Description
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A complete operational manual across seven parts:
- Part I — Why food cost control usually fails: the nine hidden fallacies of conventional food cost management
- Part II — What AEON solves, partially solves, and does not attempt to solve — an honest account before you invest a single hour in implementation
- Part III — The AEON financial architecture: yield-adjusted purchasing, recipe costing, and the base price protocol
- Part IV — The complete operational system: building the recipe database, implementing Paprika 3, the Weekly Production Schedule, and the daily, weekly, and monthly control procedures
- Part V — Advanced applications: menu engineering beyond food cost percentage, purchasing and vendor negotiation, food cost forecasting and scenario planning
- Part VI — Complete reference guide to all tools in the Companion Excel Workbook©
- Part VII — Advanced cost control theory: the Single Business Fallacy, the Fixed Cost per Customer©, why food cost percentage alone misleads, and the Enlightened Pricing Formula©
The AEON Food Cost Control System Companion Excel Workbook© — 23 tabs
Every financial tool referenced in the book — pre-formatted, fully linked, and ready to populate:
Daily tools: Yield Analysis Table · Recipe Costing Sheet · Base Price Table · Par Value Calculator · Portion Count Log · Purchase Order Templates
Weekly tools: Vendor Comparison Matrix · Menu Contribution Worksheet · Waste Analysis · Weekly Food Cost Summary
Monthly tools: Monthly Food Cost Dashboard · Seasonal Price Variance Tracker · Food Cost Diagnostic Checklist · Budget Projections Tool (3 scenarios)
Reference tools: Daily Log · Issue Log
Production scheduling: Master Production List · Sauté Station · Grill Station · Garde Manger · Prep · Pastry — all with AM/PM timing, Par 1/Par 2 light/heavy forecast system, and WHO? assignment columns
About the Author
Craig C. Shelton is one of the most decorated American chefs of his generation.
As Executive Chef and Owner of The Ryland Inn, he earned the New York Times’s highest rating of four stars and three stars from the Michelin Guide — among the most demanding culinary distinctions in the world. He is a James Beard Award winner and Grand Chef designee.
Over four decades of restaurant operations and consulting engagements — spanning three-star Michelin kitchens, high-volume casual concepts, and turnaround projects — Shelton developed the first-principles financial architecture that became the AEON system. It emerged not from accounting theory but from the accumulated experience of a working chef who solved real food cost problems in real kitchens under real pressure.
“Every gram has a purpose. Every dollar has a path.”
Choose Your Package
FOUNDER’S LAUNCH — $99 (First 100 purchasers only) AEON Booklet PDF + Companion Excel Workbook© + Lifetime updates
PROFESSIONAL PACKAGE — $249 AEON Booklet PDF + Companion Excel Workbook© + Password access to Aeon Client Resources + Lifetime updates + Future tools and additions
CONSULTING BUNDLE — $497 Everything in the Professional Package + One 60-minute consulting call with Craig Shelton
The AEON Advanced Food Cost Control System© is published by Eudaimonia Press and available in softcover at [link to Lulu]. The softcover edition includes a download code for the Companion Excel Workbook©.




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