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This article covers your foundation for building recipes: your Recipe Types. Anytime you create a new recipe, you will need to choose its recipe type from your unique list to keep your recipes organized.

Important : Recipe input should wait until we’ve processed your first set of invoices—this typically happens in the first week or two as a new Garde customer.

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Understanding the Three Default Recipe Categories

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Each Recipe Type must fall under a Recipe Category.

For batch recipes:
  • Prep Items: Start here! This recipe type is the only type that can be used in other recipes. Examples include anything from dressings, sauces, bases, prepped portions of meats or seafood, cocktail mixers, and batch recipes. Basically, you want a Prep Item for any recipe you may want to include in another recipe, or when it yields a portion larger than the one you serve on your menu.
For final dishes and items actually on the menu:
  • Menu Items: These are the actual dishes or “plates” shown on your menu as appetizers, salads, entrees, desserts, etc. They are sometimes called plating procedures, as they can be used as a detailed description of how to assemble a final plate. Menu Items are generally single servings of items as they would appear on your menu and will typically include the combination of multiple prepped recipes.
  • Bar Items: These are recipes for any cocktails or drinks used at the bar. Essentially, Bar Items and Menu Items work the same way in the software, but they are in different places to help keep your menus easy to organize.

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Recipe Setup

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Must Have

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Recipe Types

From Inventory > Recipes, click Manage Recipe Types. You will click Add Recipe Type for each new one created. Here are some examples of Recipe Types:
Recipe CategoryExamples of possible Recipe Types (they will be different for everyone)
Menu ItemsAppetizers, Salads, Soups, Sandwiches, Entrees, Late Night Menu, Kids Menu
Prepared ItemsBatch Recipes, Dressings, Line Recipes, Bases, Seasonings, Dips (the sub-recipes that do not have a POS button)
Bar ItemsSignature Cocktails, Margarita Mixes, Happy Hour Cocktails

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Nice to Have

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Equipment

On the Setup page, you can Manage Equipment to generate a list of anything that will be used in any of your recipes. For every piece of equipment you add, you can provide a name, a description, and a photo. As you add new equipment, it is available to select during the creation of any recipe. As you start to add equipment to recipes, you can return to the Inventory > Recipes area to see which recipes are associated with a piece of equipment.

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Allergens

If you want to track potential allergy information, you can add allergens through the Setup page. Once an allergen has been added, you can associate the allergen with a product. To do this, use the Products page to find the product, then click the “Edit Product” button. On the Edit Product page, a “Manage Allergens” button on the bottom right allows you to associate one or more allergens to that product. Once you have your desired allergens in the system and products that have allergens associated with them, every recipe will give you a list of allergens based on the products added to the recipe. More information here:Allergens, Recipes and Products

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Step 2: Create Recipes

Creating a Recipe:Video/Help Article Copy & Paste with AI: Video/Help Article

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Central Settings: Allergens and Restrictions

Allergens in Recipes:Video/Help Article Restrictions:Video/Help Article Conversions: Many conversions are built into Garde, but you may need to add some as you create recipes. See the Recipes - Conversions article for details. Yields: If you want to account for waste or shrinkage for more accurate plate costs, add yields to your prep recipes or at the product level.