The numbers your restaurant runs on, in one place.
Vendor invoices, plate costs, and the wholesale market read. Muntin Ledger reads and files the invoices; the Cost Index and the free tools stay free, no signup.
What is restaurant cost intelligence?
Restaurant cost intelligence is the practice of running a restaurant on costs you can trace — the wholesale market read from primary sources, your own vendor-invoice history, and the plate-cost math that connects them — instead of guesswork, a vendor’s word, or a number a platform won’t show you.
It’s three readings in one view: what ingredients cost in the wider market, what they cost you, and what that means for the margin on every plate. Muntin Digital builds the tools for it — the public Cost Index, the free operator tools, and Muntin Ledger, the invoice ledger — and never takes a cut of the sales it helps you measure.
The invoices, the market, and the math between them.
Muntin Ledger is the paid product. The Cost Index and the operator tools are free and public — they run on the same numbers, so what you learn in one carries to the others.
Your invoices, read and filed.
Snap a photo of a vendor invoice; it lands read, filed, and searchable. Price-hike flags against your own history. Read with templates and rules — never by a model.
See Muntin Ledger → Public data · freeThe Cost Index.
Wholesale ingredient prices from USDA, BLS, and FRED — dated, sourced, refreshed on a weekly read. Every number traces back to the agency that published it.
Read the index → Free tools · no signupThe operator toolset.
Plate cost, margin math, vendor benchmarks, site audits — 5 tools that run in your browser and link back to the research that justifies them.
Browse the tools →Three steps, then it compounds.
Drop the invoice.
Snap a photo or drop the PDF on the inbox. Paper, email attachment, or a vendor portal export — it all lands in one place.
It's read, you confirm.
Templates and rules read the vendor, the line items, and the totals — your invoice is never read by a language model. You confirm the rows; each confirm teaches the vendor template, and after three confirms that vendor becomes one-click.
The ledger pays attention.
Filed invoices become a searchable price history. When a vendor's price moves against your own past invoices, you get a flag — and confirmed bills can post straight into your QuickBooks Online.
Resources built
for restaurant owners.
Every tool and article below is restaurant-specific — not generic small-business advice dressed up with a food photo. Use what applies; come back when you need more.
Score your own site.
Restaurant-aware checks — mobile speed, menu legibility, reservation flow, Google Business Profile, schema. Top three fixes ranked by impact.
Run the audit → Checklist · 10 minThe 30-check rubric.
A printable checklist you can run on your own site or hand to the agency you're auditing. Save your progress in the browser, print a clean audit sheet at the end.
Open the checklist → Topics · the new hubBrowse by what you're fixing.
Six lenses on the library — speed & mobile, conversions & reservations, local SEO, operations & margin, trust & reviews, brand & design.
Browse topics → Articles · honest essaysNotes from the studio.
DoorDash math, menu pricing, platform comparisons, reservation-leak funnels. Written for an operator making a real decision this week.
Browse articles → Research · the evidenceThe studies behind the advice.
Plain-English summaries of Google's mobile-speed research, Fitts's Law, Baymard cart abandonment, and more — with links to the original sources.
Read the research →Straight answers
for restaurant owners.
What is restaurant cost intelligence?
Restaurant cost intelligence is the practice of running a restaurant on costs you can trace — primary-source wholesale market data, your own vendor-invoice history, and the plate-cost math connecting them — instead of guesswork or a number a platform won't show you. Muntin Digital builds the tools for it: the public Cost Index, the free operator tools, and Muntin Ledger.
What is Muntin Ledger?
Muntin Ledger reads your vendor invoices and files them into a searchable ledger. Snap a photo or drop a PDF; it lands read, filed, and searchable, with price-hike flags against your own purchase history.
Is my invoice data read by an AI model?
No. Muntin Ledger reads invoices with templates and rules — the bytes never go to a language model, and your data is never sold.
What does Muntin Ledger cost?
Pricing is published at ledger.muntin.digital. The free operator tools and the public Cost Index on this site stay free either way.
Does it work with QuickBooks?
Yes — you keep QuickBooks Online for the books. Muntin Ledger reads the vendor invoices and posts each bill into your existing QBO when you confirm it. Side by side, not a replacement.
Do the free tools require signup?
No. Plate cost, margin math, vendor benchmarks, and the site audits run in your browser with no signup. Saving results to a Workshop is optional.
What's the Cost Index?
A free, public read of wholesale ingredient prices from USDA, BLS, and FRED — dated, sourced, and refreshed on a weekly read. Every number traces back to the agency that published it.
Didn't Muntin Digital build restaurant websites?
It did. Muntin Digital started as a one-person web studio for restaurants and is now a product company. The website-build service is retired; the library and the free tools stay free.
Do you only work with restaurants in Silver Spring?
The product and the tools work anywhere in the US. Muntin Digital is based in Silver Spring, MD, and the Cost Index covers national wholesale series.
Start with the invoices
you already have.
Run a free tool, read the index, or walk the Ledger demo with a sample invoice. Questions come straight to us — every one gets read.
Want the whole picture? See everything Muntin Digital builds →