Menu pricing calculator for any dish
To price a menu item, divide what the dish costs you by your target food cost percentage. A dish that costs $10.28, priced for a 30 percent food cost, is $34.27.
Type your own cost below to get the price to put on the menu. Nothing is saved.
Menu pricing calculator
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.
Your price
Price a whole menu section
Every dish uses the target and the rounding you chose above.
| Dish | Cost | Menu price | Food cost | Profit |
|---|
An estimate from the numbers you typed. Profit per plate is the price less the ingredients only, before labour, packaging and overhead. Use any currency: the calculator only multiplies.
Do not know what the dish costs? Work it out from your ingredients with the food cost calculator.
How to price a menu item
There are three common ways to turn the cost of a dish into a price. All three are in the calculator above.
- By food cost percentage. Decide what share of the price the ingredients may take, then divide the cost by it. Menu price = cost of the dish ÷ target food cost %
- By markup. Multiply the cost by a number. Menu price = cost of the dish × markup
- By profit per plate. Add the dollars you want each plate to leave after ingredients. Menu price = cost of the dish + profit per plate
Food cost percentage and markup, side by side
A target food cost and a markup are two ways of saying the same thing. This is what each one gives for a dish that costs $10.00.
| Target food cost | Same as a markup of | Price of a $10.00 dish |
|---|---|---|
| 25% | 4.00 times cost | $40.00 |
| 28% | 3.57 times cost | $35.71 |
| 30% | 3.33 times cost | $33.33 |
| 32% | 3.13 times cost | $31.25 |
| 35% | 2.86 times cost | $28.57 |
A worked example
A dish costs $10.28 to make and the kitchen aims for a 30 percent food cost. $10.28 ÷ 0.30 is $34.27. Rounded up to $34.95, the food cost is 29.4 percent and each plate leaves $24.67 after ingredients. Press Try an example above to see the calculator do the same.
What the calculator does not know
- Your other costs. Labour, rent, packaging and delivery fees are not in the cost of the dish. A dish with a good food cost can still lose money.
- What customers will pay. The price down the street and what your guests expect matter as much as the formula.
- Tomorrow's prices. When a supplier raises a price, the cost of the dish changes and so does the right menu price.
Prefer a spreadsheet? Download the free Excel food cost template.
Menu pricing questions
Short answers to what people usually ask.
How do you calculate a menu price?
Divide what the dish costs you by your target food cost percentage. A dish that costs $10.28, priced for a 30 percent food cost, is $10.28 ÷ 0.30, or $34.27.
What food cost percentage should I price for?
Many restaurants aim for roughly 28 to 35 percent, but the right figure depends on the kind of restaurant and the dish. Use it as a starting point, and set a target for each part of your menu.
What is the difference between markup and food cost percentage?
They are the same idea seen from opposite sides. A markup of four times cost is a food cost of 25 percent. A food cost of 30 percent is a markup of 3.33 times cost.
Should menu prices end in .95?
That is a choice of style. Prices ending in .95 read as a deal, and whole dollars read as more formal. The calculator can round up either way, so the price never falls short of your target.
How often should I re-price my menu?
Check your prices whenever a main ingredient changes cost. Foodnance re-costs every dish from your supplier invoices as you upload them, so you can see which prices need a second look.
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.
The right price depends on today's cost
Foodnance is food costing 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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