ClearCOGS Blog
How to Build a Restaurant Prep Sheet (Free Template)
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS Quick answer: A restaurant prep sheet should list each item, the unit you make it …
When Should a Manager Override the Forecast?
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS Quick answer: A manager should override a recommended prep or order quantity only when they …
2026 Food Costs: What’s Rising, by How Much, and What You Still Control
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS Quick answer: Restaurant ingredient costs are moving unevenly in 2026. USDA’s September outlook forecasts wholesale …
Visibility Is a Brand Standard
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS Every franchise system has a list of things a franchisee cannot change. The recipe. The …
You Cannot Make Half a Batch
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS Quick Answer: A forecast can predict demand to a decimal point. A kitchen produces in …
Prep Hours and Line Hours Are Not the Same
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS Quick Answer: Almost no restaurant knows how long its prep actually takes. Back-of-house hours are …
The Last Batch Decides Your Waste
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS Quick Answer: The final batch of the day should be sized to the demand remaining …
Ordering to Be Safe Is Still a Guess
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS Somewhere in most restaurant groups this month, a leader will open a purchasing report, see …
Setting It Up Was Never the Hard Part
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS Plenty of restaurant groups have set up an inventory and recipe system properly. A surprising …
Three a Day Is Harder to Forecast Than Three Hundred
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS An operator running a growing group in a smaller market described her problem to me …
Your Sales History Isn’t Your Demand History
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS Quick Answer: No, they are not the same thing. Your point of sale records what …
The Guest Count Is Only Half the Answer
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS A server once came to my table after a youth soccer game and whispered, in …
You’re Not Ordering for Next Week
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS Quick Answer: A weekly order almost never covers seven days. It has to cover the …
The Lunch Rush Is Won at 9am
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS Almost every business case for prep forecasting gets built on the cost side. Less waste, …
Cheap to Buy, Expensive to Make
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS There is a sentence I have heard in some version from almost every operator I …
How Accurate Does a Prep Forecast Need to Be?
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS Quick Answer: There is no single accuracy number that makes a prep forecast good. Accuracy …
Ask the Vendor About Their Worst Customer
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS There is a moment in most software evaluations that decides the outcome, and it does …
Hotels Forecast Rooms. Why Not the Restaurant?
By Matt Wampler, CEO of ClearCOGS Walk into the revenue office of almost any hotel and ask how many guests will …
