Every food producer knows the pressure of keeping production consistent, compliant, and efficient all at once. It’s the constant challenge of balancing hands-on craft with the precision modern food manufacturing demands.
Until now, maintaining that balance has meant relying on experienced staff, manual paperwork, and tight supervision. But that approach can be costly, time-consuming, and fragile as one missed step or measurement can throw off an entire batch.
Formulate changes that. Built by us here at Velocity, Formulate is a smart touchscreen workstation with an integrated scale designed specifically for food production. It helps teams manage recipes, weigh ingredients, and keep every single batch consistent
What is Formulate and why it was created?
Anyone who’s worked in a butcher’s, bakery, or prep kitchen will know this familiar story; recipes are often on paper, scales drift, and one or two people who just “know how it’s done.” That works fine, until they’re off for the week, or production suddenly doubles.
Formulate was created to solve these issues. Every recipe, every step, and every weight is all built into one easy-to-use station that does the thinking for you. It’s designed so anyone on the team can step up, follow the screen, and get the same results as the person before them.
How does it work?
Whilst it may sound scary, using Formulate is actually very simple!
- You pick a recipe from the touchscreen, let’s say “Sausage Mix.”
- You enter the batch size you need.
- Formulate automatically calculates each ingredient based on your recipe ratios.
- The system then guides you ingredient by ingredient. The screen shows exactly what to weigh, and a dial or indicator turns green when you’ve hit the right amount.
- Each ingredient’s batch number is logged automatically, so traceability is built in.
- If the process includes manual steps like mixing, resting, or pre-cooking, the screen prompts those too.
Recipes are managed centrally, so if you tweak something or roll out a new product, the update goes straight to every Formulate station across your sites.
What are the benefits of using Formulate?
We’re pretty confident that once you’ve used Formulate you’ll be hooked, but here are a few of the benefits you can expect:
Consistency
There’s no more “almost right” mixes or relying on the most experienced person to get it spot on. Every batch is correct, whoever’s on the station.
Built-in traceability
Things like batch numbers, ingredient sources, and weights are all recorded automatically. If you ever need to show compliance or check back through production, the data’s already there.
Saves time
You don’t waste minutes checking notes or writing things down. The screen leads you through the recipe step-by-step, so production is faster and smoother.
Easier staff training
Because the system does the guiding, new team members get up to speed quickly. That’s especially useful during seasonal peaks or when shifts change frequently.
Scalable production
Formulate scales recipes instantly, so it’ll have you covered no matter whether you’re testing a 5kg batch or producing 200kg for a busy weekend.
Who is Formulate for?
Formulate fits into all kinds of food production environments:
- Butchers making sausages, burgers, or ready meals
- Bakeries preparing doughs, batters, and pastries
- Deli and prepared food teams running multiple recipes a day
- Farm shops and artisan producers who want to grow without losing quality
- Central kitchens and multi-site operations managing consistency across branches
If your business relies on recipes and you need them done right every time, Formulate gives you that peace of mind.
What’s next for Formulate?
Formulate is already helping producers cut down on errors and waste, but development hasn’t stopped there. The next round of updates includes:
- Wireless external scales for big ingredients like meat or flour sacks
- Barcode integration for stock tracking and storage management
- New reporting tools for analysing recipe performance and compliance data
It’s all part of connecting Formulate more closely to the rest of your production setup, so everything from weighing to inventory talks to each other.
What you should do now
If you’re running a food production business, ask yourself a few quick questions:
- How confident are you that every batch comes out the same?
- How much time is spent weighing, checking, and recording by hand?
- Would your traceability records stand up easily to a food safety audit?
If any of those make you hesitate, Formulate might be exactly what you need.
Formulate is now available for early adopters. You can book a demo, see it working in real time, and get a feel for how it fits into your setup.
