasta Pomodoro4 (number of servings)portionsNow add your ingredients by clicking Add Component:
First Component: Dried Pasta
Dried Pasta0.4 (400 grams = 0.4 kg)Click Add Component again for the next ingredient:
Second Component: Tomato Sauce
Tomato Sauce0.5 (500 grams = 0.5 kg or full jar)Add more components if you created additional ingredients
Click Save
Automatic Costing! MenuM8 has automatically calculated the cost of your recipe based on the ingredient quantities and prices. You'll see the total cost and cost per portion.
After saving, you'll see:
For our example:
Now let's create a menu costing to see how you'd price this dish for your customers.
Click Costings in the main navigation
Click the New Costing button (+ icon)
Fill in the costing details:
Example: Lunch Menu
Lunch Menu200% (this means selling price = cost × 3, giving you a 66% gross profit margin)Click Add Item to add your recipe to the costing:
First Item: Pasta Pomodoro
Pasta Pomodoro1 (one serving)Click Save
Pricing Complete! MenuM8 shows you the cost, markup, and suggested selling price for your dish. With a 200% markup, your £0.60 per portion becomes £1.80 selling price.
After saving, you'll see a summary:
Want to change the selling price? Simply:
Markup vs. Margin: A 200% markup means you multiply the cost by 3 (cost + 200% of cost). This gives you a 66.7% profit margin. MenuM8 handles these calculations automatically.
In just 5 minutes, you've:
You now understand the core MenuM8 workflow: Inputs → Products → Costings
Now that you've completed the basics, here are some features to explore:
Want to see a fully populated system with realistic data?
Yes! When you update an ingredient price, MenuM8 automatically recalculates all recipes and costings that use that ingredient. This helps you keep your menu prices up to date as supplier costs change.
Edit the recipe and click Add Component to add more ingredients. You can also remove components or change quantities at any time.
You can "lock" the price of an item in a costing. This is useful when you have set menu prices or promotional pricing. Just edit the costing item and enable Locked Price.
Yes! MenuM8 supports component recipes (also called sub-recipes). Create a product (like "Pizza Dough"), then use it as a component in another product (like "Margherita Pizza"). MenuM8 automatically calculates the nested costs.
Need more guidance? Check out these detailed articles:
You're Ready! You now know the basics of MenuM8. Start adding your real ingredients and recipes, or load demo data to explore more features. Happy costing!