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Plan & Projections — Decentralized

How a Kitchen Manager fills in school-level projections, confirms the plan, picks stock, and closes it out for a decentralized or semi-centralized kitchen. This picks up after a plan has already been created and confirmed in Meal Planning.

Wrong kitchen model?

If you are working with centralized kitchens, the picking list is grouped by category (Utility, Stock, Non Stock) and actuals aren't tracked per school in the same way. Use Plan & Projections (Centralized) instead.

Video walkthrough​

Step by step​

A written companion to the video above, following one kitchen's plan from open projection through to close. The screens below are from the mobile app view.

Step 1 — Open Projections​

From Home, under the Kitchen Manager tab, tap Projection.

Kitchen Manager home with Projection and Inventory Management tiles

Projection tile highlighted

Step 2 — Open the kitchen plan​

Kitchen plans lists plans still awaiting projections under status Open. Tap the plan to open it.

Kitchen plans — one Open plan for Thageini, 9/15/2026

Step 3 — Fill in projections per school​

Planning lists every school under this kitchen. Scroll right to reach the input columns — decentralized plans also carry an Uji Cups column alongside Projected Students, Staff, and Teachers.

School list under the Thageini kitchen

Scrolled right — Uji Cups and Projected Students columns, with a hint to slide for input fields

Tap the edit icon to enter headcounts.

Enable Edits highlighted

Fill in Projected Students (and the other headcount fields) for each school, then Save.

Projected Students entered for every school, ready to save

Step 4 — Confirm the plan​

Back at the plan, the values are saved per school. Navigate back to the kitchen plan.

Saved projection values, with a prompt to go back to the kitchen plan

Tap Confirm on the plan's row.

Kitchen plan still Open — Confirm highlighted

Step 5 — Open the Pick List​

The plan moves to status Active. Tap the Pick List icon.

Plan now Active — Pick List icon highlighted

Step 6 — Record actual quantities cooked​

Picking Inline lists the plan's items with their planned quantities.

Picking Inline — 9 items with planned quantities

Tap the edit icon to enter actuals.

Enable Edits highlighted

Enter the Actual Qty (Cooked) for each item, recording Waste and a Comment where the actual differs from planned, then Save.

Actual quantities entered, with waste and a comment recorded for Cabbage

Step 7 — Pick the items​

The entries are saved. Tap Select Items.

Saved actual quantities — Select Items highlighted

Select every item, then tap Pick.

All 9 items selected — Pick button highlighted

Navigate back to the kitchen plan.

Items picked — navigating back to the kitchen plan

The plan stays Active with its Pick List icon shown.

Kitchen plan Active, items picked

Kitchen plan Active, items picked

Step 8 — Record actuals per school​

Open Actual to record what each school actually received.

School list under Actual, with the Uji Cups column

Scroll right to reach the input columns, then tap the edit icon.

Scrolled right to Projected Students — Enable Edits highlighted

Enter Actual Students for each school, then Save.

Actual Students entered for every school, ready to save

Actual Teachers and Actual Staff are recorded the same way.

Actual Teachers and Actual Staff shown alongside their projected values

Navigate back to the kitchen plan.

Navigating back from the Actual screen

Step 9 — Close the plan​

With actuals recorded, tap Close on the plan's row to finalize it.

Kitchen plan Active — Close highlighted