Catch the drift before it compounds. Avocado up 14% week-over-week? You'll know Monday morning, not at the quarter-end.
El Contador pulls Toast COGS every night, reads every Sysco + Restaurant Depot + PFG invoice (OCR), reconciles against recipe specs, and pings Jesse the moment item margin moves more than 3% week-over-week. With three actions already drafted: re-spec the recipe, raise the menu price, or swap the vendor. Quote sheets auto-sync to catering.
Step 01
Margin baselines · per item
Target food-cost % is the slider. Current % is computed nightly from Toast sales + ingested invoices. Drift is week-over-week.
2 red · 3 yellow · 5 green
Showing 10 of 47 menu items — sorted by margin contribution. Full menu monitored in production.
Item
Menu price
Target FC%
Current FC%
Drift WoW
28-day
Margin $
Carnitas Burrito · w/ guac
$14.50
28%
34.8%
▲ +6.8%
$9.45
Carne Asada Tacos (3)
$13.00
28%
32.1%
▲ +4.1%
$8.83
Birria Bowl
$16.00
30%
31.4%
▲ +1.4%
$10.97
Fish Tacos (2) · w/ crema + avo
$14.00
29%
36.2%
▲ +7.2%
$8.93
Chicken Quesadilla
$11.50
26%
26.8%
▲ +0.8%
$8.42
Family Pack of 4
$44.00
31%
32.2%
▲ +1.2%
$29.83
Catering Buffet · per person
$18.00
32%
35.6%
▲ +3.6%
$11.59
Chips + Salsa Trio
$7.50
22%
21.4%
▼ -0.4%
$5.90
Horchata · 16oz
$4.50
19%
19.2%
— +0.2%
$3.64
Elote · side
$5.00
24%
22.8%
▼ -1.2%
$3.86
Step 02
Drift sensitivity · alert thresholds
How sensitive El Contador's nose is. Lower thresholds = more noise. Default is 3% mild / 6% severe.
Tuned 6 days ago
3.0% WoW
1%5%10%
Item is monitored, shows yellow in heat map. No ping.
6.0% WoW
1%5%10%
Triggers Jesse's cell + Josh's email immediately.
4.0%
1%5%10%
Independent — watches ingredient-side drift even if menu margin stays flat.
3.0%
1%5%10%
Independent — watches contribution-side drift even if recipe cost holds.
3 weeks · same direction
2 weeks3 weeks5 weeks
If an item drifts in the same direction for 3 weeks straight — even if each week is sub-threshold — El Contador treats it as a real trend and pings P1. Catches the slow bleed.
Step 03
Vendor flag panel · this month
Drift contribution per vendor. "Above expected" = invoice total vs. trailing 90-day baseline at same volume.
Frying oil contract price renegotiated 5/1, locked through Sept. Win.
-$22
Local farm CSA
Specialty produce · weekly
Spring herbs + nopales bumped slightly. Worth keeping for menu story.
+$45
Step 04
Action templates · what El Contador proposes
When drift fires, these are the moves El Contador drafts. Toggle off any you never want to see suggested.
5 templates active
Re-spec the recipe
Example: use 2.5oz avocado instead of 3oz on the Carnitas Burrito. Saves $0.42 per serving. At 80 servings/wk = $33.60/wk recovered. Jesse signs off before it goes live in the Toast recipe.
On
Raise the menu price
Example: +$0.50 on the Carnitas Burrito = +$40/wk in margin. Elasticity model warns ~4% volume loss → net +$30/wk. Posts a tiny test menu first if Jesse wants the data.
On
Swap the vendor
El Contador pulls quotes side-by-side from Sysco, Restaurant Depot, and PFG. Auto-checks for case-size and pack-out differences (the trap most cost software misses). Recommended switch attached.
On
Run a special to draw down inventory
If walk-in is sitting on $400 of beef chuck and the next Sysco delivery is in 3 days — push a birria-bowl special at lunch. Sells through aging product before spoilage hits.
On
Update the catering quote sheet
Per-person catering price auto-recalcs the moment ingredient drift crosses threshold. Pushes the new sheet to M1 Catering Pipeline so El Concierge stops quoting at last month's margins. (Toggle OFF if Jesse wants manual sign-off each time.)
Auto
Step 05
Alert routing · who gets pinged when
Severity decides the channel. The goal is zero noise during service — and zero silence at 3% drift week three.
4 routes active
Mild · Yellow
1 item drifting 3-6% WoW — folds into Jesse's Monday morning digest email. No interruption during service.
→ jesse@roxannestaqueria.com
Severe · Red
Any item over 6% WoW — Jesse's cell SMS + Josh's email immediately. Repeats every 24h until acknowledged.
→ Jesse cell · Josh email
Compound · P1
3 weeks same direction, even sub-threshold — treated as P1. Josh's cell SMS, dashboard banner, included in retro deck.
→ Josh cell · dashboard
Vendor · >$200
Any vendor over $200 above expected — both partners pinged with the side-by-side comparison quotes from competitors attached.
→ Both · quotes attached
Live · refreshed 06:14
This week's top drifters
Sorted by dollar impact, not just %. Click the action to draft it.
Avocado items · Carnitas, Fish Tacos
+6.8%
$108/wk margin at risk · 5 items affected
Beef chuck items · Carne Asada, Birria
+4.1%
$64/wk margin at risk · seasonal pattern likely
Tortillas · all wraps + sides
+0.2%
Flat · within noise floor
Catering buffet · per-person cost
+3.6%
Quote sheet already auto-updated
Frying oil · all fried items
-1.8%
Cisco contract lock · holds through Sept
This month at a glance
May 1 → May 27 · 27 days closed
Total food cost
$42,180
Target
$39,800
Variance
+$2,380 · +6.0%
Above plan. Avocado + beef carrying ~85% of the gap.
Items by status
▲ 2 red▲ 3 yellow5 green
Catering quote sheet · auto-synced
El Contador updated the per-person catering price 2 days ago to reflect beef chuck + avocado drift. New sheet pushed to M1 Catering Pipeline so El Concierge quotes accurate margins on the next inbound call.
$19.00 pp$18.00
Auto-update catering quotes when drift > 3%
All changes auto-saved · 10 items monitored · 5 vendors connected · next pull at midnight