Best way to build a portioning & yield calculator in Excel?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some help and inspiration from this community to develop an Excel-based tool for portioning and production planning, specifically aimed at public kitchens (such as schools, kindergartens, and institutional canteens).

The goal is to create a practical and user-friendly calculator that can:

• Adjust recipes based on the number of servings
• Help estimate raw ingredient quantities
• Account for yield, waste, and cooking loss
• Support efficient production planning in a busy kitchen environment

Ideally, the tool should be simple enough for kitchen staff to use but still robust enough to handle real-world variables like changing menus, seasonal ingredients, and different portion sizes.

I come from a professional kitchen background, so I understand the practical needs—but I’d really appreciate input from people with strong Excel skills on how to structure this in the best way.

Some specific questions:

• How would you structure the data (tables, sheets, etc.)?
• Any good examples or templates I could learn from?
• Tips for making it both flexible and easy to maintain?

If anyone has worked on something similar—or just has ideas—I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks in advance