Scenario Triggers
The first step of every What If? scenario is choosing what type of change you want to model. Brikly calls this the trigger - it determines how recipes are selected and what kind of primary adjustment is applied.
There are six trigger types:
| Trigger | Best for | How recipes are selected |
|---|---|---|
| Price Change | Modelling flat or percentage price rises across your menu | You choose recipes manually |
| Ingredient Swap | Replacing one ingredient with another | Automatically finds all recipes using the ingredient being replaced |
| Quantity Adjustment | Adjusting how much of an ingredient is used | Automatically finds all recipes using the ingredient |
| Recipe Adjustment | Editing a recipe's ingredients and seeing the cost flow through | Automatically finds parent recipes (for base recipes) or targets the recipe itself |
| VAT Rate Change | Modelling the impact of a VAT rate change | Automatically includes all standard-rated recipes |
| Supplier Price Change | Seeing the impact of a supplier raising their prices | Automatically finds all recipes using that supplier's ingredients |
Price Change
Use this trigger when you want to model selling price adjustments across a set of recipes - for example, raising all dessert prices by 50p or applying a 5% increase across your hot drinks.
How it works
- Select by category - choose one or more recipe categories by clicking the category pills. Selected categories highlight in blue. You can select multiple categories to build a broader set.
- Review the recipe list - Brikly loads all recipes from your selected categories and displays them with their current selling price. Use the search box to filter the list.
- Exclude recipes - if you want to leave specific recipes out (perhaps a loss-leader or a fixed-price deal), click the X next to that recipe. Excluded recipes appear faded.
This trigger does not set any price adjustment itself - it just selects the recipes. You add the actual price change (flat amount or percentage) in the next step under Additional Adjustments.
Example: You want to raise all Cake and Pastry prices by 30p. Select the "Cakes" and "Pastries" categories, exclude any items you want to keep at their current price, then continue to Step 2 where you add a flat price change of +0.30.
Ingredient Swap
Use this trigger when you are considering replacing one ingredient with another - whether that is switching to a cheaper alternative, dealing with a supply shortage, or removing an ingredient entirely.
How it works
- Choose the ingredient to replace - search for and select the ingredient you want to swap out. Brikly shows how many recipes use it.
- Choose the replacement - you have three options:
| Option | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Existing Ingredient | Replace with something already in your ingredient library. Search and select it. |
| New Temporary Ingredient | The replacement is not in your system yet. Enter a name, unit cost, and unit type (g, kg, ml, L, or each). |
| Remove Ingredient | Remove the ingredient entirely from affected recipes. The ingredient cost drops to zero in the simulation. |
- Brikly automatically finds all recipes that use the original ingredient.
If you choose Remove Ingredient and later push the scenario live, the ingredient rows will be permanently deleted from the affected recipes. Make sure this is what you intend.
Example: You are considering swapping butter (£8.50/kg) for margarine (£3.20/kg) across your baking recipes. Select butter as the ingredient to replace, choose margarine as the existing replacement, and continue to see the per-recipe impact.
Replacement quantities
When you swap ingredients, Brikly needs to know how much of the replacement to use in each recipe. If the original and replacement ingredients share the same unit type (e.g. both measured in kg), Brikly pre-fills each recipe with the same quantity as the original. You can adjust this per recipe in Step 2.
If the units differ (e.g. swapping from a weight-based ingredient to an each-based one), you will need to enter the replacement quantity manually for each recipe.
Quantity Adjustment
Use this trigger when you want to model changing how much of a specific ingredient is used across your recipes - for example, reducing the amount of cream in all recipes by 10%.
How it works
- Search and select an ingredient - type the ingredient name and select it from the dropdown. Brikly shows how many recipes are affected.
- Choose the change type - select either Flat (add or subtract a fixed amount in the ingredient's unit) or Percentage (increase or decrease by a percentage).
- Enter the change value - use negative values to reduce and positive values to increase. For example, entering -10 with Percentage selected means "reduce this ingredient by 10% in every recipe".
Brikly automatically finds all recipes that use the selected ingredient. In Step 2, you can fine-tune the new quantity per recipe if some recipes need different adjustments.
Example: You want to reduce the amount of smoked salmon used across all recipes by 15% to manage costs. Select smoked salmon, choose Percentage, and enter -15.
Recipe Adjustment
Use this trigger when you want to edit a recipe's ingredients directly and see how the cost change impacts your menu. This works for both base recipes (components used in other recipes) and product recipes (items you sell).
How it works
-
Search and select any recipe - type the recipe name and select it. Base recipes are labelled with a "base" tag so you can tell them apart.
-
Edit ingredients - Brikly loads the recipe's full ingredient list in an editable table. For each ingredient you can:
- Adjust the quantity - change the amount used
- Change the unit - switch between compatible units (e.g. g to kg)
- Replace the ingredient - click the replace icon to search for a substitute
- Remove the ingredient - click the delete icon to remove it
- Add a new ingredient - click "Add ingredient" at the bottom to search and add one
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Use quick presets - the -10%, -5%, +5%, +10% buttons apply a percentage change to all editable ingredient quantities at once. Useful for quickly modelling a broad reduction or increase.
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Review the cost summary - below the ingredient table, a summary shows the original and adjusted batch cost and cost per portion, with the difference highlighted in green (savings) or red (increase).
Base recipes vs product recipes
The trigger behaves differently depending on the recipe type:
| Recipe type | What happens |
|---|---|
| Base recipe (component) | Brikly finds all parent recipes that use this base recipe and shows the cost impact on each of them. The base recipe's adjusted cost flows through automatically. |
| Product recipe | The recipe itself is the affected recipe. You see the direct margin and profit impact of the ingredient changes. |
Sub-recipe ingredients (other recipes used as ingredients within the selected recipe) appear as read-only rows in the table. They are included in the cost calculation but cannot be edited directly.
Example: Your "Tuna Mix" base recipe is used in Tuna Melt and Mini Tuna Melt. Select Tuna Mix, reduce the tuna quantity by 10%, and Brikly shows you the cost saving on both parent recipes.
VAT Rate Change
Use this trigger to model the impact of a VAT rate change across your menu. This is particularly relevant with the industry campaign for reduced hospitality VAT.
How it works
- Select a rate - choose from preset options or enter a custom rate:
| Preset | Rate | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | 0.10 | Proposed hospitality rate |
| 12.5% | 0.125 | Temporary COVID rate (2021-2022) |
| 15% | 0.15 | Intermediate option |
| 20% | 0.20 | Current UK standard rate |
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Or enter a custom rate - type any percentage value in the custom input field.
-
Brikly automatically loads all recipes with a standard VAT profile and shows how many are affected.
How the simulation works
The simulation keeps your selling prices the same and recalculates margins using the new VAT rate. A lower VAT rate means more of each sale is revenue rather than tax, which directly improves your margins and profit.
Example: If hospitality VAT dropped from 20% to 10%, a coffee selling at £3.50 would yield £3.18 in net revenue instead of £2.92 - an extra 26p per cup. Across 200 coffees a week, that is over £2,700 a year from a single recipe.
Recipes with zero-rated or exempt VAT profiles are not affected by a VAT rate change. The simulation only adjusts recipes that currently use the standard VAT rate.
Supplier Price Change
Use this trigger when a supplier has notified you of a price change and you want to understand the knock-on effect across your recipes.
How it works
- Search and select a supplier - type the supplier name in the search box and select them from the dropdown.
- Review their ingredients - Brikly loads all ingredients where this supplier is marked as the preferred supplier. Each ingredient is shown with its current cost per unit, measurement unit, and the number of recipes it appears in.
- Set the price change per ingredient - for each ingredient, enter the change as either a percentage or a flat amount. Use the dropdown next to each input to switch between % and a flat currency value.
- Apply a bulk change - if the supplier is raising everything by the same percentage, use the Apply to all selected field at the top-right. Enter a percentage and it applies across all selected ingredients in one go.
- Exclude ingredients - uncheck the checkbox next to any ingredient you want to leave out of the scenario.
Brikly automatically resolves which recipes are affected based on the ingredients you have selected.
Example: Your dairy supplier is raising prices by 8%. Select the supplier, click Apply to all selected, enter "8", and Brikly shows you every recipe that uses their milk, cream, butter, and cheese - along with the new ingredient costs.
The ingredient list only includes items where this supplier is set as the preferred supplier. If you buy an ingredient from multiple suppliers, make sure the preferred supplier is correctly set under Supplier Ingredients.
Continuing to Step 2
Once you have selected your trigger and configured the initial change, click Continue with N Recipes to move to the Review & Adjust step. The button shows the number of resolved recipes so you can confirm the scope before continuing.
The button is disabled until at least one recipe is included in the scenario.