What "kitchen management software" actually means
It's not one thing. Under that banner you'll find allergen tracking, recipe costing, invoice scanning, stock control, POS and accounting integration, staff scheduling, HACCP compliance, nutrition data and customer-facing menus — and no product on the market does all of it. What varies between the real options is which of those jobs each one treats as core, and which it leaves out entirely.
The fastest way to waste money here is buying a platform built for a job you don't have — a multi-site stocktake and POS suite when you just need allergens and costing sorted for one kitchen, or the other way round.
What to actually check before you buy
The comparison
Four real options, compared on the jobs that actually differ between them. None of these claims are guesses — where we don't have a confirmed answer, it says so rather than filling in a number.
| Capability | Kitchen Control | Jelly | MenuIQ | FoodCore |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | £12.99 flat, one plan | £129 per location | Quote after a demo — not public | Tiered plans, roughly £19–£65 depending on plan |
| Allergen management | Yes — core feature | Not offered — not their focus | Yes — core feature | Yes — core feature |
| Live recipe / dish costing | Yes | Yes — updates with every invoice | Yes | Yes |
| AI / automated invoice scanning | Yes — auto-imports ingredients | Yes — photo or forwarded email | Not advertised | Not confirmed — barcode ingredient import is offered instead |
| Printed PPDS / Natasha's Law labels | Yes | Not stated publicly | Yes | Yes — allergens auto-bolded |
| Stock / stocktake tools | Not yet | Yes — wet and dry stock | Not detailed publicly | Yes |
| POS / accounting (Xero) integration | No | Yes — POS and one-click Xero push | Not detailed publicly | Not confirmed |
| Multi-site support | No — single-site by design | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed — marketing targets small individual producers |
| Bringing your existing data in yourself | Yes — self-serve spreadsheet import | Ask them directly | Ask them directly | Not confirmed |
Who each one is actually for
Kitchen Control
A single-site independent kitchen wanting allergens, costing and invoice scanning in one place, set up in an afternoon, without a sales call. See the full allergen comparison or full costing comparison.
Jelly
A growing operator past £500k turnover wanting financial-ops depth — POS, Xero, price alerts, stocktake — with room in the budget for £129 a location.
MenuIQ
A multi-site hospitality group needing allergens, nutrition and HACCP together, with time for a demo-led onboarding process.
FoodCore
A small food producer packaging goods to sell, needing PPDS labels and a production/stock workflow more than live-service tools.
What a spreadsheet still does fine
If you're a genuinely small, one-person operation on top of your own numbers, a spreadsheet costs nothing and works — right up until a second person needs the same information at the same time, or a supplier price change needs recosting across a dozen recipes by hand. See our full spreadsheet comparison for where that line actually sits.
Kitchen Control is £12.99/month, one plan, everything included — allergens, costing and invoice scanning, no separate add-ons and no demo required to see what it actually does.
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