Cost a recipe ingredient by ingredient, see cost per serving and food cost percentage, and get a suggested menu price — free, right in your browser.
At a 30% target food cost, this plate should sell for about $17.48. Most full-service restaurants aim for 28–35%.
Food cost percentageis the portion of a menu item's price that you spend on ingredients: cost per serving ÷ menu price × 100. If a plate costs $4.50 to make and sells for $15, your food cost is 30%.
To get cost per serving, price each ingredient at what you actually pay: take the package cost, divide by the package size, and multiply by the amount the recipe uses. Add every ingredient — including oil, garnish, and to-go packaging, which most operators forget — then divide by the number of servings the recipe yields.
Food cost is only half of the picture — labor is the other half. Together they're your prime cost, the number that decides whether the restaurant makes money. And if your food cost looks fine but margins are still thin, check what third-party delivery commissions are taking: a 30% marketplace fee on a $20 order costs more than the ingredients on most plates. That's the problem commission-free direct ordering exists to fix.
Get the operator margin playbook — food cost targets, pricing moves, and win-back flows that pay for themselves. One or two emails a month, no spam.
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PricingTurn plate cost and a target food-cost % into a menu price, with margin and markup.
FinanceEnter monthly revenue and costs to see prime cost, net margin, and break-even.
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