This guide walks an admin through setting up SmartPrep from scratch. By the end you'll have a kitchen tablet activated, a prep list scheduled with pars, checklists running, and a label printer connected — everything your team needs to execute prep consistently and leave a clear paper trail.
Before you start: SmartPrep setup is admin-only. Confirm you're a MarginEdge Admin or Restaurant Admin — the SmartPrep menu items only appear for those roles. You'll also want a tablet (or phone) with the MarginEdge app installed for your kitchen team to access and use for SmartPrep prep lists, checklists, recipe access, and waste log functions.
The 5 Setup Steps
Step 1 — Activate a shared device (tablet)
A shared device lets your whole team sign in with a simple PIN to a line-friendly version of the MarginEdge app — so they can complete prep, view recipes, count inventory, upload invoices, and record waste without ever seeing sensitive financial data. If a device is lost, you can disable it instantly.
On the computer:
Go to Setup → Shared Devices and click Add a device.
Enter a Device Name (a nickname like "Kitchen Tablet 1" or "Bar tablet").
Choose the Location in use (the store this tablet lives in).
Create a 4-digit PIN your team will use to unlock the app.
Click Generate QR Code.
On the tablet: scan the QR code on your computer screen.
TIP: To remove a device later, go to Setup → Shared Devices and remove it. The PIN stops working immediately.
More detailed instructions can be found in this article: Setting Up a Shared Device Tablet
Keep it charged: Set the tablet up with a charger plugged in near where your team will actually use it (on the line, by the prep station). A dead tablet can't scan the PIN screen or run prep, so leaving it charging whenever it's not in someone's hands is the easiest way to avoid downtime.
Step 2 — Confirm your employees
Confirming employees makes sure the right staff names show up in SmartPrep, so you can track who counted, who prepped, and who completed each task. You don't have to create full MarginEdge users or give everyone account access — you're just curating the list of names.
Go to Labor → Employees.
Review the list. Most names are pulled automatically from your POS (the Source column shows where each came from, e.g. SpotOn).
To add someone, click + Add Employee — only First name and Last name are required (job title and other fields are optional and not needed for SmartPrep).
To remove a name from SmartPrep dropdowns, set the employee to Inactive (or delete them).
More information about Labor + Employees in [me]: Labor- Employees Page
Step 3 — Build a prep list: recipes, yields & pars
This is the heart of SmartPrep. You'll turn your existing prep sheet into a repeatable, scheduled prep list, set yields so labels and counting work correctly, and add pars so SmartPrep can start learning and predicting.
(A) Create the template
Go to SmartPrep → Prep List.
Click Create template (top right).
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Give the template a Prep list name.
This can be one long prep list for every day of the week, or can vary by however you complete prep. Do you do brunch on Saturdays and Sundays? If so, you might want to set a Friday & Saturday prep schedule for a specific brunch prep list.
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Add sections as desired. This is not required but can be helpful for organizing your team's workload.
You will automatically see one section but if you'd like to sub-divide your prep by type (such as sauces & dressings, proteins, veggies, etc) you can add and name sections that pertain to your prep types.
(B) Add your recipes
You have two options under "Already have a prep list?":
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Match recipes (recommended, AI): Click Match recipes, then paste your recipe names (one per line, or comma-separated) straight from a spreadsheet or doc. SmartPrep matches them to your active recipes and drafts brand-new recipes for anything it doesn't recognize. Duplicates are skipped automatically. You can drop them into a new or existing section.
Pro Tip: You can always download a list of your current prepared item recipes by navigating to the Recipes tab, clicking on Prepared Items, and clicking the "export as" button to download a CSV of the exact names of each recipe which you can then paste into your Match Recipes modal.
Add a recipe: Add recipes one at a time if you prefer to build by hand.
You can run Match recipes more than once to add additional lists onto the same template — handy if your prep is split across multiple sheets or stations.
(C) Set yields (and shelf life)
For each recipe, set the Yield (required) — how much one batch makes, and your recipe might have more than one yield.
For example, a full batch of a prepared bread item might make 2000 grams which is equivalent to two loaves of bread. For this, you can set up more than one yield from the recipe tab, or you can use a custom count by unit that is not your yield. If this example batch of bread yields 2 loaves but you actually want to count by the 1 each loaf, you should use this custom unit field to make counting that item easier for your prep team.
If you count a recipe by a different unit than its yield (e.g. a dressing yields 23 bottles but you count it by the bottle), set the count-by unit so counting and pars line up.
A note on yields: while your recipe's primary yield may be in ounces, grams, milliliters, or some other smaller smaller units, think critically about what your team will understand as they're executing prep and choose a custom "count-by" unit (think quarts, cambros, sheet trays, half pans) that actually reflects how they store an item once a recipe is prepped.
Though not required, you can also set a Shelf life. This drives the expiration date printed on labels and also influences Multi-Day Prep, which, when enabled, calculates your needed prep including what you have on hand until that batch's expiration date.
If an item expires in a matter of hours or needs to be prepped daily, there is no need to enable Multi-Day Prep.
(D) Schedule the prep list
Scroll to Schedule and click Add schedule, then set:
Days to Display — the days this prep list should appear (Mon–Sun, required).
Time to Display — when it shows up for staff (required).
Time Due — when it should be finished (optional but recommended).
Assigned Stores — which location(s) it applies to (required).
Click Create template. SmartPrep generates prep lists on a rolling 14-day window, creating new ones automatically each day.
Please note: when you need to update a prep list, you'll see two options that allow you to choose whether to apply your changes to the already-published next 14 days of lists and going forward, or JUST the prep lists after that 14 day window. You cannot edit a prep list that is already in use (so if editing a prep list for today, the changes will go into effect tomorrow).
(E) Add pars
Head to the Manage pars tab. You'll see a grid: recipes down the side, the next 14 days across the top. You can select which store or prep list you want to view using the top toggles, or sort by shelf life.
Click any cell to enter a par, or use Edit pars to fill several at once.
This is the step customers most often skip — don't. Plan on ~2–3 days of entering pars by hand. After doing that and completing prep, SmartPrep starts predicting daily quantities (based on on-hand counts + usage + your sales forecast) and you'll see a ✨ icon next to predicted values.
Step 4 — Create checklists
Checklists standardize your daily routines — opening, closing, line checks — so nothing slips. Unlike prep lists, checklist tasks aren't tied to recipes or pars.
Go to SmartPrep → Checklist and click Create checklist.
Add tasks (pull from your task library or add new ones) and choose each task's response type, optional description, and whether a photo is required.
Schedule it just like a prep list — Days to Display, Time to Display, Time Due, and the store(s) it applies to.
Save. Scheduled checklists show a status of Upcoming, Live, or Live – Overdue so you can see at a glance what's on deck.
You can also choose to add unlinked Tasks using the Create Task button - this allows you to create a free-floating task that can be used on multiple Checklists.
Step 5 — Connect the label printer
Label printing generates dissolvable prep labels with expiration dates based on each recipe's shelf life — keeping your team compliant, organized, and on FIFO. SmartPrep supports the Zebra ZD411 (included in the SmartPrep hardware bundle, or buy your own).
Set up the printer:
Plug in the printer with the included power cord and turn it on.
Open it and load the included labels face up.
Close it and press the pause button to activate — a green status light means it's ready.
Connect it in MarginEdge:
Go to Settings → Printers.
Wait for the system to discover the printer, then click Connect. Once connected, it stays available for future printing.
Print a label: Go to View Recipes (or print during prep) → select a recipe → confirm the expiration date (from shelf life) → choose your name and the number of labels → Print Label.