Prepcook ai

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Prepcook AI – Built by a Chef Inspiration After 20+ years in professional kitchens, I’ve experienced every kind of chaos: labor shortages, outdated tech, inconsistent execution, and burnout. Most of the kitchen software I tried was clunky, rigid, or clearly not built by anyone who’s ever worked a double shift.

So I built what I always needed: Prepcook AI—a smart kitchen assistant designed to run the kitchen, so chefs can spend more time creating beautiful food.

What it Does Prepcook AI simplifies and streamlines kitchen operations:

Translates menus into organized, production-ready prep sheets

Delegates tasks based on time, urgency, and staff availability

Tracks progress and updates workflows in real-time

Adapts dynamically to team size, inventory, and last-minute changes

Reduces waste and improves consistency with automated planning tools

This tool doesn’t replace the chef—it frees them up to lead, inspire, and create.

How I Built It I built Prepcook AI solo using bolt.new during a hackathon.

The original version? It crashed hard due to user error. I’d pushed the limits, and it broke. But instead of giving up, I went all in again. I rebuilt the entire thing from scratch—and this time, it’s faster, more stable, and packed with even more useful features.

This rebuild taught me that failure isn’t final—it’s just a checkpoint.

Challenges I Ran Into Managing and debugging logic without a development team

Designing a user interface that works in the heat of service

Balancing customization with simplicity

Rebuilding fast under pressure after the first version failed

Accomplishments I’m Proud Of Rebuilt the entire app in one weekend with better architecture and more features

Solved problems I’ve struggled with for decades in kitchens

Proved that hands-on experience is more valuable than off-the-shelf solutions

Created a tool that chefs actually want to use—because it was built by one

What I Learned Resilience in creation is just like resilience in the kitchen—fail, adapt, keep going

Most “solutions” in this industry don’t listen to the end user

Chefs don’t need complicated software—they need tools that just work

I’m capable of building real solutions, not just identifying problems

What’s Next for Prepcook AI Launching pilots in healthcare, hospitality, and high-volume kitchens

Adding dietary flags, yield scaling, and kitchen training mode

Building inventory and POS integrations

Continuing to evolve Prepcook AI to match the way kitchens actually work—not how others think they should

Prepcook AI is the solution I never found—so I built it. It's not theory. It’s 20 years of kitchen leadership transformed into software that finally gets it.

Built With

• class-variance-authority
• clsx
• date-fns
• deno
• javascript
• lucide-react
• npm
• openai-api
• postgresql
• react
• react-hot-toast
• react-router-dom
• recharts
• sql
• stripe
• supabase
• supabase-api
• tailwind-css
• tailwind-merge
• typescript
• vite