2026 comparison
SKANDA vs spreadsheets
for catering management
Spreadsheets work. Until they don't. Here's when dedicated catering software makes the difference, and when a spreadsheet is still enough.
Fine to start with
- Zero or very low cost
- Familiar to everyone
- Flexible enough for anything
- No training needed to begin
Critical limitations
- No automatic price updates across recipes
- No stock control and no alerts
- No real-time margin during the event
- No digital HACCP records or traceability
- Human error is inevitable at scale
Built to grow with you
- Automatic recipe costing with price propagation
- Real-time margin per event
- Stock control with automatic alerts
- Digital HACCP records, ready for inspections
- Quotes in 15 minutes with a professional PDF
- Automatic monthly profitability report
- AI invoice scanning
Feature-by-feature comparison
| Feature | SKANDA | Spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic recipe costing | Yes. Change one price and every recipe updates instantly. | Manual. You update each formula by hand or break the sheet. |
| Real-time margin | The event margin appears as you add ingredients and costs. | You calculate at month end, when it's too late to fix anything. |
| Stock and inventory control | Stock updated automatically after each event. Low-stock alerts. | A separate sheet nobody updates. No alerts. No traceability. |
| HACCP records / traceability | Ingredient batches with expiry date and supplier linked to the event. | A separate document filled in by hand and usually out of date. |
| Quotes and contracts | A quote in 15 minutes with the costing included. Professional PDF. | A template to adapt every time. Frequent errors. No clean PDF. |
| Supplier invoice scanning | Photo → AI extracts lines, quantities and prices. Updates stock on its own. | Type it in by hand or import a CSV. Hours lost every week. |
| Monthly profitability report | Automatic report with EBITDA, margin per event and monthly trend. | Cross-referencing data between sheets. Errors are common. Non-standard format. |
| Upfront cost | €0 to start. 14-day trial of the professional plan. | Included with Microsoft 365 or free with Google Sheets. |
| Learning curve | First event in under an hour. Guided onboarding. | Quick to start, but scaling with complex formulas is hard. |
| Access from any device | 100% web. Works on desktop, tablet and phone. | Depends on the version. Cloud sync can cause version conflicts. |
Real situations. Different answers.
The gap between a spreadsheet and SKANDA shows most under pressure.
📌 Situation: An ingredient price goes up
With a spreadsheet
You go recipe by recipe updating every cell that uses it. With 30 recipes that's 30 manual edits and the risk of missing one.
With SKANDA
You change the price on the ingredient record. Every recipe, event and quote using it updates automatically in seconds.
📌 Situation: You're quoting a wedding for 200
With a spreadsheet
Open the template, copy the last event's data, adjust quantities, recalculate by hand if anything changes. One to three hours.
With SKANDA
Pick the menu, enter the guest count. The system works out the total cost and the expected margin. Fifteen to twenty minutes.
📌 Situation: A food safety inspection arrives
With a spreadsheet
You hunt through folders for the HACCP document. You fill it in from memory because you didn't update it during the event. Fingers crossed.
With SKANDA
The record of batches, expiry dates and suppliers is linked to the event. You export it as a PDF in two clicks. Nothing to search for.
📌 Situation: You want to know your most profitable event of the year
With a spreadsheet
You open every month's sheet, copy the data into a summary sheet and calculate. If the formats aren't consistent, it's painful.
With SKANDA
A reporting dashboard with every event ranked by margin. The most profitable one is a click away, with a monthly trend chart included.
When does each option make sense?
📊 A spreadsheet is enough if...
- • You run fewer than two or three events a month
- • You have fewer than 20 recipes
- • You have no team that needs to coordinate
- • Food safety inspections are infrequent
- • You're just starting and the budget is zero
🍽️ SKANDA is worth it if...
- You run 5+ events a month (or want to)
- You manage more than 30 different recipes
- Time spent on quotes and paperwork is holding you back
- You want to know the real margin on every event
- You need HACCP records in order for inspections
Ready to leave the spreadsheet behind?
14 days free. No card. No commitment. If it doesn't convince you, you go back to your spreadsheet having lost nothing.
Get started with SKANDA€250/month + VAT · Cancel anytime · Support in Spanish