Great restaurant operators know that food cost accuracy is the difference between profit and “almost.” Here is the checklist we run in Ontario rollouts to make Odoo earn its keep fast.
1) Make recipes the system of record
- Build recipe BOMs with supplier-specific units (no more unit guessing).
- Add tolerance rules so prep teams can see how far they are drifting.
- Tie recipes to menus so pricing conversations are tied to data, not hunches.
2) Create fast counts your team will actually do
- Use mobile-friendly cycle counts with ABC frequency (daily for A items, weekly for C).
- Flag variances instantly to managers, not end-of-month.
- Auto-reconcile against receipts so purchasing and waste speak the same language.
3) Close the loop with the kitchen
- Expose prep plans from POS orders to production so portions stay consistent.
- Track prep waste as its own event so it does not hide inside COGS.
- Give chefs a clear “on watch” list for suppliers and ingredients.
4) Keep leadership in the numbers
- Weekly dashboards: theoretical vs. actual cost, waste trend, and a simple red/green view by location.
- Manager scorecards with three leading indicators: variance %, prep waste, and on-time counts.
- A 30-minute call each week to decide actions-not just review charts.
If you want the same playbook, start with a two-week pilot. We will configure the above, give your team the templates, and measure hard ROI before you scale it.