Restricting Recipes to Specific Restaurant Units

If you have more than one restaurant with MarginEdge, then you most likely have a shared database of Products and Recipes. So by default, a recipe you create will be shared across all units in your Concept.

If you wish to restrict a recipe so that it is only viewable at some of your restaurant units, you can follow the instructions below to do so.

PROTIP: It's best to think about this as you are creating your recipes so that it's set up correctly from the beginning. Fixing it later can be cumbersome. 

Article Contents

• Prep vs. Menu Recipes - Plan Carefully
• Definitions
  • How do I choose the units?
  • When can a recipe NOT be restricted?
• Deep Dive on Recipe Restrictions - Video
• Step by Step Instructions
• Troubleshooting - But what if it won't let me check the box?
• Recipe Restriction Permissions Matrix

Prep vs. Menu Recipes - Plan Carefully

Take note of how Prep recipes interact with Menu recipes. If you want to restrict Prep recipes, we recommend you always start by restricting the Menu recipes FIRST. Work backwards from there - find all Menu recipes you want to restrict and then go through and restrict the associated Prep recipes. Otherwise you may end up with conflicting permissions and not get the desired results.

This checkbox defines whether a recipe is global or restricted:

• Unchecked → The recipe is Global.

• Checked → The recipe is Restricted.

How do I choose the units? 

When checked, you can choose which restaurants can access the recipe via a searchable list.

• You will only be able to select a unit in which you have the correct permissions (i.e. Sous Chef, Restaurant Admin, MarginEdge Admin)
  • Units that are not accessible to a particular user will show as disabled. 
• Choose "Select All" to grant access to all current restaurants shown in the list.
  • A recipe that is restricted to all units in the Concept is not the same as the recipe being "Global". A global recipe will automatically be shared with any new units that get added later, but a recipe that was restricted before this new unit exiested will not inherit any viewing permissions. 

When can a recipe NOT be restricted?

1. If it appears on a count sheet for that unit
   • If the recipe is on the unit’s count sheet for inventory purposes, you will not be able to restrict it.
2. If it is used as an ingredient in a recipe shared with other units
   • If the recipe is used as an ingredient in another recipe that is available in another unit, then it cannot be restricted from that unit.
     In other words: if Recipe A is an ingredient in Recipe B that is shared with Unit 1, then Recipe A must also be available in Unit 1.
3. If it is PMIX-mapped for that unit
   • If you have PMIX mapping linked to a recipe in a given unit then that recipe cannot be restricted from that unit. It must be unmapped first.

Deep Dive on Recipe Restrictions

Help! But what if it won't let me check the box? 

Want to restrict a recipe but it seems to not give you that option?

1) Check to make sure you have the correct user permissions. You must be a user in ALL locations in order to restrict a recipe.

2) It may be because the recipe contains another recipe as an ingredient, or it is itself used in another recipe. When a receipe is used in another global recipe, you will not be able to restrict it. 

When restricting Prep recipes, we recommend you always start by restricting the Menu recipes FIRST. Work backwards from there, meaning find all menu recipes you want to restrict and then go through and restrict the associated Prep recipes.

If you have a Prep recipe that is used in different recipes, some of which you may not want to restrict, you may end up needing to make a copy of the Prep recipe so that you can achieve the different restriction levels. 

Recipe Restriction Permissions Matrix