How it all works

KiCoMa connects the store, recipes and daily menus. Each step builds on the previous one:

1. The storekeeper creates a stock item.
2. The storekeeper receives the goods with a stock receipt.
3. The cook builds a recipe from the goods.
4. The nutrition consultant fills in nutrition facts for the goods and checks the recipe's nutrition per portion.
5. The cook plans a daily menu with recipes and portions.
6. The daily menu becomes a stock issue and the storekeeper issues it from stock.
7. Inventory and reports show what everything cost and what is left in stock.

The application menu and the links in this guide follow your role.

Who does what

One user can have several roles at once.

1. Stock item

Who: Storekeeper Nutrition consultant  Where: Stock items list, New stock item

Everything starts with a stock item. It must exist before you receive it or use it in a recipe.

• Unit: kg, g, l, ml or pcs. Choose carefully – later you can change it only in Unit management.
• Minimum stock: items below the minimum are shown in List of items requiring stocking.
• Allergens: recipes pick them up automatically from their ingredients.
• Nutrition facts are entered by the nutrition consultant, always per 100 g or 100 ml.
• Piece weight: for goods in pieces (pcs) enter it in g or ml. Without it nutrition cannot be calculated and the recipe shows a warning.

Good to know

• Stock quantity and value are changed by approved stock receipts and issues.
• Items with a negative quantity or value are shown in red with a warning icon in the list and in the PDF. Check them.
• The History button shows every change of the item, including unit changes.
• You can delete only an item that is not in stock, not in any recipe and not on any stock receipt or issue.

2. Receiving goods – stock receipt

Who: Storekeeper  Where: Stock receipt list, New stock receipt

Goods arrived from a supplier? Put them on a stock receipt.

1. Create a new stock receipt with a date and a note, for example the supplier or the invoice number.
2. Add goods: quantity, unit, unit price without VAT and the VAT rate (12 % by default).
3. Check the lines and click To stock. Only now does the stock go up and the average price get recalculated.

Good to know

• Until the receipt is stocked you can edit or delete it. Not afterwards.
• An empty receipt or a receipt with a zero price cannot be stocked.
• The line unit must be convertible to the stock unit: kg ↔ g, l ↔ ml. The stock unit is shown next to the item name.
• Every stock receipt can be downloaded as a PDF.

3. Recipes

Who: Cook Nutrition consultant  Where: Recipes list, New recipe

A recipe says what is taken from the store and how much.

1. Create a recipe: name, number of portions (at least 1), procedure and a note.
2. Add ingredients from the store. Enter quantities for the whole recipe, i.e. for its number of portions.

Good to know

• The recipe calculates its price from average stock prices, collects allergens and shows nutrition per portion.
• The ingredient unit must be convertible to the stock unit: kg ↔ g, l ↔ ml. Pieces (pcs) stay in pieces.
• Unit doesn't match? Click Change unit on the ingredient, or go through the report Recipes with units not matching the stock.
• A recipe and the whole recipe list can be downloaded as a PDF.

4. Menus and daily menus

Who: Cook Nutrition consultant  Where: Menu list, Daily menu list, New daily menu, PDF - Daily menu

A menu is a template you reuse again and again. A daily menu is the plan for one specific day.

1. Prepare a menu with recipes and portions. A new menu takes the name of the last one – just adjust it, names must be unique.
2. Create a daily menu: date, diner group and meal type. Each combination can exist only once.
3. Pick a menu and its recipes are copied automatically. The recipe note tells you which menu it came from.
4. Fine-tune recipes and portions. Even 0 portions is allowed.
5. Print the daily menu as a PDF for the whole day or for one diner group only.

Good to know

• The same recipe cannot be added twice. Change the portions of the one already there.
• The daily menu list shows the highest number of portions of all its recipes.
• Only nutrition consultants see nutrition facts in daily menus.

5. Issuing goods – stock issue

Who: Cook Storekeeper  Where: New stock issue from daily menu, Stock issue list, New stock issue

The menu is planned – time to send the ingredients to the kitchen.

1. Create a stock issue from the daily menu. Enter the day and KiCoMa adds up the ingredients of all daily menus of that day based on portions.
2. Menu changed? Click Update on the stock issue and the goods are reloaded from the current recipes.
3. The storekeeper checks the stock issue and clicks Issue from stock. Only now are the goods taken off the stock.

Good to know

• Only a storekeeper can issue from stock.
• You can also create a stock issue manually and add the goods yourself.
• Only goods with enough stock can be issued. Otherwise KiCoMa lists what is missing and leaves the stock unchanged.
• The price is the average stock price at the moment of issuing.
• An issued stock issue cannot be edited, updated or deleted.
• Every stock issue can be downloaded as a PDF.

6. Inventory

Who: Storekeeper Cook

Time to check that the stock in the application matches reality.

• Stock items to be checked (PDF) – print it and walk through the store with a pen in hand.
• Stock on hand as of the selected date – an Excel file with the stock as of any day in the past.
• Stock export and Stock import – download the list to Excel, correct the quantities and upload it back. Storekeeper only.

Good to know

• Import does not change item units. Use Unit management for that.
• When the stock as of a date cannot be calculated, it is left blank and the export_warning column tells you why.

7. Unit management

Who: Storekeeper Nutrition consultant (stock items), Cook Nutrition consultant (recipe ingredients)  Where: Unit management in the user menu, or the Change unit button

Want to count in grams instead of pieces? Unit management safely recalculates everything.

• A stock item unit change recalculates the stock, minimum stock, recipe ingredients and all stock receipt and issue lines, approved ones included. The total stock value stays the same.
• An ingredient unit change recalculates only that one recipe line.

1. Choose the new unit and the factor – how many new units equal 1 old unit. For kg ↔ g and l ↔ ml KiCoMa fills it in for you.
2. Fill in the factor source, e.g. “weighed 10 pieces” or “from the package”.
3. Click Preview. You will see examples, the impact on recipes and documents, and any warnings.
4. Confirm the warnings and click Apply change.

Good to know

• The latest change can be reverted with Undo, as long as the related data has not changed since.
• Every change is recorded in the history and cannot be edited or deleted.

8. Reports

Who: All roles

• Total value of stock receipts/issues per month – number and value of approved documents for the last three months.
• Catering unit – price per portion of each recipe and the price of all meals for the selected day.
• Items not used on any recipe – goods you can clean up.
• Stock items by unit used – overview of units. Click a unit to see its goods.
• Recipes with units not matching the stock – ingredients and document lines with a unit that cannot be converted. Fix them before you create a stock issue.

All prints are PDFs you can view, save or print.

9. When something goes wrong

Still stuck? Have a look at News, to see whether something has changed, or contact the admin.