Task visual · Cost result
Give the chef a number first, then show what can still move it.
Partial coverage changes how the number is described. It should not remove the immediate financial payoff.
Real Paella controlCurrent app output: $2.54 known ingredient cost, 2 of 13 lines costed, $7.00 menu price, food cost at least 36%, and ingredient margin at most $4.46 per plate before labor and overhead.
Policy still pendingLead with the best cost result the engine can support. The planning target set, price-floor wording, and attention threshold require Product, Architecture, and engine agreement before implementation.
Current and proposed
Retain the useful numbers and make their limits obvious.
Current app · actual Paella result
The current screen already has the right raw ingredients: known cost, food-cost floor, profit ceiling, and coverage. The wording and hierarchy make the result feel more technical than useful.
Proposed acceptance contract · not live · pricing policy illustrative
Seafood Paella · current estimate
Your pricing estimate
A useful starting point while ingredient coverage improves.
Known-cost price floor · illustrative
$8.47+
$2.54+ known ingredient cost / serving · yield 6
2 priced · 3 decisions · 8 unpriced11 open lines excluded
Illustrative planning target
Policy pending · controls disabled
Already have a menu price?
3 decisions could materially change this resultThey appear first in the ingredient list. The other lines remain visible.
Review full recipe
This illustrates the intended hierarchy, not an approved target policy. Any future target control changes planning guidance only; it never rewrites deterministic ingredient cost.
Costing states
Show the best number the ledger can honestly support.
Complete benchmark cost$[ENGINE] cost / servingShow exact ingredient cost and full coverage. Add planning guidance only after the target policy is approved.
Partial benchmark cost$2.54+ known / servingShow the cost supported so far, `2 priced · 3 decisions · 8 unpriced`, and state that open lines are excluded.
Kitchen menu price existsSecondary comparisonShow the kitchen's actual food-cost percentage below the planning result. Do not make it the zero-state default.
Zero eligible cost evidenceNo estimate yetNever display $0.00. Show the blocking evidence gap and separate market context only when the engine supplies it.
Display contract
The engine owns the numbers. Product owns their clarity.
Output
Chef-facing treatment
Boundary
Known ingredient costLead with batch or per-serving units stated explicitly and keep line coverage beside it.Never silently fill open lines or reuse a batch total as a per-serving value.
Known-cost price floorOptional planning guidance after the target policy is approved.Use `+`, “illustrative,” and “open lines excluded” while ingredient cost is partial. It is not a local market recommendation.
Actual food-cost percentageShow only as a secondary comparison when the kitchen has supplied a menu price.Partial ingredient cost creates a floor. Never substitute the planning target for the kitchen's actual percentage.
Target selectorDo not implement until Product, Architecture, and engine agree on the target set and language.When approved, the selector changes planning guidance only.
CoverageShow priced lines, high-impact decisions, and other unpriced lines adjacent to the money.Coverage describes evidence completeness; it is not an invented accuracy score.