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 user roles. You'll also want a tablet (or phone) with the MarginEdge app installed that's ready for the kitchen.
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
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).
Give the template a Prep list name.
(B) Add your recipes
You have two options under "Already have a prep list?":
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.
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. Optionally set a Shelf life, which drives the expiration date printed on labels. 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.
(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).
Time to Display — when it shows up for staff (required).
Time Due — when it should be finished (optional).
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.
(E) Add pars
Back on the Manage pars tab you'll see a grid: recipes down the side, the next 14 days across the top, by store. Click any cell to enter a par, or use Edit pars to fill several at once. Use "Add all missing pars to start predictions" to get going fast.
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.
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.