Recipe creation
Evolving the recipe base enables a restaurant to renew its offering and build customer loyalty around new flavors, while respecting the seasonal nature of products. Between creativity and rigor, the creation of recipes within a restaurant must respect certain stages.
How do you create recipes for a restaurant?
Many recipes are available to everyone through cookery books, specialized web blogs and social networks. On the other hand, when a chef embarks on a creative process, he or she has to follow a different data sheet format from that used in recipe books for the general public.
In fact, in the catering industry, recipes are written in a data sheet format that includes :
- A photo of the final dish
- The name of the dish
- Category (starter, main course, dessert, etc.)
- the season
- Appropriate table settings
- List of ingredients
- Weights
- Clear, precise progression for each stage (cutting, cooking methods, preparation and final weight)
- Cost of materials
Our best practices
Once the technical data sheet for a new recipe has been developed, it is important to keep track of the weights of the main ingredients, to ensure that margins are maintained. The technical data sheet also makes it possible to control the regularity of a dish’s production and preparation. Indeed, the clearer and more detailed the technical data sheet, the easier it will be for the kitchen teams to reproduce the recipe as the chef had originally imagined it. This is all the more important nowadays, when staff turnover is on the increase in the face of difficulties in recruiting qualified personnel.
Once the chef has finalized his recipe card and had it validated by restaurant management, it’s a good idea to make it available to the kitchen teams in a binder or book organized by category for easy retrieval. Each member of the brigade can then consult it while setting up or serving. If you’re using a paper recipe support, we recommend you laminate it to protect it from potential splashes in the kitchen. You can also display photos of your dishes on the wall by production zone.
In addition, new technologies have been developed and it is now possible to integrate technical data sheets into stock management and supplier order software. This automatically updates material costs, and thus recipe prices.
If you don’t want to pass on the increased cost of raw materials to your customers, then you can replace the product with a higher-priced one, taking care to change the name of the dish accordingly. In general, you should never choose a product of lesser quality and neglect the freshness or attractiveness of the dish.
The support we offer you
Our restaurant consulting agency is with you every step of the creation process. Our teams first develop a culinary identity in line with your strategic needs, then translate this identity into recipes. The number of recipes we develop for your establishment varies according to the menu structure and the menus validated. The distribution of sweet and savory recipes is then refined in collaboration with you.
Our consultant chefs write up the recipes in non-quantified Excel data sheets. The cost of the recipe is calculated by your teams, using your suppliers’ prices. We then carry out in-house tests in DUCASSE Conseil’s R&D center. We then organize a presentation and tasting with you for validation and adjustment. This methodology ensures relevance and rigor in the creative process.
Opening a restaurant requires special attention to recipe creation to maintain the originality and quality of the dishes. Training to set up a restaurant can help you master all aspects, to ensure the success and longevity of your establishment.
Contact us for advice and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!
