In hospitality, sometimes even the best menu can’t save you if margins are being eaten away by unpredictable and variable costs. From meat and seafood to pantry staples and fresh produce, supplier prices can fluctuate constantly and often without warning. Cost unpredictability is a challenge that many venues face, which is just one of the reasons why My Local Foodie developed Australia’s leading end-to-end kitchen management software, Costimator.
Designed to streamline operations, enhance visibility, and optimise profitability, Costimator empowers chefs and venue operators to make smarter, data-driven decisions across every part of the business. At the core however, is one of it’s most powerful features – live pricing. This automatically syncs supplier pricing across all facets of this kitchen management software in real time, updating recipes, menu items and margins instantly as prices change. No manual updates. No delays in updating recipe items. And no second-guessing whether that dish is still profitable. Just complete visibility and control across your kitchen operations.
How Live Pricing Can Work for You
Whenever a supplier updates a price, it’s reflected live in Costimator. This means your dish costs are always current, and your venue can pivot quickly in response to these changes. For example, if a key ingredient spikes in price, you’ll instantly see how it affects your menu and you can adjust your portions, switch ingredients, or engineer smarter alternatives before the extra costs hit your bottom line.
But it’s not all about the tech and food costing software. Backed by our experienced business support team and dedicated Client Success Managers, you’ll have the guidance and insights to confidently run a more consistent, profitable and future-ready kitchen. To further support chefs, the My Local Foodie team negotiate locked-in pricing with our supplier partners. For dry, chilled, and frozen goods, pricing is secured for a minimum of three months. For fruit and vegetables, which naturally fluctuate more often, pricing is locked in on a weekly basis.
This feature is a key to My Local Foodie’s 5-step method – ‘Buy, Cost, Count, Link, Report’ – a proven system that helps hospitality venues operate more profitably, efficiently, and confidently. Here’s how it works:
BUY – The team at My Local Foodie manage strategic food procurement by connecting you with trusted, vetted suppliers who offer competitive, stable pricing on quality ingredients, all while reducing the admin and hassle of sourcing. Place orders easily, source sustainable pantry items, and optimise your buying habits. With Costimator, deliveries can be received, orders reconciled, and then integrated with most leading accounts systems, all from one central platform.
COST – Build a menu skeleton and cost recipes based on pantry items, then link them directly to your POS system. Share recipe cards with your team, add methods and photos, and review
costs together with the team to ensure actual expenses align with expectations. Also, with Costimator’s Live Pricing feature, every ingredient price is automatically updated in real time, giving you full visibility across your recipes, menu items, and margins with no manual updates required.
COUNT – Costimator’s customisable stocktake system is quick to set up, easy to use, and audit-friendly, allowing real-time counting across multiple devices. Facilitating accurate stock counts and inventory tracking helps to eliminate waste and reduce over-ordering, so that you always know what’s on hand and what each dish costs to produce. This leads to better ordering decisions and improved kitchen efficiency.
LINK – Seamlessly integrate POS systems and accounting software to centralise data in one place. In addition, menu ingredients, suppliers, and recipes are also integrated into the one platform giving you control and clarity across your kitchen. Any price changes from a supplier flows straight through to your recipe costings, mitigating the risk of unprofitable menu items.
REPORT – Have access to key metrics, visual reports, and custom analytics. From quick snapshots to detailed insights, Costimator helps venues make data-driven decisions with ease. The My Local Foodie team also provide regular impact reports to help keep you informed about upcoming price changes and supply trends which allows you to plan ahead, adjust your menus, and maintain profitability. No surprises, just smart decisions.
This approach brings predictability to your kitchen and enables seasonal menu planning with greater accuracy without the unforeseen price hikes catching you off guard or silently draining profits. And when prices are set to shift, those impact reports are sent in advance, helping venues prepare and adapt as soon as possible.
By removing the guesswork out of menu engineering, Live Pricing helps chefs focus on what they do best: crafting great food and leading passionate teams. Chefs will also be able to tweak dishes for better margins, test new, creative ideas without risk, and manage food costs down to the dollar, all while staying true to their brand and quality standards.
Want to see it all in action?
Visit www.mylocalfoodie.com.au to learn more or book your free demo today.
