Food cost percentage calculator
Food cost percentage is what it costs you to make a plate, divided by what you sell it for. If a plate costs $6.00 to make and sells for $20.00, your food cost is 30 percent.
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A worked example
Ribeye plate costs $14.50. Menu price $34. Food cost is 42.6 percent. To reach 32 percent you would need to charge $45.31, or bring the plate cost down to $10.88.
What is a good food cost percentage?
Most full service restaurants aim for somewhere between 28 and 35 percent. Pizza and coffee run lower. Steak and seafood run higher. Your target depends on your labor, rent and menu mix, so treat the range as a starting point and not a rule.
Where this number goes wrong
- The plate cost is out of date. A vendor raised the price and the recipe card still shows last month’s number.
- Yield is ignored. A pound of whole product is not a pound of usable product after trim.
- Small items are skipped. Oil, butter, garnish and sauce add up across a night.
The calculator is only as good as the plate cost you type in. RestaurantOpsApp reads your vendor invoice photo and re costs every plate that uses those items.
Related: How to cost a recipe from an invoice and the plate cost worksheet.