Getting started

Heard Chef works best when you set the operating context first, then build recipes and menus inside it. A short setup prevents the same ingredient from using the wrong currency, supplier, or regional price later.

1. Create your account

Choose Start free, confirm your email, and sign in. The first-time setup asks for your language, currency, measurement preferences, and location. You can change these later under Settings → Preferences.

Your location is operational data: sourcing and Price Books use it to keep offers relevant to the market where you actually buy.

2. Create a project

Open Projects and choose New project. A project can represent a restaurant, event, client, venue, opening, class, or production period.

Add the location and currency that apply to that work. Heard Chef creates or connects the Price Book that will hold its suppliers and prices.

If you do not need a project yet, you can still work in the general recipe library and default Price Book.

3. Add a recipe

Open Recipes and choose the path that matches what you have:

• Manual for a new technical sheet;
• AI assistant to describe the dish by text or voice;
• Import for a PDF, spreadsheet, CSV, text file, or photo.

Review imported or generated information before saving. Check yield, ingredient quantities, units, preparation steps, and allergens.

4. Connect ingredient prices

Recipe costs become meaningful after ingredients are matched to products in the active Price Book. You can:

• import a supplier price list;
• match ingredients on the Prices screen;
• search for missing prices with the sourcing assistant;
• select a vendor quote from a shopping list.

Always confirm the Price Book shown near a recipe, Costs, Products & Vendors, or Sourcing before saving a price.

5. Build a menu or shopping list

Use Menus to group recipes into courses or service segments. A planned dish can remain a menu row until you are ready to generate or attach its complete recipe.

Use Shopping Lists to combine selected recipes, scale quantities, compare vendor quotes, and export the purchasing worksheet.

Your first complete workflow

For the fastest useful result:

1. create one project;
2. import one recipe;
3. attach or find prices for its ingredients;
4. review cost per portion;
5. add it to a menu;
6. generate a shopping list.

Continue with Projects and Price Books or Recipes and technical sheets.