Food Intelligence
Overused ingredients quietly reduce margin. OpsIntel shows where.
Theoretical vs actual usage by item and store, portion drift detection, and the estimated margin you can recover by correcting it — tracked continuously, not discovered at period close.
The problem
Food cost drifts in ways reports don’t explain
Food cost rarely jumps — it creeps. A heavier portion here, prep waste there, an unrecorded remake on a busy night. Period-end reports say food cost is up, but not which item, which store, or since when — so the correction always starts a period late.
How OpsIntel solves it
Continuous variance, traced to the item
OpsIntel tracks theoretical versus actual usage by ingredient, item, and store — continuously, not at close. Drift is flagged within days, carries an estimated margin impact, and arrives with suggested operational corrections, so the most expensive problems get fixed first.
Food cost analysis
Large Pepperoni Pizza
Midtown
Cheese usage above standard
Observed variance
+8.4%
Weekly impact
$620
Margin opportunity
+2.0%
- Review portioning consistency
- Check prep station compliance
- Reconfirm recipe standards
Labor analysis
Schedule variance
Harbor Glen
Actual labor above schedule
Labor variance
+2.1 pts
Weekly impact
$480
Potential overtime exposure requires review.
Key capabilities
Variance by item, store, and period
Know which ingredient, which store, and since when — not just that food cost is up.
Margin recovery, quantified
Every variance carries an estimated impact, so you fix the expensive problems first.
Portion drift caught early
Small over-portioning patterns surface in days, before they compound across a period.
Actionable next steps
Portioning review, prep compliance, recipe reconfirmation — signals arrive with suggested corrections.
What changes for the business
Variance caught in days, not periods
Portion drift surfaces while it is still a habit, not a period-close write-off.
Corrections ranked by impact
Estimated margin impact on every variance means effort goes where money is leaking.
Calmer period closes
When food cost moves, you already know why — the explanation was tracked as it happened.
Common questions
Where do the usage numbers come from?
From the POS and inventory data your operation already produces. OpsIntel compares what was sold against expected ingredient usage to compute variance.
Does it require new inventory counts?
No new counting workflow is imposed. OpsIntel works from the counts and sales data your existing process generates.
How are impact estimates calculated?
Variance is multiplied by ingredient cost to estimate the exposure. Estimates are always labeled as estimates — OpsIntel never presents a projection as an actual.
Can I see variance for a single menu item?
Yes. Variance breaks down by ingredient, menu item, store, and period, so you can trace a food cost move to its specific driver.
Find the margin hiding in your food cost.
See it running against a live multi-store operation in a 30-minute walkthrough.
Explore more of the platform