Pricing & Profit
Food Cost Calculator
Calculate your restaurant food cost percentage, or work out a menu price from an item's food cost and a target food cost percentage.
Choose whether you want a food cost percentage or a suggested menu price.
Enter your values
Cost of food used in the period.
Food revenue for the same period.
Results
Food cost percentage
—
Enter food cost and food sales for the same period.
Gross profit on food
—
Food sales less food cost.
Results are estimates based on the values entered and are provided for general planning.
Was this calculator helpful?
Step by step
How to use the food cost
- Choose what to calculate: food cost percentage or a menu price.
- For the percentage, enter the Food cost and Food sales for the same period.
- For a menu price, enter the Item food cost and your Target food cost percentage.
- Read the food cost percentage with the gross profit on food — or the suggested menu price with the profit per item.
Method
How to calculate food cost
Food cost percentage divides the cost of the food used by the food revenue it generated, which tells you how much of every dollar of food sales is consumed by ingredients. Menu pricing runs the same relationship in reverse: divide an item's plate cost by the food cost percentage you are targeting to find the price that hits it.
Formula
Food cost % = Food cost ÷ Food sales × 100 Menu price = Item food cost ÷ (Target food cost % ÷ 100)
Assumptions
- Food cost and food sales cover the same period and the same outlet.
- Item food cost is the full plate cost of one portion, including garnishes and expected yield loss.
- Labour, rent, utilities, packaging, and waste beyond yield loss are not included.
- Target food cost must be above 0% and no more than 100%, so a menu price is always finite.
Percentages and prices are calculated at full precision before display. Currency displays two decimals; percentages display two decimals.
How to interpret the result
A lower food cost percentage leaves more of each sale to cover labour and overhead. Target percentages vary widely by format — a high-volume pizzeria, a fine-dining kitchen, and a coffee shop operate on very different structures — so compare your figure with your own history and your own cost base rather than a general benchmark. A rising percentage with stable menu prices usually points to supplier price increases, portion drift, waste, or theft.
Worked example: costing a café sandwich
A turkey sandwich uses $0.60 of bread, $2.10 of turkey, $0.55 of cheese, and $0.35 of vegetables and condiments, for a plate cost of $3.60. At a 28% target food cost the menu price is $3.60 ÷ 0.28 = $12.86. If the café keeps it at $12.00 instead, food cost is $3.60 ÷ $12.00 × 100 = 30%.
When to use it: supplier price changes
Re-cost key dishes whenever an ingredient price moves. If turkey rises to $2.50 in the example above, the plate costs $4.00 and the $12.00 price now carries a 33.33% food cost. Entering the new cost shows whether to reprice, adjust the portion, or accept a lower margin on that item.
Food cost percentage and menu price are the same equation
Food cost percentage and menu price are two views of one relationship between cost and price. If you know two of the three values — cost, price, percentage — the third follows.
That is why a menu price built from a target percentage automatically produces that percentage when the item sells at full price. Discounts, comps, and waste are what pull the actual result away from the target.
Plate cost accuracy
A plate cost is only as good as the recipe behind it. Include every component: protein, sides, sauce, garnish, oil, and the trim loss between the purchased weight and the plated weight.
Yield matters. A protein purchased at $12 per pound with a 75% yield after trimming actually costs $16 per usable pound, and pricing from the purchase cost understates the plate cost by a third.
Frequently asked questions
Which calculator do you need?
- Want the gross profit each menu item generates? Use the Gross Profit Calculator.
- Setting menu prices from ingredient cost and a target margin? Try the Selling Price Calculator.
- Need the margin percentage on a dish? Use the Profit Margin Calculator.
Keep calculating
Related calculators
Gross profit shows the same relationship across the whole business, the selling price calculator prices from a target margin rather than a target cost percentage, and profit margin converts a menu price and plate cost into margin.
Gross Profit Calculator
Calculate gross profit and gross profit margin from revenue and COGS.
Open calculator Pricing & ProfitSelling Price Calculator
Calculate the selling price needed to reach a target profit margin.
Open calculator Pricing & ProfitProfit Margin Calculator
Calculate profit, margin, and markup from cost and selling price.
Open calculator