Food cost calculator for any dish
Enter what you paid for your ingredients and what goes on the plate. You get the cost of the dish, the cost per portion and your food cost percentage. Nothing is saved.
Food cost calculator
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.
1 What you bought
Type each product, how much you bought, and the total you paid. Use the price on your invoice. If part of it is lost to trimming or cooking, enter the usable percentage.
2 What goes in one dish
Choose each ingredient from your list and enter how much the recipe uses.
3 Portions and price
Optional. Add the selling price to see your food cost percentage.
Your result
An estimate from the numbers you typed. It covers ingredients only, not labour, packaging or overhead. Use any currency: the calculator only multiplies.
How to calculate food cost
Food cost has three steps: price each ingredient, add up the dish, then compare the total with what you charge.
- Find the price per unit. Divide what you paid by how much you bought. Price per kg = total paid ÷ kg bought
- Cost each ingredient. Multiply that price by the amount the recipe uses, then add the ingredients together to get the cost of the dish. Divide by the number of portions to get the cost per portion. Ingredient cost = price per kg × kg used
- Work out the food cost percentage. Divide the cost of one portion by its selling price. Food cost % = cost per portion ÷ selling price × 100 To go the other way and set a price for a target, divide the cost per portion by the target. Selling price = cost per portion ÷ target food cost %
If you lose part of a product to trimming or cooking, price only the part you serve.
Price per kg = total paid ÷ (kg bought × usable %)A worked example
A kitchen buys 10 kg of beef for $300 and 5 kg of potatoes for $32. One dish uses 300 g of beef and 200 g of potatoes.
| Ingredient | Bought | Price per kg | Used | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beef | 10 kg for $300 | $30.00 | 300 g | $9.00 |
| Potatoes | 5 kg for $32 | $6.40 | 200 g | $1.28 |
| Cost of the dish | $10.28 | |||
Sold at $34.00, the food cost is $10.28 ÷ $34.00 × 100, which is 30.2 percent, and each portion leaves $23.72 of gross profit. To hit exactly 30 percent, the price would be $10.28 ÷ 0.30, or $34.27. Press Try an example above to see the calculator do the same.
What this calculator does not include
Food cost covers ingredients only. It leaves out labour, packaging, delivery fees and overhead, so a dish with a good food cost percentage can still lose money. It also uses the prices you type today. If your supplier raises a price next week, the answer changes and you need to run it again.
Food cost questions
Short answers to what people usually ask.
What is food cost?
Food cost is what the ingredients in a dish cost you, based on the prices you actually paid your suppliers. It is usually shown two ways: as dollars per portion, and as a percentage of the selling price.
How do you calculate food cost percentage?
Divide the cost of one portion by its selling price, then multiply by 100. A dish that costs $10.28 to make and sells for $34.00 has a food cost of 30.2 percent.
How do you calculate the cost of an ingredient in a recipe?
Divide what you paid by the quantity you bought to get the price per unit, then multiply by the quantity the recipe uses. Beef at $300 for 10 kg is $30.00 per kg, so 300 g of it costs $9.00.
What is a good food cost percentage?
Many restaurants aim for roughly 28 to 35 percent, but the right figure depends on the kind of restaurant, the menu and your prices. Use it as a starting point, and compare each dish with the target you set for your own business.
How do I include trimming and waste in the cost?
Enter a usable percentage for the product. If 15 percent of a 10 kg purchase of beef is lost to trimming, enter 85. The calculator then prices only the meat you can serve, so 300 g of beef costs $10.59 instead of $9.00.
Can I mix units, like buying in kilograms and using grams?
Yes, within the same kind of unit. Weights (g, kg, oz, lb) convert to each other, and so do volumes (ml, L, fl oz, tsp, tbsp, cup). Weight and volume cannot be converted without knowing the density of the ingredient, so the calculator asks you to use a matching unit rather than guess.
Is anything I type saved or sent anywhere?
No. The calculation happens in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored or sent to us, and it is gone when you refresh or close the page. We count visits to this page, but never what you type.
Why does my food cost keep changing?
Supplier prices move, so the same recipe costs a different amount from one delivery to the next. A calculator shows one moment in time. Foodnance re-costs every dish from your supplier invoices as you upload them, so the numbers stay current without re-typing.
Costing one dish is a start
Foodnance is food cost software for independent Canadian restaurants and bakeries. Photograph a supplier invoice, and your recipe costs, margins and P&L update themselves.
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