Variant, modifier or separate recipe?

What it is

Kintow has three places for a recipe:

• Menu item recipe: what goes in every time the item sells.
• Variant: a version of the item that costs differently (size, iced or hot, oat milk).
• Modifier recipe: an add-on or swap the customer picks (syrup, extra shot, decaf).

Kintow adds them up at the sale. A 16 oz oat latte with vanilla = the latte recipe + the 16 oz oat variant + the vanilla modifier. You don't build a recipe for every combination.

How it works

Ask these in order:

1. Used every time the item sells? Menu item recipe. The espresso in a latte.
2. Replaces part of the drink: size, iced or hot, milk? Variant. Keep milk off the milk modifier, or it's counted twice.
3. Added on top: syrup, extra shot, cold foam? Modifier recipe. One recipe covers every drink it's sold with.
4. Swaps something already in the recipe: decaf, white instead of dark chocolate? Modifier recipe, with a negative amount of the default + the replacement.
5. Its own item in your POS? Its own menu item recipe. A hot chocolate isn't a variant of a latte.

For a mix you can't predict, like for-here and to-go cups, you can use a blended amount (0.7 lids per drink if 70% go out) instead of a variant for each.

What to do with it

• Build the base: Add a recipe to a menu item.
• Add sizes and milks: Set up variants.
• Add syrups, shots and swaps: Add recipes to modifiers.
• Reuse the espresso shot and syrups: Build a sub-recipe with a yield.