Five facts. First plan.
Give Occasion the facts that change the route most. Everything else sits at a default until you refine it, and anything still on a default is marked as one.
What kind of night is this?
How many people?
How does food reach the table?
Nothing is invented in the meantime. Seated service stops rather than guess a chair.
When does food need to land?
What can the kitchen heat at once?
Ovens
Usable burners
normal fridge · medium counter · dishwasher · no grill
Until that is ticked these are the form's opening numbers, not yours, and every timing built on them is marked as such.
Refine this nightThe rest of what changes the plan
Prep window, fridge, counter, helpers, food needs, budget, drinks and the full operating surface. None of it is required for a first plan. All of it moves one.
The rest of what changes the plan
Prep window, fridge, counter, helpers, food needs, budget, drinks and the full operating surface. None of it is required for a first plan. All of it moves one.
Set up the night
Start with the facts that change the plan most. The deeper choices stay out of the way until you need them.
1 · EssentialsWhat are you hosting?
8 guests · seated · service 19:00
What are you hosting?
8 guests · seated · service 19:00
That is fine. The plan will flag seating as something to confirm rather than guess.
2 · Kitchen & helpWhat can the room actually support?
1 oven · 4 burners · 1 helper
What can the room actually support?
1 oven · 4 burners · 1 helper
3 · Food & feelShape the menu
Considered · winter · no food filters
Shape the menu
Considered · winter · no food filters
4 · Ask the guestsWhat the table told you
No guest link yet · nobody has been asked
What the table told you
No guest link yet · nobody has been asked
Send a link and the people coming tap closed-list chips — no name, no email, no free text. The counts land here, and go into the plan only when you say so.
One link for the whole table. Everyone answers on the same one.
Dietary chips are planning filters, not an allergen-safety guarantee. Anything serious is still a conversation with that guest.
Only if it mattersMore hosting details
Table setup, crowd flow, special limits and outdoor logistics. Most dinners can skip this.
More hosting details
Table setup, crowd flow, special limits and outdoor logistics. Most dinners can skip this.
Open only the questions that change this night. Skip the rest.
Seats have not been declared and nobody has surveyed the kitchen. The plan will still build, on placeholder figures, and will be marked as built on them. .
Set the night, then build the plan.
Tonight’s plan
No plan yet, because you have not said anything yet
This side of the page stays blank until it has been told who is coming and what you cook on. Nothing is guessed and nothing is filled in from a default that flatters you — an oven you do not have would produce a night you cannot run.
Do not start from a blank form if you would rather not. The ready-made nights above load a real guest count, a real kitchen and real timings in one click; change the guest number and rebuild, and watch where it starts to strain. That loop is the whole product. The kitchen sheet falls out of the end of it.
Occasion is a planning tool. Starter menus are not kitchen-tested recipes unless a Salty & Clever link says so. Food-need tags are planning filters, not allergy safety.
Dinner is at 19:00. Something slipped.
The plan is the route. Live Host is what you use when the roast is twenty-five minutes behind: mark Done, or take a recovery — the remaining sequence rebuilds against the actual oven, burners, fridge and hands.
How this plan decidesWhat it will not guess, what it promises, and the step-by-step build console.
We stop rather than guess.
Most planners will answer whatever you ask them. This one will tell you that the night you have described does not fit the kitchen you have described, and it will tell you while the invitations are still unsent.
When something has to give, it names what runs out first — the oven at four o’clock, or your own hands between six and seven — instead of quietly shrinking a dish until the arithmetic closes. It will not read seats off a guest count. It will not certify an allergen, and no amount of tidy output from this page is a substitute for asking the person who has to eat.
Where it cannot answer honestly it stops, says which fact is missing, and hands the question back to you.
Line by line
Each row is a fact you declared and what the plan did with it. Anything still open says so here.
- GuestsSet
8 counted
- SeatingStopped
Not declared — will not invent chairs
- EquipmentSet
1 oven · 4 burners · normal fridge
- Dietary filtersSet
None declared — confirm ingredients yourself
- DrinksNeeds input
wine declared
- Shopping listNeeds input
Built after you evaluate
- Prep clockNeeds input
Built after you evaluate
- Wine and drink pairingsNeeds input
Filed against each dish
- Recipe cardsNeeds input
One card per dish on the route
- Tight spotsNeeds input
Named after you evaluate — or the plan stops
Four steps
Building the plan happens in four steps. Each one shows what it found. Step through, or let it run.
- 01Ready
Choose the dishes
Waiting
- 02Ready
Kitchen load
Waiting
- 03Ready
Timing
Waiting
- 04Ready
Cost and balance
Waiting
No completed plans on this device yet.