How to Build a Restaurant Prep List App

Kitchen prep lists live on laminated sheets, whiteboards and in one chef's head. The sheet gets wet, the whiteboard gets wiped, and the chef has a day off.

What version one needs

1. Prep lists by day and section. Sunday prep is not Tuesday prep, and larder is not grill.
2. Quantities that scale. "Make 4 litres of stock" when you are expecting 80 covers, not 200.
3. Tick off as you go, visible to everyone on shift.
4. A carry-over view — what did not get done yesterday is the first thing today's shift needs.
5. Par levels per item, so the list can tell you what is short rather than you counting.

Leave out: ordering, supplier management, costing. Every kitchen already has a system for those and replacing it is a much bigger project.

Starting prompt

Build a kitchen prep list app for iOS and Android. Prep templates are organised by day of the week and kitchen section. Each item has a name, a target quantity, a unit, and a par level. Staff on shift tick items complete, and everyone sees the current state in real time. Anything not completed carries over to the next day's list flagged as outstanding. Include a manager view to edit templates and see completion rates by section over the last 30 days.

The honest hard part

Kitchens are hostile to phones. Wet hands, hot surfaces, gloves, and staff who genuinely do not have a spare hand. If the app takes more than two taps per item it loses to the laminated sheet, and the laminated sheet is a strong incumbent.

Design for one-handed use with large tap targets, and consider a shared tablet on the pass rather than personal phones.

Cost

Subscription $25–50/month · Equivalent developer quote $15,000–35,000

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