Purchase unit size and the AI suggest button
The purchase unit size (also called the pack size) is the size of the pack your supplier actually sells — expressed in the same unit your recipe uses. If oregano comes in a 500 g bag and your recipe measures in grams, the purchase unit size is 500. It's a fact you can check against the product's label.
Why it matters so much
Your plate cost is worked out as: amount used ÷ purchase unit size × pack price. If the pack size is wrong, every dish using that ingredient is costed wrong — a 500 g bag recorded as 45 g makes the ingredient look eleven times more expensive than it is. It's the single most valuable number to get right in Menu Costing.
Where you'll see it
In a recipe's ingredients table, the Purchase Unit Size (UOM) column shows the pack as sold — e.g. "10 KG" or "6X4.1Kg". In edit mode the same slot is the Pack size field ("in the recipe's unit"), alongside Yield (the % usable after trim and waste) and Usable (pack × yield, worked out for you).
How it gets filled in
Most of the time you don't have to do anything: when the recipe unit and the pack unit are the same kind of measurement (grams and kilograms, say), the conversion is pure arithmetic and happens instantly. Packs sold by count ("box of 56") are read straight off the label too. The system only asks for help when it genuinely can't tell.
The AI suggest button (✨)
Sometimes there's no arithmetic answer — the recipe says "1 bunch" of basil but the supplier sells it by the kilo. That's what the ✨ button next to the ingredient row is for. Tap it and the AI answers one narrow question: how many of the recipe's units are in one pack of this product? It shows you its suggested figure and its reasoning, marked with an amber "✦ AI estimate" chip.
- The suggestion is never applied automatically — it stays an estimate until you confirm it, and confirming marks it as yours.
- You can always just type over the Pack size field with your own number instead.
- The AI now understands worded amounts too — "half bunch" or "1/2 punnet" is read as a half, not a whole.
- If a pack size doesn't match what the product's own name implies, you'll see a "Pack size looks wrong" warning with a one-click fix that adopts the label's value.
A quiet row is a healthy row — when a line shows no chips or warnings, its maths checks out.