Case Study · Food cost + operations platform
Ray Event Management App
Yonatan Roshfeld

"Gil and the Knightica team built us a custom app and platform that organizes the whole business in one place, with an intuitive interface that keeps every department in sync and working more efficiently. The app stopped our revenue loss and cut our food cost in half. Great work, service, and support all the way, even though the project was months ago."

Yonatan Roshfeld · Head Chef
★★★★★
A Ray event tomato and salad spread
01 / The Client

Client snapshot

Ray is a high-end events venue in Jaffa, with chef Yonatan Roshfeld leading the kitchen. Twenty years of full calendars, a team of more than 120, and around 24 events a month have made it one of the busiest luxury halls in the city.

Industry
Events & catering
Venue
Luxury event hall
Operating
20 years
Team
120+ workers
Scale
~24 events / month
02 / The Problem

Two numbers the CEO knew were off

7-8%
of the food hit the bin after every event, and Food Cost ran too high with no way to see why.
1-2 hrs
lost every day to tasks that didn't happen and workers who didn't show up on time.

Pricing by gut

Purchasing ran on the chef's estimate. No way to price a dish accurately, no way to buy smart.

No system fits

Restaurant ERPs do not fit an events hall, and "the chef just knows" breaks the moment you need to measure.

No-shows

Agency-supplied staff did not know the flow, and one worker went missing every 2 to 3 events.

Lost mornings

The manager burned hours every event morning finding last-minute replacements instead of running the event.

03 / Process & Build
Discovery & Build
Month 1

Discovery & methodology

Shadowed live events, weighed and priced the full ingredient catalog, defined the Food Cost model with the chef and CEO.

Month 2

Wave 1: Food Cost Engine

Built the catalog, recipes and serving ratios into the platform, with the dynamic menu and real-time cost calculation.

Month 3

Wave 2: Workforce & Tasks

Wired the WhatsApp morning check and escalations through Twilio, automated the recurring task list, rolled out role-based access.

Rollout
Month 4

System 1 rollout

Food Cost Engine goes live at real events: purchasing and the kitchen switch over from the chef's estimate to the priced, weighed catalog.

Month 4

System 2 rollout

Workforce & Tasks goes live: the WhatsApp morning check, escalation chain and role-based views turn on for every event.

Month 4

Sync & org restructure

We lead a structural change based on what both systems surfaced: roles, ownership and reporting realign around the data so the team works with the systems as efficiently as possible.

The Ray event management app interface
04 / Selected Workflows
Vite + React Supabase
System 01 · Wave 1

Food Cost Engine

  • Full catalog of 231 ingredients plus 41 bases and sauces, all weighed and priced
  • 122 dishes with recipes and serving ratios
  • Dynamic menu that adapts to guest count, event type and dietary needs
  • Real-time Food Cost that updates in seconds when a supplier price or headcount changes
Twilio WhatsApp Supabase
System 02 · Wave 2

Workforce & Tasks

  • A WhatsApp "coming today?" message to every worker each event morning
  • Three-tier escalation: worker, then manager, then CEO
  • 20 daily tasks and 30 tasks per event, all recurring and automated with reminders
  • Role-based views for the chef, producer, kitchen (read-only per station), event manager and graphics
05 / Impact by the Numbers
7-8% → 1-2%
Food waste per event
11-13%
Additional operational profit per event
85%
Improvement in on-time task completion
60-90 min
Saved per event on paying out each worker