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Setting up a commissary in Garde is straightforward, but following the right order matters. Rushing ahead before the foundation is solid creates problems that are time-consuming to fix.

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Step 1: Sync categories via accounting

Before anything else, connect your accounting system and sync your chart of accounts. This gives Garde the category structure it needs to properly classify commissary expenses.
  • Connect QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop if you have not already.
  • Sync your chart of accounts so Garde has your GL codes available.
  • Create a specific accounting category for commissary recipes. Here is how to create accounting categories. When you create commissary recipes later, select this dedicated category instead of defaulting to individual ingredient categories. This makes tracking commissary usage in your receiving locations significantly easier.
If your commissary is only part of a unit’s expenses, submit only restaurant invoices for the first 30 days. Do not submit commissary invoices yet. This prevents duplicate products.
In the examples below, you can see that with a dedicated commissary category, all commissary items show up together on your inventory summary under the newly created category (e.g., “Food-Other”). With this category selected when building your recipes, everything appears in one place as the complete item. A cake made of many ingredients is listed as one item: “Cake Mix.” Without a specific category, the default behavior categorizes by individual ingredients. A single item then appears in multiple places — dairy, dry goods, NA Beverage, and so on — making it much harder to track.

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Step 2: Build recipes and create inventory from them

Once your categories are synced, build your commissary recipes. These recipes become the basis of the products your receiving units will order, count, and use.

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The flow

Commissary recipes become vendor items, which link to commissary products. Those products go on the order guide. To set your receiving units up for success, build these recipes and products correctly from the beginning. What happens in the Commissary Unit: COMMISSARY RECIPE → VENDOR ITEM / PRODUCT → PRODUCT ON ORDER GUIDE → PRODUCT IS TRANSFERRED OUT (recorded as a journal entry) What happens in the Receiving Unit: PRODUCT IS TRANSFERRED IN (recorded as a journal entry) → PRODUCT IS COUNTED ON INVENTORY / PRODUCT IS USED IN RECIPES / PRODUCT IS MAPPED FOR PMIX
Receiving units should use commissary products — not commissary recipes — in their own recipes and inventory. The commissary recipe is internal to the commissary unit.

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Recipe guidelines

Restrict commissary recipes to the commissary unit. Other units should not access or use these recipes to build their menu items or count inventory. They should use the product they ordered. Keep packaging sizes small. Start with the smallest size you expect to send out. Everyone can build from that base when ordering additional quantities. It is much easier to scale up than to scale down. Create a specific commissary recipe Type. Here is how to create recipe types. This works like tabs in a binder — it allows you to quickly locate commissary recipes and distinguish them from everything else. Create a consistent naming convention. For example, “Babaganoush (Commissary)” makes it immediately clear which products come from the commissary. You can also use Recipe Types to group these together. Our recipe team is available if you need personalized support getting these created in Garde.

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Video: Understanding the differences

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Step 3: Set up order guides from inventory and prepped items

With your commissary recipes built and products created, the final step is to configure the order guides that your receiving units will use to place orders. Order guides are built from the commissary’s product list — the same products that were created from your recipes in Step 2. Receiving units use these guides to select items and quantities when placing orders. To set up your order guides:
  1. Go to Commissary > Order Guides in the commissary unit.
  2. Add the commissary products that receiving units should be able to order.
  3. Organize items in a logical order (by category, by prep station, or by frequency of use).
  4. Include any prepped items that are produced and distributed from the commissary.
For detailed instructions, see Commissary Kitchens: Order Guide.
Review your order guides regularly as menus change. Remove items that are no longer produced and add new ones promptly so receiving units always see an accurate list.

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Ready to create your products? Commissary Kitchens: Creating Products