CATEROPS
CATEROPSAI 2.0
AI Food Service Intelligence 2.0•B2B Operations Engine

Stop Guessing Kitchen Costs. Start Engineering Profit.

Deterministic recipe yield math, city-level wholesale APMC rates, and automated multi-dish production orders. Built for commercial caterers, cloud kitchens, and banquet operations.

Launch Food Cost CalculatorExplore Production Planner
Portion Yield Science
APMC Wholesale Benchmarks
100% Deterministic Arithmetic
RECIPE ENGINE/Paneer Butter Masala (Commercial Norms)
Scale Pax:
Market: Chennai APMC Live

Per-Pax Cost

₹94.60

Raw + Overheads

Total Production

₹23,650

For 250 guests

Suggested Quote

₹275/pax

Market standard pricing

Gross Margin

66%

Healthy commercial tier
Production Cost CompositionRaw 75.5% • Labor 16.5% • Energy/LPG 8.0%
Raw Ingredients: ₹17,850Kitchen Labor: ₹3,886LPG & Utilities: ₹1,914

Calculated with deterministic reverse-yield norms and city-level wholesale price indices.

Open Full Calculation Engine
Operational Architecture

Built for Kitchen Operations, Not Just Accounting

Generic spreadsheets fail when guest counts shift or wholesale commodity prices fluctuate. CATEROPS provides end-to-end food service intelligence engineered for Indian culinary operations.

Food Science

Deterministic Yield & Norms Engine

Specify your desired cooked portion norms per guest. CATEROPS reverse-engineers raw ingredient requirements accounting for cooking shrinkage, gravy absorption, and bone ratios.

  • Raw-to-cooked expansion math
  • Standardized catering portion norms
  • Zero-waste ingredient scaling
Explore Module
Market Intelligence

City-Level Wholesale Benchmarks

Keep quotations realistic with current wholesale commodity rates across major Indian APMC markets (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata).

  • Regional wholesale price index
  • Seasonal commodity tracking
  • Custom editable rate overrides
Explore Module
Financial Precision

True Kitchen Overhead Modeling

Raw ingredients only represent part of your actual cost. Factor in commercial LPG cylinders, head chef & helper labor, electricity, logistics, and packaging automatically.

  • Percentage & per-unit overheads
  • LPG cylinder & fuel consumption
  • Manpower shift allocations
Explore Module
Kitchen Operations

AI Multi-Dish Production Planner

Turn your entire event menu and guest count into aggregated grocery purchase orders, kitchen prep checklists, station batch schedules, and staffing plans.

  • Consolidated grocery purchase list
  • Station prep timeline (T-24h to Service)
  • Commercial buffer safety multipliers
Explore Module
Commercial Workflow

Client-Ready Quotation Drafter

Generate structured, professional email quotations and proposals for prospective clients with clear per-pax rates, inclusions, payment terms, and validity dates in seconds.

  • Instant client email proposals
  • Margin-protected pricing tiers
  • GST & billing breakdown clarity
Explore Module
Risk Control

Margin Health & Profit Simulation

Audit each dish against industry benchmarks. Get immediate visibility into whether your catering proposal is healthy (>65%), competitive (50-65%), or running at a loss.

  • Real-time gross margin scoring
  • Break-even volume calculation
  • Bespoke vs volume pricing models
Explore Module
Tailored Operational Solutions

Engineered for High-Stakes Food Service

Whether managing a high-end wedding buffet in Delhi or 20 cloud kitchen brands in Bangalore, CATEROPS brings financial clarity to your food production.

Weddings & Buffets

Event & Wedding Caterers

Scale 100 to 5,000+ Guests

Eliminate food wastage and protect margins on complex multi-course buffet spreads with deterministic raw purchase math.

  • Reverse-engineered portion norms
  • Client email quotation generator
  • Total LPG and labor allocations
Delivery & QSR

Cloud Kitchens & Virtual Brands

High-Volume Delivery

Model exact recipe food cost percentages down to the gram, ensuring platform commissions and packaging don't wipe out profit.

  • Portion yield precision
  • Packaging overhead factoring
  • Menu item gross margin audit
Hotels & Venues

Banquets & Convention Centers

Enterprise Hospitality

Standardize kitchen output across rotating chefs with deterministic purchase lists and timeline-driven prep checklists.

  • Station batch timelines
  • Consolidated master grocery POs
  • Safety buffer multipliers
Contracts & Tenders

Institutional & Canteen Catering

Fixed-Budget Contracts

Submit winning government and corporate tenders with defensible commodity benchmarks and transparent margin auditing.

  • APMC wholesale price alignment
  • Volume break-even analysis
  • Audit-ready PDF cost sheets
Deterministic Workflow

How Operational Food Costing Works

From single-dish pricing to multi-day banquet production planning in four streamlined steps.

01
Input Specifications

Define Dish & Portion Norms

Type any dish name (e.g. Mutton Rogan Josh or Malai Kofta) and select your target cooked portion weight and event guest count.

Yield Norms
02
Deterministic Reverse Math

AI Computes Raw Requirements

Our calculation engine reverse-engineers raw ingredient yields, compensates for cooking shrinkage, and fetches current APMC wholesale commodity rates.

APMC Benchmarks
03
Production Financials

Configure Overheads & Margin

Fine-tune LPG fuel percentage, chef & helper labor allocation, and target profit margin. Instantly verify margin health (Healthy vs Caution).

Margin Guard
04
Commercial Delivery

Export Quotations & Kitchen Lists

Generate executive PDF cost sheets, CSV audit records, instant client email quotations, or push dishes directly into the Multi-Dish Production Planner.

Client Ready

Ready to cost your first commercial recipe?

Zero setup required. Try the calculator instantly with real market rates.

Launch Free Calculator
Commercial Licensing

Transparent Pricing for Commercial Kitchens

Start free to evaluate recipe yields and wholesale benchmarks. Upgrade as your event volume scales.

🚧 CATEROPS Upgrade in Progress

New Subscriptions Temporarily Paused

We are currently deploying the next generation of CATEROPS AI Food Service Intelligence. New paid plan purchases are temporarily paused during this commercial freeze period.

Existing paid subscribers retain full unrestricted access. Free evaluation remains active.

Free Evaluation

Testing & Kitchen Trials
₹0/forever
2 AI calls / day
  • Complete Food Cost Engine access
  • 2 AI recipe yield runs / day
  • APMC wholesale rate lookups
  • Executive PDF & CSV exports
  • Commercial overhead & LPG modeling
Most Popular

Pro Operations

Active Catering Businesses
₹199/month
30 AI calls / day
  • 30 AI recipe generations / day
  • Client quotation & proposal drafter
  • Multi-dish production planner
  • Full recipe saving & project history
  • Priority APMC market updates

New purchases paused during upgrade.

Pro Annual

High-Volume Operations
₹1,499/year
50 AI calls / day
  • 50 AI calculations / day
  • All Pro Operations features
  • Multi-kitchen menu engineering
  • Custom branding on PDF proposals
  • Save 37% vs monthly billing

New purchases paused during upgrade.

Safe & encrypted billing via Razorpay • GST invoicing available on all commercial plans
Product Innovation Roadmap

The Future of Commercial Kitchen Intelligence

We are continuously expanding the CATEROPS operations engine to connect recipes, suppliers, kitchen staff, and client quotations into one unified ecosystem.

Private Beta
Procurement

Vendor PO & Invoice Sync

Export consolidated grocery purchase lists directly to local mandi suppliers and distributors via automated PDF/WhatsApp POs.

In Testing
Profit Intelligence

Menu Engineering Matrix

Classify dishes into Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles, and Dogs based on sales volume and gross margin contribution.

In Development
Centralized Prep

Multi-Kitchen Commissary Sync

Standardize base gravies, marinated meats, and spice blends across central commisaries and satellite event kitchens.

In Development
Instant Access

WhatsApp AI Costing Assistant

Query ingredient rates, check portion yield ratios, and calculate dish food cost directly from kitchen floors over WhatsApp.

Planned
Permissions

Multi-User Kitchen Roles

Separate permissions for Executive Chefs (recipes & yields), Purchase Managers (rates & POs), and Sales Executives (quotations).

Planned
Commodity Watch

Live Mandi Arbitrage Alerts

Alerts when key staples (onions, tomatoes, cooking oil, dairy) experience wholesale price spikes in your APMC region.

Kitchen Operations FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about deterministic food costing, yields, and APMC rates.

How do I calculate food cost accurately for a commercial catering event?
With CATEROPS, simply enter the dish name, specify the cooked portion norm per guest, and your target guest count. Our AI immediately computes the raw ingredient requirements, applies current wholesale market benchmark rates, adds your commercial overheads (commercial LPG cylinders, chef/helper labor, logistics), and renders your true total production cost and suggested per-pax selling price.
What is yield management in catering food costing?
Yield management accounts for cooking loss, shrinkage, bone percentage, and liquid reduction. For example, producing 250g of cooked Biryani requires exact raw norms for raw rice expansion and bone-in mutton shrinkage. CATEROPS reverse-engineers raw ingredient purchase requirements from your final plated portions so you never under-cater or over-purchase.
How does CATEROPS fetch wholesale market benchmark rates?
CATEROPS incorporates regional APMC wholesale commodity indices across major Indian markets including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. You can also edit and lock in your own custom contracted vendor rates at any time.
Is CATEROPS suitable for cloud kitchens and multi-brand delivery concepts?
Yes. Cloud kitchens and delivery-only brands operate on tight margins after aggregator commissions (Swiggy/Zomato) and specialized packaging. CATEROPS helps you engineer recipe food cost percentages down to the rupee before listing items on menus.
How does the AI Client Quotation Generator work?
Once you have calculated and audited the food cost for an event or dish, click 'Draft Quote' and CATEROPS will generate a structured, professional proposal ready to email to your prospective client. It includes the menu specifications, per-pax rate, total cost breakdown, and commercial terms.
Can I configure overheads like commercial LPG, helper labor, and transport?
Yes. You can configure commercial LPG fuel, chef and helper manpower, and electricity as percentage overheads or fixed amounts. These are calculated on top of raw materials to give you true kitchen production costs.
Can I export food cost calculations to PDF and CSV?
Yes. CATEROPS generates professional, executive-ready PDF cost sheets with complete financial tables and margin badges, as well as CSV spreadsheets for accounting, inventory tracking, and chef production files.
Is my proprietary recipe and pricing data secure?
Yes. CATEROPS processes all calculations securely on the server side with enterprise-grade encryption. Your proprietary recipe norms, menu configurations, and margins are private to your authenticated account.
Have a specific operational question?Contact our culinary intelligence team
Deploy Food Service Intelligence

Protect Your Kitchen Margins. Start Engineering Cost Today.

Join thousands of caterers, cloud kitchens, and banquet teams across India who have eliminated recipe guesswork and food wastage.

Launch Food Cost CalculatorOpen Production Planner
Zero setup · Free tier•Immediate APMC wholesale prices•Executive PDF exports