PrepFlow

The problem

Small caterers often quote from spreadsheets and memory. Scaling recipes by hand for every event is slow and easy to get wrong, and allergen information gets lost between the menu and the kitchen.

PrepFlow brings recipes, quotes and event planning into one application. Information entered when building a menu carries through to the documents needed to prepare and deliver the job.

How it works

Each quote starts with a customer, an event and a guest count. Browse your recipe folders or search for a dish, add it to the menu, and set how many people it needs to serve.

PrepFlow scales the ingredient quantities from the stored recipes and brings them together into a shopping list. Allergen information stays attached to each dish, helping keep the quote and kitchen paperwork consistent.

A weekly calendar gives an overview of upcoming work. Open a quote to review the details, make changes or prepare the documents for the event. Past quotes can be archived for future reference.

PrepFlow

Recipes in one place

Recipes are organised into folders, making it easier to browse menus and find the right dishes. Each recipe stores its serving count, ingredients, quantities, allergens and preparation notes.

That means the same recipe can be reused across different events without rebuilding the ingredient list each time. Change the number of guests, and the quantities adjust to match.

What we built

• A central recipe collection with folders and search
• Quotes built from selected dishes and guest numbers
• Ingredient quantities that scale automatically
• Allergen information stored against each dish and carried through to the quote
• Shopping lists generated from the final menu
• Customer and event details kept alongside each quote
• A weekly calendar for upcoming jobs
• An archive of previous quotes
• Document exports for customers and kitchen preparation

A custom tool built around the day-to-day work of a small catering business.

Under the hood

PrepFlow is built in C# with Windows Forms as a Windows desktop application. It works with recipe and quote files stored in a chosen data folder, allowing the business to use its existing file organisation.

Document generation uses those stored details to produce the paperwork for each job, reducing repeated typing and keeping information consistent from the initial quote to the shopping list.

Ongoing development

PrepFlow continues to develop around feedback from the people using it, with improvements to the calendar, recipe search, quote management and document exports.