Case Study: How Penta Hotels Keeps 27 Kitchens in Sync With Apicbase

When you run 27 hotel kitchens across Europe, the UK, and Asia, “busy” doesn’t begin to describe it.

For Pentahotels, it means coordinating everything from group-wide menu rollouts to allergen compliance and supply chain negotiations. Every head chef across the group must deliver the same standards, ensuring that every dish, in every property, looks and tastes the same.

It’s the kind of operational challenge that sounds impressive at dinner parties and looks absolutely bonkers up close.

And for years, the system behind it was cluttered with Excel spreadsheets, emails, and in-person meetings. Menu launches meant coordinating cook-offs on location weeks in advance, only to have key details get lost in translation by the time they hit the kitchen.

That all changed in December 2018, when Pentahotels implemented Apicbase.

“The time saved using Apicbase is enormous. Costings on recipes are accurate and consistent, with a positive impact on food cost for all hotels.” — Penta Hotels

The Challenge: Many Spreadsheets, No Consistency

Before Apicbase, workflows looked like this:

• Recipes, allergens, and costings were entered into Excel by hand.
• Menu launches required in-person cook-offs across countries weeks before they were rolled out. By the time the menus went live, key details were already forgotten.
• KPI tracking was handled through Micros, a time-consuming and often inaccurate process.

The whole system depended on manual updates and constant back-and-forth communication. It was unsustainable.

The Fix: A Single Source of Truth

Apicbase gave Pentahotels a way to centralise and scale its F&B operations across countries. It made the work easier and execution consistent.

• Menu rollouts in days, not weeks. HQ in Frankfurt can instantly approve new dishes and make them available across properties.
• Food costs under control. Every recipe is costed accurately, and changes are updated everywhere at once.
• Step-by-step plating guides. Chefs no longer guess what a dish should look like. They have a visual, detailed reference.
• Consistent allergen and nutritional data. Updates happen across the system in real time.

“The biggest thing is that information is always up-to-date. If there’s a change in allergens, costs, or products, it updates across the system instantly. It saves hours of manual work in Excel spreadsheets. All chefs are working with the latest information, all the time.” — Penta Hotels

The Results: Faster Decisions, Lower Costs, Higher Standards

The shift has transformed both daily operations and long-term planning:

• Faster menu approval cycles between Brussels and HQ in Frankfurt.
• Lower travel costs, because there’s less need for in-person training.
• High consistency in quality and presentation across all 27 properties.
• Financial controllers and executives now see the same numbers as the chefs.

“Apicbase has had a significant impact on the way we work and the speed we can get food and menus produced.” — Pentahotels

Would Penta Hotels Recommend Apicbase?

No hesitation.

“Absolutely. We’d recommend it 200%. Everyone from chefs to financial controllers to presidents and vice-presidents loves the insights Apicbase provides. It has completely changed the way we work. We can create menus and get them into production much faster. It’s a tremendous tool for any hospitality business with multiple properties.”