Scaled to the point
The cook quantity comes from the planned covers and each recipe's yield — as precise for 200 guests as for 40.
IVMenu planning, production & purchasing
Ceres.
Menu planning, production & purchasing
Plan for 200.
Order for exactly 200.
Ceres calculates the cook quantity and the per-supplier order from the menu plan automatically — without overproduction, without calculating by hand.
Status: Early phase · in development
The problem
Ordered by gut, and too much in the cold store.
In many volume kitchens, purchasing comes from experience and estimation. Quantities are scaled up by hand to the expected number of covers, recipes scaled in the head, order lists pulled together per supplier one by one.
The result: overproduction on the plate and over-ordering in the store. Leftovers go in the bin, whole pack sizes sit unused, and food cost slips out of control — without anyone being able to say exactly where.
Ceres turns that around: from the menu plan and the planned number of guests come the exact cook quantity and, from that, the order — calculated, not guessed.
Spreadsheets calculate what you enter. Ceres calculates what the kitchen really needs — from real large-kitchen practice.
What changes
Four things the calculation core does today.
Ordering without over-buying
Demand is summed across all recipes and only rounded up to the pack size at the end — instead of one pack too many per recipe.
Per supplier, with CHF costs
The order is grouped by supplier and the costs calculated in CHF — ready to review and send.
Done before the shift
The plan is set before the first pan hits the stove — no calculating by hand between station and service.
The calculation logic
The maths that doesn't over-order.
Ceres aggregates every ingredient across all recipes of a menu plan and only rounds once, afterwards, up to the pack size — instead of rounding per recipe. That saves whole packs: three recipes that each need 0.4 kg of butter add up to 1.2 kg and so one pack — not three.
This calculation core is real and tested — the pax scaling and the order aggregation run and are covered by tests. It's the foundation everything else builds on.
- Cook quantity per recipe from planned covers & yield
- Aggregated ingredient demand across all recipes
- Round-up to pack size — once, at the end
- Order grouping per supplier
- Cost calculation in CHF
What the core calculates
What's there — and what's coming
Proven core. Honest roadmap.
Today the calculation core and planning are live: capture recipes and menus, scale, and order per supplier. The goal is the fully automated chain — from menu creation through planning, scaling and ordering to production. Step by step, honestly labelled.
01
Pax scaling
Recipes are scaled from the stored to the planned number of covers — via the recipe yield, not rules of thumb. Live and tested.
02
Order aggregation & pack rounding
Ingredient demand is summed across all recipes and only then rounded up once to the pack size. Live and tested.
03
Grouping per supplier & CHF costs
The finished order is grouped by supplier and costed in CHF — checkable line by line. Live.
04
Data model
Ingredients, suppliers, recipes and menus are set up as a connected data model — the basis for every calculation. Live.
05
Menus from the recipe collection
Compose new menus from your captured recipes — with live search; one recipe can be reused across many menus. Live.
06
Seasonal menu suggestions
Ceres suggests menus by season — seasonal ingredients first, so planning doesn't start from a blank page. Suggestions by trend, cost and variety are in progress.
Season live · further criteria planned07
Recipe inspiration from the web
Connection to curated cooking sites, so fresh recipe ideas flow straight into your collection and menu planning.
Planned08
Self-service entry & starter library
You maintain ingredients, recipes, menus and suppliers yourself through the interface — self-service entry (CRUD) is live. A prepared starter library as a starting point is in progress.
Starter library in progress09
Production & prep sheets
The menu plan turns into print-ready production and prep sheets, each recipe scaled to covers, with method included. No more handwritten handover.
10
Zenith sync for orders
Orders from Ceres flow into Zenith's procurement — one supplier and order flow instead of two.
Planned (phase 3)11
Guest menu cards
From the menu plan come print-ready, multilingual cards and notices for guests.
Planned (phase 5)Who it's for
✶
Catering & large kitchens
Changing guest numbers, calculated precisely for every event.
❍
Care & residential kitchens
Daily quantities for fixed resident numbers, without producing leftovers.
▤
Staff & company restaurants
Plannable covers, plannable purchasing, controlled food cost.
◷
Volume kitchens with pax planning
Anywhere you plan by heads and buy for heads.
Ceres is built for kitchens that plan and buy by covers — where the number of guests determines the pot and the order list.
Part of Triarc
Ceres is one of four Triarc instruments. They share a design language and are meant to interlock — capture data once, use it many times. Much of this is roadmap, not the present; here's an honest account of what comes when:
Ceres → ZenithOrders from Ceres flow into Zenith's procurement — a shared supplier and order flow.Planned (phase 3)
Aurora · Nova · ZenithShared design language and one login idea across all four instruments.Architecture
Ceres → GuestGuest menu cards from the menu plan as a later expansion — print-ready for notice and table.Planned (phase 5)
Why Ceres
Ceres comes from a chef who has done menu and recipe engineering in large operations and digitised purchasing systems — the calculation logic grew out of real kitchen practice.
Proven calculation core
Pax scaling and order aggregation run and are covered by tests.
Built by a chef
From real volume-kitchen practice, not designed on a drawing board.
Honest roadmap
What's live is live. What's coming is clearly labelled as planned.
Swiss volume cooking
Calculates in CHF and plans by covers — tailored to the local operation.
Tailored
Nothing off the shelf.
Tell us how your kitchen really plans and buys. Together we find the right instrument — and set it up around your recipes, suppliers and quirks. Not software you squeeze into, but one that adapts to your operation.
Missing something none of our instruments covers? Tell us — we build around your needs instead of selling one solution for everyone.
Getting started
How you become a pilot kitchen.
1
Conversation
You show us how your kitchen plans and buys.
2
Setup
We capture your recipes, suppliers and pack sizes together.
3
Start
You calculate plans and orders — and help shape how Ceres grows.
Swiss data protection — data in CH/EU, revDSG- & GDPR-compliant No lock-in contract, cancellable monthly Your data exportable any time We guide the setup personally
Order what you really need.
Ceres is early, but the core and planning are in place: capture recipes and menus, scale, and order per supplier — live and tested. If you want to be among the first kitchens, we set Ceres up together around your recipes and suppliers and show you the calculation on your own quantities.
Ceres is in an early phase — become one of our first pilot kitchens and help shape how the tool grows.
Direct: manuel@triarc.ch