How do I prepare my restaurant’s recipes and plating guides for handover?

Start with the menu and sort the dishes by how often they sell and how complicated they are. Begin with the signatures and the busiest items. For each, record ingredients with quantities, supplier notes for anything particular, prep steps, cooking times and temperatures, and holding rules.

Add plating guides. A photo of the finished plate, the plate type, portion size and garnish settle most arguments on the line. Include allergens and any substitutions you allow, since the buyer will inherit the responsibility to answer guests correctly.

Test the pages. Ask a cook who did not write them to prepare three or four dishes from the sheet alone. What they get wrong shows what you left out. Fix, then try again. This exercise also shows the buyer that the kitchen can run without you. Organize the set. Group the sheets by station, keep a master index and put them in a binder and a shared digital folder. List prep recipes such as sauces and stocks separately. Decide what you will share and when. Recipes are valuable, so ask for confidentiality before showing complete files, and list them in the agreement. Your lawyer can help.

Key takeaways

• Start with the signature and best-selling dishes, then work through the rest.
• Add plating photos and allergen notes, and have someone else cook from the pages.
• Share the full set only after a confidentiality agreement and list it in the sale terms.