An order is made of Events — the individual functions you cater (e.g. Mehendi Dinner, Wedding Lunch). Each event has its own date, guest count, menu and costing. The menu is a list of Menu Items drawn from your master Items Table, each with a quantity.
Add an event
- Open the order (Core → Orders → Manage) and go to the Events tab, or use sidebar Order Actions → Events & Menus and pick the order.
- Click Add Event.
- Fill in Event Name (from your Event Types Table), Event Date, End Time, Guests, and an optional Description.
- If you cook non-veg, the guests box is called Total Guests and a Non-Veg Guests box sits under it — how many of the total take the non-veg dishes (the veg guests are the rest, shown under the box as you type). Leave it blank when you do not track it; the event then behaves as if everyone eats everything. The box appears only when What we cook (Preferences → General) is not Pure Veg, and is called Egg Guests for Veg + Egg.
- Click Save.
Repeat for each function in the order. Delete All Events removes every event from the order at once — use with care.
Each event row has an Actions menu with Raw Materials, Items Based Raw Materials, Cookware, Serveware & Cutlery, Services & Misc Expenses, Cost Breakdown, Print Event Menu and Print Item Quantities.
Build the menu
Open the event → Menu (or Order Actions → Events & Menus → the event). The menu screen has the master items list on one side and the event's menu on the other.
Adding items
- Filter the master list by Item Type or search by Item Name, tick the items, then click Insert (Insert selected items to the menu).
- To put items under a heading such as Starters or Desserts, choose a Sub-menu first (from your Sub-Menu Types Table) and insert with it. Sub-menus control grouping on the printed menu.
- Auto suggest 25 / 50 menu items inserts a balanced menu from your master list — a quick starting point that you then edit.
- GenAI Menu Items generates a menu from a text description, optionally with quantities.
Quantities
Every menu item shows a Qty Hint — the quantity Neviscater suggests — and a Quoted Qty you can override.
The suggestion works like this:
- Each Item Type has an average consumption per guest (set it under Application Setup → Average Consumption).
- That per-guest amount × Guests gives the total for the type (e.g. Sweets: 80 g × 200 guests = 16 kg).
- The total is split across all menu items of that type. By default the split is equal; give an item a higher or lower Consumption Weightage (%) (on the item, under Menu Behavior) to shift the share.
So adding a second sweet does not double the sweets — it divides the same total between two dishes. Change Guests on the event and all quantities recalculate.
Veg and non-veg guests
When the event has a Non-Veg Guests count, each item type's total is worked out in two parts:
- The veg guests' part (guests minus non-veg guests × average consumption) is shared among the veg and unmarked dishes of the type only.
- The non-veg guests' part (non-veg guests × average consumption) is shared among every dish of the type, veg and non-veg alike — a non-veg guest takes from the paneer too.
So a type that holds only non-veg dishes (e.g. Non-Veg Starters) is sized for the non-veg guests alone, and a type that holds only veg dishes gets exactly what it would without the split. Example: Main Course 100 g/guest, 1200 guests of whom 300 non-veg, Paneer and Chicken on the menu — the non-veg part is 30 kg shared by both (15 kg each), the veg part is 90 kg to Paneer alone: Paneer 105 kg, Chicken 15 kg, 120 kg in all.
An item that is Not marked counts as veg, so mark your non-veg and egg dishes before relying on the split — see Items and Recipes → Veg / Non-Veg. Egg dishes are sized with the non-veg guests.
When you change the counts with Update item quantities ticked, non-veg and egg dishes scale by the change in Non-Veg Guests and the other dishes by the change in Guests. Entering a split for the first time does not move the saved quantities by itself; click Auto suggest menu item quantities to re-suggest from it. The split is printed in the event header of menus and of the item-wise raw materials sheet as Total guests: 1200 ( 300 Non-Veg ), listed against each event in a Kitchen Plan, and carried into catalog menus, backups and copies of the event.
To use your own number, type it in Quoted Qty and click Update Quoted Quantity (or Auto suggest menu item quantities to go back to the hints).
Where a hint comes from
The Qty Hint follows the first rule that can answer, in this order:
- The item's own quantity per guest — set on the item under Menu Behavior → Quantity per guest, in the item's own unit. Such an item is sized on its own (figure × guests) and takes no share of its type's total, so the other dishes of the type share the whole total between them. The hint shows ✎ when you typed the figure and ✦ when it is an accepted AI estimate.
- The item type's average consumption, shared among the type's dishes as described above. No glyph.
- Nothing — the cell shows Estimate (when AI suggestions are available) instead of a zero.
Hover a hint to see the arithmetic behind it, or the reason nothing could be suggested (no average consumption on the type, a unit that does not convert, mixed units within the type).
Suggest quantities with AI
Actions → Suggest quantities with AI asks an AI model to size the whole menu at once: it sees the occasion, the guest count and its Veg / Non-Veg split, your region and every item with its type, unit and weight per piece, and replies with a per-guest figure for each item, in the item's own unit, with a one-line reason. Because it sees the whole menu, twelve starters get less each than three would — something a per-type average cannot know.
Nothing is written until you review:
- Choose Empty rows only (items with no hint, or with Quoted Qty still 0) or All rows (a fresh opinion on every item) and click Get suggestions.
- Check the rows. Each shows the current hint, the AI figure per guest, the AI total and the reason. A row marked far from setup differs from your own type average by three times or more — look before you apply. Rows with no hint or no quoted quantity are ticked by default.
- Choose Qty Hint only or Quoted Qty too, then Apply.
Applied figures are saved on each item as its Quantity per guest (rule 1 above, marked ✦), so every menu that uses the item suggests from them from then on and no further AI call is needed; changing the guest count simply recomputes. Retype the figure on the item to make it your own, or clear it to go back to the type's average.
A single empty row can be sized on its own: click Estimate in its Qty Hint cell. It is sized in the context of the whole menu and saved on the item straight away.
The option appears only when AI suggestions are configured for your Neviscater server. Every call is logged for usage metering.
Menu item properties
Click an item in the menu to open Menu Item Properties:
- This item is bought ready made / This item is bought as a service — the item is procured from a Vendor instead of cooked in-house; it is then excluded from raw-material calculations and appears under Procurement with the vendor and rate.
- Skip this item while printing menu — keep it in calculations but off the printed customer menu.
- Hidden items are shown with a muted style.
Catalog menus
A Catalog Menu is a saved menu you can reuse across orders.
- Export To Catalog saves the current event menu under a Catalog File Name.
- Import from Catalog → Show Catalog → pick a catalog → Import Catalog Menu. Tick Import / Update Event's Quoted rate also to bring the quoted rate with it.
- Manage saved catalogs under Application Setup → Menus Catalog.
Costing and the quoted rate
On the event's Overview/Pricing section:
- Calculated Rate — the cost per Order Measuring Unit (plate/person) derived from menu item rates, disposables and expenses. See Cost Breakdown for the detail: Menu Items Cost, Disposables Cost, Other Expenses.
- Quoted Rate (also called Specified Rate) — what you charge the customer per plate. Click it to change it.
The quoted rate is shown in green when it is at or above the calculated rate and red when it is below (Quoted rate is less than calculated rate). The customer bill uses the quoted rate × guests when a quoted rate is set, otherwise the calculated rate; see Bills and Payments.
Rates for expenses marked adjusted in the calculated rate are folded into the per-plate rate; others appear as separate lines on the bill.
Printing the menu
Event Actions → Print Event Menu produces a PDF grouped by sub-menu, honouring Skip this item while printing menu. Print Item Quantities produces the kitchen sheet with quantities per item. Printing options (logo, template, language) live under Application Setup → PDF Templates and Preferences.
Common questions
Quantities are blank or zero. The item type has no average consumption, or the item's unit cannot be converted to the item type's unit. Hover the Qty Hint cell for the exact reason. Set Average Consumption for the type and check the Units Table, give the item its own Quantity per guest, or click Estimate in the cell to let the AI size it.
The AI figure is nothing like mine. It is a suggestion, flagged far from setup when it differs from your type average by three times or more. Untick the row, or apply it and retype the figure on the item under Menu Behavior → Quantity per guest. Your own figure always wins over the AI's and over the type's average.
I applied AI quantities and now another event's hints changed too. The figure is saved on the item, not on the menu, so every menu using that item suggests from it. Clear Quantity per guest on the item to return it to the type's average.
I changed the guests but the bill did not change. The event has a fixed Quoted Rate; the bill is quoted rate × guests, so confirm the new guest count is saved on the event. The Veg / Non-Veg split does not change pricing: one quoted rate still applies to every guest.
I entered Non-Veg Guests but the quantities did not change. Saved quantities only move when a count changes with Update item quantities ticked. Use Auto suggest menu item quantities to re-suggest every item from the split, or read the new Qty Hint column.
There is no Non-Veg Guests box. What we cook (Preferences → General) is Pure Veg. Set it to Veg + Non-Veg — or Veg + Egg, where the box is called Egg Guests.
I switched to Pure Veg; what happens to the counts I had entered? They are kept but have no effect: quantities are suggested and scaled for the total guests only, as if no split had been entered, and nothing is printed. Saving an event or a catalog menu meanwhile keeps its count in proportion to the guests. Switch back and every split is there again.
The order is locked and I cannot edit the menu. Move the order back to Booked; see Order status lifecycle.