Restaurant food cost % and menu price calculator

How the calculator works

List what you paid for every ingredient in one batch of a dish, say a pan of chicken and rice, then say how many portions that batch makes. The calculator adds the ingredient costs and raises the total by your trim and waste allowance, because the peels, bones and burnt edges are paid for but never reach a plate. Dividing by the portions gives the cost of the food on one plate, and any extras you add per plate (a garnish, a side salad, a to-go box) are added on top.

Food cost percentage is the plate cost divided by the menu price. Enter the price you charge today to see where you stand. The suggested price runs the same relation backwards: plate cost divided by the food cost percentage you aim for. A plate that costs $3.50 with a 28% target has to be priced at $12.50, because $3.50 is 28% of $12.50.

Worked example

A batch of chicken thighs ($14.00), rice and grains ($3.50), vegetables ($4.00) and sauce and oil ($2.50) costs $24.00. With a 5% allowance for trim the batch is worth $25.20. It makes 8 portions, so the food on a plate costs $3.15. Add $0.35 of garnish and packaging and the plate cost is $3.50.

At a menu price of $14.00 the food cost is 3.50 ÷ 14.00 = 25.0%, and each plate leaves a contribution margin of $14.00 − $3.50 = $10.50 to pay for labor, rent and profit. For a 28% target the suggested price is 3.50 ÷ 0.28 = $12.50, which leaves $9.00 a plate. Same dish, a lower price, a higher share of the price spent on food.

Choosing a target percentage

Many restaurants quote a food cost of roughly 28 to 35 percent of menu price as a rule of thumb, but the right number depends on your concept, your labor model and your rent. A place with expensive labor needs a lower food share; a counter-service place with few staff can run higher. Work backwards from your own costs rather than copying a figure: if labor and overhead take 60 percent of sales and you want a 10 percent profit, food cannot take more than 30 percent.

Why contribution margin matters as much as percentage

Percentages hide dollars. A $9 salad at 25% food cost leaves $6.75; a $32 steak at 38% leaves $19.84. Guests do not pay you in percentages, so look at the margin in dollars next to the percentage when you decide what to push on the menu, and which dish to reprice first.

Keeping the inputs honest

Use the invoice price of what you bought, divided over what you actually used. Prices move, so re-run the numbers when a supplier changes a price list; a protein that rises 15 percent can push a dish well over target without anyone noticing. Count rounding too: menus usually end in .00, .50 or .95, so move the suggested price to the nearest figure you would print.

What this tool does not do

It does one dish at a time and keeps nothing after you close the page. It does not track inventory, waste logs or supplier prices, and it is arithmetic on your numbers, not accounting or business advice. For many dishes at once, with weekly counts and par levels, the full sheet linked below is the same calculation laid out for a whole menu.