Tech Solutions / 2026

Cost Engine for Product-Based Operations

Replaced workbook-dependent costing with a hosted internal cost engine for recipes, labor, vendors, purchasing, lots, and pricing decisions.

Client

Multi-Unit Food Brand

Technologies

React 19
Vite
Python
SQLite
Google OAuth
Workbook Import
Hosted CGI Backend

Spreadsheet

Legacy source

Internal app

Core product

Cost visibility

Primary gain

Tech Solutions

Project Type

01 – Challenge

The problem

Costing logic lived inside a legacy spreadsheet workflow, which made recipe changes, prep calculations, labor assumptions, and pricing decisions too fragile to trust as the business evolved.

02 – Approach

The strategy

Separated the public website from the real operational problem. Instead of treating the site as the product, the build focused on a dedicated internal engine that could ingest the legacy workbook, normalize master data, and expose costing decisions through a web app.

03 – Solution

What was built

Built a hosted cost-management platform with a React and Vite frontend, a Python backend, Google sign-in, workbook parser and import flow, session and audit state, and foundations for vendors, units, items, labor classes, lots, recipes, and reporting.

04 – Outcomes

The results

Moved the business toward a real costing system instead of spreadsheet-only logic

Created room for cleaner recipe, labor, and purchasing decisions

Separated internal operational truth from the public-facing website layer

Built a platform that can support future product lines, not just one menu

05 – The Story

How the work actually came together

This project was easy to misunderstand from the outside because there is a public website in the same repo. But the real product is the internal cost engine underneath it.

The operational problem was not marketing. It was that costing, prep assumptions, and pricing logic were trapped in a workbook that could not keep scaling with the business.

So the work focused on building the web-accessible system the team actually needed: imports, master data, admin controls, and a structure for recipes, labor, vendors, and lots.

That turns the spreadsheet from the place where the business lives into a source that can be imported, reviewed, and eventually replaced.

What mattered

The point was not to install software and walk away. The point was to create an operating layer the business could trust, improve, and own after handoff.

That meant documenting the system, making the workflow legible, and removing the extra work that shows up when teams are forced to manage operations across disconnected tools.

Next project

Dual-Division Construction Site Rebuild

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Remote / United States

Availability

Currently accepting new engagements