Plans

A plan is a list of menu items with the number of each that you expect to sell over a date range. For example, a plan can say "600 Superdogs for Saturday's wedding". Rinvy turns the plan into the ingredients it takes, compares them with what is on the shelf, and shows what is short.

Plans are on every tier. The page is rolling out to kitchens a few at a time behind the sales-plans rollout flag. If you do not see a Plans tab next to AI forecast on the Planning pages, it is not on for your kitchen yet.

Make a plan

1. Go to Plans and tap New plan.

2. Pick the dates the plan covers. The name follows the dates until you type your own.

3. Tap Add menu item, search for the item, and type the total for the whole date range.

4. Add the other items, then tap Save plan.

A new plan covers 7 days, starting today, until you change the dates. A plan can cover at most 31 days. Before you can save, at least one item needs a total above 0.

A new plan starts with the items and totals of the plan you edited last, because most kitchens plan the same menu each week. Tap Clear quantities to keep the items and empty the totals. To copy one plan exactly, tap Duplicate on it in the list.

Prefill from fills the totals from a source you already have:

• Recent sales average: the average of the last 28 days of sales for each menu item, for the days in the plan. This needs sales data (Standard and up).
• Latest AI forecast: the portions from your newest AI forecast for the days in the plan. This needs the Pro plan.

Prefill sets the total of each item it suggests and adds suggested items that are not on the plan yet. Items it does not suggest keep what you typed.

The recent sales average divides by the days the kitchen sold anything, not by 28. For example, if the kitchen had sales on 24 of the last 28 days and sold 840 Superdogs, the average is 35 a day. A plan with 6 open days then gets 210. A simple moving average like this one trails a change by about half its window, so check the totals after a menu change or a slow month.

How does Rinvy split a total across the days?

Rinvy spreads each total evenly over the days in the range that your kitchen is open. The plan shows a note when the range includes a closed day. If every day in the range is a closed day, for example a catering job on a Monday when you are closed, Rinvy spreads the total over all the days instead.

Each day gets an equal share to two decimals, and the last day takes the remainder, so the days add up to exactly what you typed. A total of 100 over 3 open days becomes 33.33, 33.33 and 33.34.

The Order list and the Prep generator use the full total of a plan. They do not cut it to the days until your next delivery. They leave out days before today, because those sales have already come out of your stock. The needs table works the same way. When every day of a plan is in the past, the plan has nothing left to order or prep for.

What this plan takes

After you save a plan, the page shows two tables:

• Ingredients: each raw ingredient the plan needs, the amount on hand, and the amount short. Rinvy follows your recipes down to the ingredients you buy, and uses your main recipe when a prepped item has more than one.
• Prep needed: each prepped item the plan needs, the amount on hand, and how many batches of its recipe you are short.

Both tables list the largest shortfall first. For example, the plan needs 30 qt of chili, you have 12 qt, and one batch makes 8 qt. You are 18 qt short, so Batches short shows 3, because Rinvy rounds up to whole batches. A row with enough on hand reads Covered.

If a menu item has no recipe, or a unit cannot convert, Rinvy lists the problem above the tables under Some of this plan can't be counted. The totals leave that item out until you fix it.

Weight units convert to each other by fixed factors, the kind NIST publishes, and volume units do the same. A count unit such as each or bag has no fixed size. If a recipe uses a product in ounces and you count it by the each, add a unit conversion to the product.

Build an order list or a prep list

Tap Build order list to open the Order list in Sales expectations mode with this plan picked. The chip at the top names the plan. The quantities cover the plan's total, or your par level when par is larger, rounded up to full cases.

Build order list works on every plan, Free included. On the Pro plan, owners and managers can also tap Build prep list to start a prep list from the plan.

You can also pick a plan on those pages. In Sales expectations mode, the Build from list shows your current plans, newest first, and the latest AI forecast on Pro with the dates it covers.

Who can change a plan?

Owners, managers and staff can make, change and delete plans. A viewer can open a plan but cannot change it. Deleting a plan does not change orders you already placed from it. A plan never feeds the AI forecast, and Rinvy never scores it against what you actually sold.

Related

• Order list with sales forecasts
• Forecast-based prep
• Demand forecasting