Food cost calculator
Food cost is what a dish's ingredients cost you, as a share of its menu price.
Example numbers, made up: The starting numbers are a made-up burger, not real prices.
What a guest pays for the dish.
Food cost
24.5%
$2.70 of ingredients in a $11.00 dish. That leaves $8.30 for everything else: staff, rent, the bills and any profit.
How it's worked out
Food cost % = ingredient cost ÷ menu price × 100. → $2.70 ÷ $11.00 × 100 = 24.5%
How it's worked out
Food cost % = ingredient cost ÷ menu price × 100. → $2.70 ÷ $11.00 × 100 = 24.5%
Working backward: what should it cost on the menu?
Your own goal for this dish, as a share of its price.
Menu price for that
$9.00
At $9.00, $2.70 of ingredients is 30% of the price.
How it's worked out
Menu price = ingredient cost ÷ target food cost %. → $2.70 ÷ 30% = $9.00
How it's worked out
Menu price = ingredient cost ÷ target food cost %. → $2.70 ÷ 30% = $9.00
Learn the idea behind it
Free lesson
You sell a $15 burger. How much do you keep?
Take a burger apart ingredient by ingredient, fill in a recipe cost card, and price a new dish of your own.
Take the lesson
The numbers you type stay on this page and aren't sent anywhere. For learning, not financial advice.