- About Skill Level and Preparation Time for a Recipe
- Skill Level and Preparation Time on the Recipe Listing Screen
- Viewing Skill Level and Preparation Time when Adding Recipe to Menu
- How is the Preparation Time Calculated?
- How is the Skill Level Calculated?
- Recalculating Skill Level and Preparation Time
- Reports that Display Recipe Labor Info
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FAQs
- Can I change or "correct" the skill level and preparation time assigned to the recipe?
- The recipe's preparation time is wrong. What is the AI not getting?
- Does the preparation time change if the number of servings is changed?
- Why does the same step have a different estimate in two different recipes?
- Are food variations considered in the skill level and preparation time analysis?
- Is a recipe within a recipe (i.e., recipe as an ingredient) factored in the labor time?
About Skill Level and Preparation Time for a Recipe
When reviewing recipes to select for your menu, you can easily view the skill level and preparation time required to create the recipe (aka recipe labor). Having knowledge of the skill level and preparation time helps you select recipes that are suitable for your staff resources.
A recipe presents with easy-to-ready tags that indicate the skill level and preparation time, as seen in screenshot below. By viewing these tags, you are prevented from having to read through the full recipe to understand its complexity.
Hovering your cursor over the the skill level tags provides a description of the of what is required.
Skill Level Tag Descriptions
| Tag | Description |
| A recipe that requires the simplest of steps and minimal cooking skills to prepare, such as heating ready-to-eat convenience items, cooking pasta, steaming or reheating frozen and canned vegetables, making instant mashed potatoes, etc. | |
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An uncomplicated recipe with easy-to-follow steps that requires above-basic cooking skills, such as cooking ground meat and rice, baking or roasting chicken breasts and pork chops, baking an omelette or other egg-based dish, baking from a mix (not from scratch), preparing mashed potatoes from scratch, assembling salads, and knowing knife skills to create uniform pieces such as chopping, slicing, dicing, julienne and mincing. |
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A medium recipe that requires cooking skills and experience. For example, preparing soups, mac and cheese, cheese sauces or similar items from scratch, cooking steak, pork loin, beef tips, stuffed chicken, veal, fish or shrimp, and making non-traditional protein recipes and vegetarian alternatives such as tofu, tempeh, legumes. |
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A complex recipe that requires advanced cooking skills and experience, such as cooking beef tenderloin, whole turkey, chicken, Cornish hen or other large cuts of meat, cooking scallops or lobster, and baking from scratch (not a mix). |
Preparation Time Tag Descriptions
| Tag | Time |
| Quick recipe; under 15 minutes | |
| Average preparation time; 15 to 45 minutes | |
| Extensive preparation time; over 45 minutes |
Note: Prepared foods present with a Skill Level tag of Basic and a Preparation Time tag of under 15 minutes.
Skill Level and Preparation Time on the Recipe Listing Screen
On the Recipe Listing screen, you can view and search for recipes by the skill level and the total estimated prep time. For example, assume you are short-staffed in the kitchen. You can search for recipes with a skill level of 1 or 2 and an estimated prep time of under 15 minutes or between 15 to 45 minutes.
Displaying Skill Level and Preparation Time Columns
On the Recipe Listing screen, you can display the Total Estimated Prep Time and Skill Level columns (see Setting Preferred Columns on the Recipes Listing Screen).
Filtering Recipes by Skill Level and Preparation Time
On the Recipe Listing screen, you can filter recipes by skill level and preparation time.
Viewing Skill Level and Preparation Time when Adding Recipe to Menu
When adding a recipe to a menu, the Add Item screen allows you to search for item by the skill level and total estimated prep time. For example, assume you are short-staffed in the kitchen. You can use the Skill Level filter to display recipes with a skill level of 1 or 2, and use the Estimated Prep Time filter to display recipes with an estimated prep time of under 15 minutes or between 15 to 45 minutes.
How is the Preparation Time Calculated?
The preparation time for a recipe is AI-calculated and is displayed in the read-only Total estimated prep time field in a recipe's Ingredients and Preparation section (screenshot below).
The Total estimated prep time is the sum of the ingredient pre-prep steps and the recipe preparation steps.
- For each recipe ingredient, its time is AI-calculated by its amount and any associated pre-prep step (e.g., drained, sliced, peeled). The total time of all ingredients is displayed in the read-only Estimated Ingredient prep time field (no. 1 in screenshot below). Note that individual ingredient times are not displayed.
- For each recipe preparation step, its time is AI-calculated by its description, associated ingredients, and amount of ingredients.* The time of a preparation step is displayed in an associated read-only field to the right of the preparation step (no. 2 in screenshot below). Note: An HACCP preparation step is ignored in the AI calculation.
For example, assume the estimated ingredient prep time is 30 minutes and the total time of each preparation step is 10 minutes, then the Total estimated prep time is 40 minutes.
* Some exceptions worth noting: Idle time such as refrigeration, marination, cooking in oven for longer than 10 minutes is excluded, as it is assumed that kitchen staff can prepare other recipes during this time.
How is the Skill Level Calculated?
Skill level is assessed based on the ingredients involved and the cooking techniques used in the recipe preparation steps.
For example, ingredients that require knowledge and special care (e.g., lobster and large cuts of meat) have a higher skill level.
Recipes that only involve simple steps like cooking pasta or following heating instructions for convenience items, would be considered a level 1. Whereas a level 3 recipe may require preparing a sauce from scratch.
The highest applicable level is the one that is assigned to the recipe. Meaning if you are making mac and cheese, and cooking pasta is calculated as level 1 and making the sauce is calculated at level 3, then the mac and cheese recipe gets a skill level 3 rating.
Recalculating Skill Level and Preparation Time
Because the descriptions of preparation steps are factors in the AI calculation, when you modify the description for a preparation step, you will be prompted if you want to recalculate the skill level and preparation time for the recipe via the message below. To recalculate, click the Yes, Recalculate Labor Analysis button.
Notes:
- Even though you may only change one preparation step, the AI will recalculate the time on all preparation steps.
- You can leave the screen and it will continue to recalculate in the background.
- To increase the accuracy of a recipe's preparation time, ensure its preparation steps are written in a clear and straightforward language. Attempt to use shorter sentences as the sub-steps, and avoid jargon and abbreviations. Add the estimated cooking time if needed. In addition, you can also ensure that your ingredients have the appropriate pre-prep steps. If you do not own a recipe, contact the recipe owner.
Reports that Display Recipe Labor Info
Recipe Cookbook Report (Menus)
For the Recipe Cookbook Report (Menus), the Total Estimated Preparation Time is included for a recipe.
If the Included Tags option for the report is selected, then the skill level tag and preparation time tag appear.
Note that the Total Estimated Prep Time does not change when printing the recipe for different servings. Changing the preparation time based on different yields may be considered as a later enhancement.
Scaled Recipes Report (Recipes)
For the Scaled Recipes Report (Recipes), the Total Estimated Preparation Time is included for a recipe.
If the Included Tags option for the report is selected, then the skill level tag and preparation time tag appear.
Note that the Total Estimated Prep Time does not change when printing the recipe for different servings. Changing the preparation time based on different yields may be considered as a later enhancement.
Labor Summary Report (Menus)
The Labor Summary report (Menus) provides a summary of the labour time and skill level required for each meal period, day and week in your menu.
Labor Analysis Report (Menus)
The Labor Analysis report (Menus) breaks down the labour time and skill level required for each recipe in your menu.
The report displays the total preparation time for each recipe, meal period, and day.
FAQs
Can I change or "correct" the skill level and preparation time assigned to the recipe?
No. The skill level and preparation time assignments are AI-generated and as such cannot be manually changed or adjusted.
However, if you change the preparation step of a recipe you own (a "my recipe"), you will be prompted if you want to recalculate the skill level and preparation time for the recipe. See Recalculating Skill Level and Preparation Time above for more information.
The recipe's preparation time is wrong. What is the AI not getting?
To increase the accuracy of a recipe's preparation time, ensure its preparation steps are written in a clear and straightforward language. Attempt to use shorter sentences as the sub-steps, and avoid jargon and abbreviations. Add the estimated cooking time if needed.
In addition, ensure that your ingredients have the appropriate pre-prep steps.
If you do not own a recipe, contact the recipe owner to update it accordingly.
Does the preparation time change if the number of servings is changed?
No. The preparation time does not change if the number of servings is changed. To learn more how preparation time is calculated, click here.
Why does the same step have a different estimate in two different recipes?
Each recipe is analyzed individually by the AI. For the same preparation step across two different recipes, variations in the ingredients and their amounts used in the recipe can result in different time estimates.
In addition, because the AI is constantly evolving, the time assigned to the preparation step in one recipe can be different to the time assigned to the preparation step in another recipe if the AI analyzed the recipes at different times.
Are food variations considered in the skill level and preparation time analysis?
In the skill level and preparation time analysis, only the preferred food variation for an ingredient set by the owner/creator of the recipe is considered, as this is intended to represent the ideal skill level and preparation time of the original recipe.
It is recognized that if an account changes the preferred food variation for an ingredient on a master recipe, then that food may involve more or less pre-prep time. As such, the skill level and preparation time analysis may change in a future release of the software to make the estimates more accurate based on the selected food variation in the recipe.
Is a recipe within a recipe (i.e., recipe as an ingredient) factored in the labor time?
When a recipe is used as an ingredient in another recipe, its preparation time is not included in the preparation time of the main recipe. However, the Labor Analysis report and Labor Summary report includes the times of all recipes in a menu, including a recipe in a recipe.