Thomas Primus

Digital Mise en Place for Hospitality

A Practical Novel · English edition coming soon

Order is no accident. Order is a system. How to get your business back under control – with digital processes, clear costing and AI.

Drawn from the practice of over 1,000 businesses in 10 countries.

→ Get notified when the English edition launches

Digital Mise en Place for Hospitality – book cover

Digitalization is a dry subject

That’s why this book tells a story

11:30 pm. Clara is still at the restaurant – not at the stove, she left that hours ago, but buried in delivery notes and an inventory count that won’t add up. Her son is asleep. No bedtime story. Again. The day she misses his birthday, she decides: no more.

Every good kitchen knows the principle: before the first plate goes out, everything is in its place. Yet while precision rules at the stove, chaos reigns in the back office – invoices in boxes, costing in someone’s head, contracts in a binder. This book applies the oldest craft principle in hospitality to its biggest building site: digitalization.

01 – CONCRETE

What digital Mise en Place means

No buzzwords, no tech romance. You follow restaurateur Clara Richter through a real transformation – with all the mistakes, costs and wins.

02 – MEASURABLE

Food cost, invoices & contracts find order

From paper chaos to a system: ordering, recipes, inventory, controlling and staff planning – the five core processes, digitalized step by step.

03 – PROVEN

Data is the new craft

Written from over 13 years in foodservice technology and the practice of over 1,000 businesses across 10 European countries.

“Mise en Place is not just preparation.
It is an attitude.”

– in the spirit of Auguste Escoffier’s kitchen philosophy

Results that convince

The numbers speak for themselves

34 → 28.7 %

Food-cost reduction in Clara’s restaurant

52 days

Time won back per year through digitalization

9 months

Break-even in the model business (Clara’s case)

Book cover

ISBN 978-9925-8336-0-3 (German edition)

SaltWaveBooks, 2026 · 406 pages · 40+ illustrations

English edition in preparation

18 chapters. One journey.

Follow Clara Richter from overwhelmed restaurant owner to confident digital entrepreneur – told as a novel, grounded like a handbook. Four parts lead step by step from analog chaos to a digital mise en place:

  • Part I Understanding the basics
  • Part II Digitalizing the core processes
  • Part III Strategy and implementation
  • Part IV Advanced concepts and the future
Show all 18 chapters
  • Part I · Understanding the basics
  • Chapter 1: The digital revolution in your kitchen
  • Chapter 2: The world of hospitality in transition
  • Chapter 3: People first
  • Part II · Digitalizing the core processes
  • Chapter 4: Choosing the right technology
  • Chapter 5: Getting your team on board – change management
  • Chapter 6: Digital ordering processes
  • Chapter 7: Digital recipe management
  • Chapter 8: Digital inventory management
  • Part III · Strategy and implementation
  • Chapter 9: Digital controlling and reporting
  • Chapter 10: Digital staff planning
  • Chapter 11: Digitalization for your business type
  • Chapter 12: One-year review
  • Part IV · Advanced concepts and the future
  • Chapter 13: The connected business
  • Chapter 14: Delighting guests digitally
  • Chapter 15: Artificial intelligence and big data
  • Chapter 16: Sustainability through digitalization
  • Chapter 17: Two years later – success stories
  • Chapter 18: Outlook and your roadmap

Free & interactive

Your digitalization check

How digital is your business really? 18 checks straight from the book – with an instant result, an industry benchmark and your personal digital napkin.

Questions first, result after – no sign-up needed to start.

Included with the book – at no extra cost

The digital toolkit

The book tells the story. The toolkit delivers the execution: every template, calculator and checklist from all 18 chapters – free for readers.

18 self-checks with industry benchmark

180 questions, instant evaluation, comparison with businesses of your type.

Free

Templates & calculators

Recipe costing, food-waste calculator, supplier database, software shortlist matrix and more.

Free

The 90-day roadmap

The complete action plan from Chapter 18 – from stocktake through selection to rollout.

Free
TP

About the author

Thomas Primus grew up with the aroma of roast pork and Waldviertel potato dumplings and the rhythm of a large kitchen. In his grandmother’s inn in the Waldviertel region of Lower Austria, in the shadow of Altenburg Abbey, he learned early what hospitality means: hard work, a passion for good produce – and endless paperwork.

As founder and CEO of FoodNotify he has spent over a decade building an F&B management platform used in more than a thousand businesses across ten European countries – from single restaurants to large-scale catering. „Digital Mise en Place" is the book he had wanted to write for years: not product advertising, but the honest story of a transformation.

Founder & CEO of FoodNotify

Transparency: Thomas is the founder of FoodNotify. „Digital Mise en Place" stays deliberately vendor-neutral – it describes principles and processes, not products.

Frequently asked

Good to know

Who is this book for?

Anyone who runs or is responsible for a hospitality or hotel business – from a single restaurant through catering to large-scale foodservice. No technical background required.

What will I actually take away?

A system for the five core processes – ordering, recipes, inventory, controlling and staff planning – digitalized step by step. Plus the 90-day roadmap from Chapter 18 and the complete digital toolkit.

Which formats will it come in?

As a print book, an e-book (Kindle, ePub, PDF) and an audiobook. The German edition launches in autumn 2026; the English edition follows.

Can I read something already?

Yes. Chapter 1 is free as a PDF, and you can already use the interactive digitalization check and toolkit today, at no cost.

What does the toolkit cost?

Nothing. It’s free for readers – every template, calculator and checklist from all 18 chapters, just for an email address.

English edition coming soon

Get notified

The German edition launches in autumn 2026; the English edition follows. Leave your email and be the first to know when it’s available. In the meantime you can already take the digitalization check in English.

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E-book

Kindle · ePub · PDF

Read instantly on any device

coming soon

Audiobook

Unabridged audio edition

In production

in production

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A small group reads “Digital Mise en Place” first as a digital advance copy – in return, honest feedback and, if you like it, a short review at launch.

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