Food Cost Calculator

Food Cost Percentage Formula: How to Calculate It, With Examples

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Food cost percentage is the share of a sale that goes back out the door as ingredients. Restaurants use two versions of the formula. One prices a single dish from its recipe. The other measures the whole kitchen over a week or a month from inventory counts. Both are simple division, but they answer different questions, and mixing them up is how a menu ends up priced on guesswork.

Plate food cost: the recipe formula

Plate food cost percent equals the cost of the ingredients in one portion divided by the menu price, times 100. To get the portion cost, price each ingredient at its usable (edible portion) cost: the as-purchased price divided by the yield. Culinary math textbooks write it as EP cost = AP cost / yield percent. Say a burger uses 6 oz of ground beef from a 10 lb pack at $42, one bun from a pack of 12 at $4.80, and 1 oz of cheese from a 5 lb block at $21. Beef has no trim, so 6 oz costs $42 / 160 oz x 6 = $1.58. The bun is $0.40, the cheese $0.26. Add lettuce, tomato and sauce at about $0.35 and the plate is $2.59. At a $9.95 menu price that is 26 percent. To price from a target instead, divide: $2.59 / 0.30 = $8.63 for a 30 percent food cost.

Actual food cost: the inventory formula

Actual food cost percent for a period equals (opening inventory + purchases - closing inventory) / food sales x 100. If you started the month with $6,000 of stock, bought $14,000 and ended with $5,500, you used $14,500 of food. On $45,000 of food sales that is 32.2 percent. This number includes everything the plate formula does not see: spoilage, staff meals, over portioning, comps and theft. Restaurant operators compare the two. If recipes say 28 percent and inventory says 33, five points of sales are leaving the kitchen without being sold.

What a good number is and what to change

Most published guides for US restaurants land between 28 and 35 percent, and prime cost (food plus labor) is often held under 60 to 65 percent of sales. A high number has three usual fixes. Re-cost the dish: supplier prices move and a recipe costed a year ago is wrong today. Change the plate: a smaller portion of the most expensive ingredient or a cheaper cut often moves the number more than anything else. Change the price: a 30 percent target on a $3.10 plate is $10.33, and a menu that rounds to $10.95 gives you a little room. None of this needs software; it needs the recipe written down with real invoice prices.

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