Creating a Prep / Batch Recipe

A prep (or batch recipe) is something you make in-house from other items — a sauce, a stock, a dressing, a patty mix. Setting it up lets Optimum Control cost it, track it, and use it as an ingredient inside your menu products.

Usually a manager or chef task

Preps feed into product costs and counts, so accuracy matters. If you're not sure you should be creating one, check first.

1

Click Preps on the main toolbar. It opens in New mode until you pick an existing prep.

2

To add, click Add (or start typing in the Description field). To edit, double-click a prep in the list. You can search by name to shorten the list.

3

Fill in the core fields (below).

4

Add your ingredients — each item, and how much of it goes in.

Description

The prep's name. It must be different from every item and every other prep — e.g. "Chili Prep", "House Dressing", "Beef Patty Mix".

Inventory Group

The reporting group. Tip: put all preps in a group called "Prepped Foods" so they stay together.

How is it used?

Weight, Volume, or Unit — exactly like items. This sets how the prep behaves when used inside a menu product.

Batch UOM

The batch unit (batch, pail, 1/6 pan, and so on). This appears on count sheets to help you count it.

Batch Yield

How much a finished batch actually makes (24 muffins, 12 litres) — the physical yield after making it.

Recipe Unit per Batch Yield

How many recipe units are in that yield; the default unit when the prep is used in recipes.

Actual Cost per Yield Unit

Calculated for you from the ingredients — nothing to enter.

To count this prep in inventory

Tick Include on Count Sheets? and set a Main Location — a prep won't appear on count sheets without one. Add a Barcode only if you scan inventory.

To put it on daily or weekly prep sheets

Tick Include on Prep Sheets?, choose a Prep Station (where it's made), and set a Shelf Life (days or hours).

Program problem — errors, crashes, failed saves, a report that won't run → TracRite support at Support@tracrite.net (they know their software best).

"How do I / why does my data look like this?" — missing items, vendors, recipes, or numbers that look off → your F&B manager or executive chef. These are operational questions, not software faults.

Hardware, network, a lost license, or OC missing from a workstation → that's the short list Argus IT handles.

See Optimum Control — Common Issues and How to Get Help (KB-210001) for the full "who to contact for what" breakdown before reaching out.