Food cost

What a portion really costs, and what to charge for it

Enter the ingredients with invoice prices and their yield after prep. You get the cost of a portion, the menu price at your target food cost, and what your current price leaves after ingredients.

The example is one portion of fish and chips. Overwrite it with your own dish.

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  • Cost:€3.81
  • Cost:€0.48
  • Cost:€0.06
  • Cost:€0.15
  • Cost:€0.24

Price per kg, litre or piece, ex VAT, from the invoice. Yield is the share left after peeling, trimming and cooking: 100% means no waste.

%

Ingredients as a share of the net price.

%

Use your country's rate for food served on the premises.

Enter it to check your current price.

Whole recipe
€4.74
Cost per portion
€4.74
Menu price at the target food cost
€17.39
net: €15.81

Current food cost: 32.6% · left after ingredients, net €9.80. That is over target: raise the price, trim the portion or swap an ingredient.

The example prices are illustrative. The calculator counts ingredients only — no labour, energy or rent.

In the WMenu panel (Standard plan) recipes are saved, an ingredient price changed once recalculates every dish, and the suggested price goes to your menu in one click. Create an account

Waste is part of the price

A cod fillet that loses 15% to trimming means 180 g on the plate is 212 g bought. You pay for the 212 g, so the calculator divides the net quantity by the yield and prices what you actually bought. Skip this step and fish and bone-in meat come out cheapest on paper and most expensive in reality.

Which food cost to aim for

The band most often quoted is 25–35% of the net price. The percentage is taken from the price without VAT: at 10% VAT a 16.00 dish brings in 14.55, and that is what the ingredients are measured against.

A low food cost does not make a dish profitable. Hand-made dishes can have cheap ingredients and expensive labour, which this ratio does not see. For labour-heavy dishes, judge by the amount left after ingredients rather than the percentage.

When to run it again

When a supplier invoice changes, not once a year. Butter, fish and oil can move a portion's cost by several points within a quarter. In a QR menu the new price is changed in the panel in a minute, with no reprint.

Frequently asked questions

Is food cost worked out on the gross or the net price?

Net. Using the price with VAT understates it: at 10% VAT a dish at 30% looks like 27.3%.

Where do I get an ingredient's yield?

Best from your own kitchen: weigh it before and after prep. Textbook yield tables are a starting point, but the size of the potatoes or the way fish is filleted changes the number.

Does the calculator store my figures?

No. Everything is calculated in your browser and gone when you close the page.

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