What is MenuM8?#

MenuM8 is a comprehensive menu costing and recipe management platform designed specifically for food service businesses. Whether you're running a restaurant, catering company, café, or food truck, MenuM8 helps you understand your true costs, set profitable prices, and manage your recipes efficiently.

Who is MenuM8 For?#

MenuM8 is built for food professionals who need to:

• Track ingredient costs accurately across multiple suppliers
• Calculate recipe costs with precision
• Set profitable menu prices based on real data
• Manage allergen information for regulatory compliance
• Scale recipes for different serving sizes
• Plan menus for events and catering jobs
• Track cost changes over time

Perfect For#

• Restaurant owners and managers
• Chefs and head cooks
• Catering companies
• Food trucks and pop-ups
• Cafés and bakeries
• Food service consultants
• Culinary schools and students

Key Features#

1. Ingredient Management (Inputs)#

Track all your ingredients with detailed pricing information:

• Price per unit of measure
• Multiple supplier support
• Allergen tracking
• Image attachments
• Custom tags for organization

2. Recipe Management (Products)#

Build detailed recipes from your ingredients:

• Component-based recipes (use products as ingredients)
• Automatic cost calculation
• Allergen inheritance from ingredients
• Output quantity and yield tracking
• Multi-language recipe descriptions
• Recipe variations and versioning

3. Menu Costing#

Create detailed cost analyses for your menus:

• Add multiple products to a costing
• Set markup percentages (global or per-item)
• Lock selling prices when needed
• Track labour time and costs
• Custom fields for flexibility
• Shopping list generation
• Job sheet creation
• Menu printing with allergen information

4. Multi-Tenant Support#

Perfect for businesses with multiple locations or brands:

• Separate accounts for each location
• User management with roles
• Data isolation for security
• Account-level settings (currency, language, time units)

5. Internationalization#

Built for global food businesses:

• Support for 6 languages (English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Thai)
• Multi-currency pricing (GBP, USD, EUR, THB)
• Localized product and allergen descriptions
• Auto-translation features

How MenuM8 Saves You Time and Money#

Accurate Costing#

No more guessing or using outdated spreadsheets. MenuM8 automatically calculates recipe costs based on current ingredient prices, ensuring your menu prices are always profitable.

Allergen Management#

Stop manually tracking allergens in spreadsheets. MenuM8 automatically inherits allergen information from ingredients to products, making compliance easy and reducing risk.

Supplier Management#

Track prices from multiple suppliers and see which offers the best value. Update prices once and see the impact across all your recipes instantly.

Recipe Scaling#

Need to scale a recipe for a large catering job? MenuM8 automatically adjusts quantities and costs, then generates a shopping list so you know exactly what to order.

Professional Reports#

Generate professional shopping lists, job sheets, and menus with allergen information for your customers and staff.

How MenuM8 Works#

MenuM8 follows a simple three-step workflow:

Step 1: Add Ingredients (Inputs)#

Start by adding your ingredients with their prices and units of measure. Link them to suppliers and assign allergens.

Step 2: Build Recipes (Products)#

Create recipes by combining ingredients. MenuM8 automatically calculates the cost based on the quantities you specify.

Step 3: Create Costings (Menus)#

Build your menu by adding products to a costing. Set your markup to achieve your target profit margins, and generate reports for your team.

MenuM8 vs. Spreadsheets#

Many food businesses start with spreadsheets, but they quickly become:

• Time-consuming to maintain and update
• Error-prone with manual calculations
• Difficult to share with your team
• Impossible to scale as your menu grows
• Lacking in features like allergen tracking and shopping list generation

MenuM8 solves all these problems with:

• Automatic calculations
• Real-time updates across all recipes
• User management and permissions
• Allergen inheritance and compliance
• Professional report generation
• Mobile-friendly interface
• Secure cloud storage

Subscription Plans#

MenuM8 offers three subscription plans to suit businesses of all sizes:

• Basic - For small cafés, food trucks, home businesses
• Pro - For restaurants and catering companies
• Enterprise - For large restaurants and multi-location operations

All plans include a 14-day free trial so you can explore the features before committing.

Learn more: Billing & Subscriptions

Getting Started is Easy#

Ready to get started? MenuM8 is designed to be intuitive:

1. Sign up and start your 14-day free trial
2. Load demo data to explore the system
3. Add your first ingredient when you're ready
4. Create your first recipe and see the costs automatically calculate
5. Build your first menu costing and generate reports

Data Security and Privacy#

Your business data is important. MenuM8 uses:

• Secure authentication with industry-standard encryption
• Encrypted connections (HTTPS)
• Multi-tenant isolation so your data is completely separate from other accounts
• Regular backups for data protection
• GDPR compliance for European users

Next Steps#

Now that you understand what MenuM8 can do, you're ready to get started:

• Quick Start Guide: Your First 5 Minutes
• Getting Started with MenuM8
• Basic Workflow: From Ingredients to Costs

Welcome to MenuM8 – let's make menu costing simple and profitable!