🧪 Recipe Lifecycle
How a recipe travels from R&D draft to approved production — every gate, who signs it off, and where to find it.
10 sections · ~6 min read
A recipe is a journey, not a record
Every recipe in this portal walks the same path: Draft → In Review → Factory Trial → Prod Trial → Approved. Different roles unlock each gate. We'll trace that path now using the real screens.
Open the Recipes list
This is the master list of every recipe across all factories. We'll start here.
📍 In RecipeHub: Recipes page
Search & filter
Type a recipe name, factory code (e.g. 211_BCS), or status. The dropdowns narrow by category, brand, status, or tag — including Imported (from ERP) and No Method (still missing SOP text).
📍 In RecipeHub: Recipes page
+ New Recipe (R&D)
R&D creates new recipes here. The form asks for name, brand, category and ingredients up front — status starts at Draft.
📍 In RecipeHub: Recipes page
Role-specific notes
VIEWER: Viewers can read everything but won't see this button.
QA: QA doesn't create recipes — that's R&D's job. You step in at the QA gate later.
FACTORY: Factory doesn't create recipes either. You see them after R&D submits for trial.
PURCHASING: Purchasing manages ingredient costs, not recipe creation.
Status pills tell the story
Each row shows a coloured pill: Draft (grey), In Review (blue), Factory Trial (amber), Prod Trial (gold), Approved (green). The pill is the gate the recipe is currently sitting at.
📍 In RecipeHub: Recipes page
Click any recipe to open it
Inside a recipe you'll find tabs for Ingredients · Method · SOP · Builds · QA · Branch SOP. Each tab is owned by a different role: R&D writes ingredients/method, QA fills the QA tab, Factory edits Builds, and so on.
📍 In RecipeHub: Recipes page
The QA gate
After R&D writes the recipe, QA reviews it on the QA page. Pass = recipe moves to Factory Trial. Fail = back to R&D with notes. QA also sets shelf life and approves spec sheets.
📍 In RecipeHub: QA Lab Results page
Role-specific notes
QA: This is your gate. The QA page lists every recipe waiting for your approval — past approvals are searchable too.
Factory Trial → Production Trial → Approved
Factory schedules a trial run on the Production page. Trial passes → Prod Trial → Approved. Once approved, the recipe is locked for production and visible on Branch SOPs.
📍 In RecipeHub: Production Plan page
Role-specific notes
FACTORY: This is where you live. Schedule runs, mark them complete, capture the actual yield against the indicative yield.
QAS — Visual Spec (recommended, not a gate)
Each recipe gets a 🎯 QAS — Visual Spec page where R&D records visual acceptance criteria (shape, colour, size, surface) and reference / defect photos. It's the visual reference for the factory line — not a gate on the approval workflow, but strongly recommended for any recipe that will run regularly. Walk the dedicated QAS — Visual Spec tour for the details.
📍 In RecipeHub: QAS — Visual Spec page
Role-specific notes
NPD: You sign off the QAS. Fill in the visual specs, upload reference and defect photos, then ✓ Sign off — Approve QAS on the recipe's QAS page.
QA: You can read every QAS but R&D owns the sign-off. Use the comments under photos when you spot a defect drift on a production run.
FACTORY: You read the QAS on the line as the visual reference for what passes and what gets rejected.
You've seen the lifecycle
That's the full path. Next, try the Factory SOP tour to see how each approved recipe gets a step-by-step SOP with HACCP checks, the QAS — Visual Spec tour for the visual reference page, or Roles & Permissions to understand who can edit what.