The first food-business app in the Metre2 portfolio
A local-first master record for food product recipes, costs and allergen information - replacing the usual mix of spreadsheets, supplier PDFs and Word labels. Nested sub-recipe costing, an automatic 14-allergen matrix, and version approval with full history, for bakeries, caterers, delis and small food producers who have outgrown spreadsheets but don't need a full food-manufacturing system or ERP.
Every recipe's version, status, cost and allergens at a glance
A sortable, paginated ingredient library with supplier and unit costs
Automatic allergen roll-up, with a clear compliance disclaimer on every output
Batch/unit/portion costing plus a target-margin selling price calculator
Nested sub-recipes with cycle-safe composition building
Method/instructions kept alongside each recipe's costing and allergens
Automatic "contains" matrix plus a freeform may-contain advisory
Quick-edit any ingredient's supplier, pack cost and allergen flags
Supplier, pack size, pack cost and unit cost for every raw ingredient, plus its allergen flags across all 14 UK/EU regulated allergens - one source of truth for costing and labelling.
A recipe can include another recipe as an "ingredient" - a pastry case inside a tart, a base sauce inside a dish. Costing and allergens roll up through any depth of nesting.
Yield and portions drive a real cost roll-up - batch cost, cost per unit of yield, and cost per portion - computed live as ingredients, sub-recipes or quantities change.
Set a target gross margin percentage and see the suggested selling price per portion, calculated straight from the recipe's own portion cost - no separate spreadsheet needed.
Every "Contains" flag rolls up automatically from every ingredient in a recipe, including nested sub-recipes - plus a separate freeform "may contain" precautionary advisory field.
Change a recipe's composition, method or allergen data and a new version is created automatically with a change note - old versions are retained and viewable, current version carries an explicit "approved" flag.
A recipe sheet, an allergen sheet, and a kitchen/production sheet, each opened as a print preview you can save to PDF - every allergen sheet carries the compliance disclaimer.
Search ingredients or recipes by name, supplier or category, and export either list to CSV - ingredient unit costs and rolled-up recipe costs and allergens included.
"Load sample data" fills the app with a realistic ingredient library and a small set of recipes - including a nested sub-recipe - so there's real content to explore immediately.
A one-click theme toggle that persists between sessions, matching the shared look and feel across every Metre2 desktop app.
Everything lives in local storage on your device - no account, no server, no internet connection required to use it day to day.
Every allergen and recipe output Metre2 Recipe & Allergen Costing produces is a working record only - it is not a substitute for professional food-safety or legal review. Always verify against current FSA/GOV.UK allergen guidance before using it for real labelling, menus or customer-facing purposes. This disclaimer appears on every allergen sheet and allergen tab the app generates.
Most small food businesses sit at one of two extremes: a spreadsheet plus a Word label template that gets harder to trust as recipes multiply, or a full food-manufacturing/ERP system built for a production line, not a kitchen. Here's how a focused recipe-and-allergen record compares.
| Feature | Metre2 Recipe & Allergen Costing | A spreadsheet + Word labels | A full food-manufacturing/ERP system |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | £4.99 one-off after a 24-hour trial | Free, but your own time to build and maintain | Often a substantial monthly subscription per site/user |
| Nested sub-recipe costing, resolved automatically | ✓ | ✕ (manual, error-prone formula chains) | ✓ (often more setup than you need) |
| Automatic 14-allergen roll-up matrix | ✓ | ✕ (manual tick-boxes, easy to miss a nested item) | ✓ |
| Version approval with retained history | ✓ | ✕ (usually just the latest file overwritten) | ✓ |
| Set up and usable within a day, no training course | ✓ | ✓ (but no structure to it) | ✕ (implementation projects, staff training) |
| Works fully offline, no account required | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ (usually cloud-hosted, seat-based) |
General comparison as of August 2026 - features and pricing vary by spreadsheet template and by food-manufacturing/ERP vendor. Not sponsored by or affiliated with any food-software vendor.
Bakeries, caterers, delis and small food producers who have outgrown spreadsheets, supplier PDFs and Word labels for recipe costing and allergen information, but don't need a full food-manufacturing system or ERP.
Yes - a recipe can include another recipe as an "ingredient" (for example a pastry case used inside a tart). Costing and allergens roll up automatically through any depth of nesting.
The 14 UK/EU regulated allergens: celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, and sulphur dioxide/sulphites - flagged per ingredient and rolled up automatically per recipe, including through nested sub-recipes.
No. Every allergen and recipe output the app produces carries a visible compliance disclaimer - it is a working record only, not a substitute for professional food-safety or legal review. Always verify against current FSA/GOV.UK allergen guidance before using it for real labelling.
Every ingredient has a supplier, pack size and pack cost, giving a unit cost. A recipe's batch cost rolls up every ingredient (and nested sub-recipe) against its batch yield, then divides by portions for a per-portion cost. A target-margin view suggests a selling price for a given gross margin percentage.
Whenever a recipe's composition, method or allergen data changes, a new version is created automatically with a required change note. Older versions are retained and viewable in full, and the current version carries an explicit "approved" flag you set once you're happy with it.
A recipe sheet, an allergen sheet, and a kitchen/production sheet, each opened as a print preview (Ctrl+P / window print) so you can save to PDF - the same window.print() pattern used across other Metre2 apps with printable documents.
No POS, online ordering, warehouse control, production scheduling, full HACCP management or ERP. This app focuses on doing recipe specs, costing and allergen information exceptionally well, not becoming a platform.
Everything is stored locally on your device between sessions - nothing is uploaded to a server. The app works entirely offline, with no account required to store recipes and ingredients.