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Free restaurant food cost calculator for chefs, owners, and managers. Turn batch recipe cost and portion count into cost per plate, then either compute food cost % from your menu price or a suggested price from a target food cost. Pair with our recipe scaling tools when you change yields.
Last updated: April 12, 2026
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Sum of ingredient costs for one full prep or batch (before labor).
How many plates or servings this recipe produces (whole number ≥ 1).
Cost per portion (COGS)
$6.00
Food cost %
31.6%
Gross margin % (food only)
68.4%
Summary
At $18.99 on the menu, food cost is about 31.6% of the selling price.
Steps
Restaurant P and L note
Food cost % is only ingredient cost vs selling price. Labor, rent, utilities, and waste are not included. Use this as a quick check on plating cost and pricing—not a substitute for a full prime cost or menu engineering model.
Outputs
Food cost %, margin
See whether a dish hits your kitchen’s target before you reprint menus.
Core step
COGS per plate
Standardize costing when a prep produces multiple covers.
Formula
Price = cost ÷ ( % ÷ 100 )
Useful when finance sets a food cost band and you need a ballpark ticket price.
Speed
One prep, one price
Validate a pop-up dish without a full spreadsheet on the line.
Yield =
Guests or covers
Treat each guest or meal as one portion when the menu is fixed.
Shows
Step-by-step math
Printed steps mirror how many kitchens explain food cost on the fly.
$48 recipe, 8 portions, $18.99 menu price (default in the calculator):
Cost per portion
$6.00
Food cost %
~31.6%
Commercial kitchens track ingredient dollars per portion and compare them to menu price to monitor food cost percentage. This calculator automates that relationship: first it divides your batch cost by the number of portions to get plate cost, then either divides by selling price (for %) or divides by your target ratio (for price).
Cost per portion = total recipe cost ÷ portions per batchFood cost % = (cost per portion ÷ menu price) × 100Menu price for target % = cost per portion ÷ (target % ÷ 100)Gross margin % shown here is the share of the selling price left after food cost only—useful for training, not a substitute for full contribution margin.
Update costs when invoices change; link prep yields to how the line actually plates the dish.
Scale recipes with our recipe scaling calculator before you lock in batch costs.
Get Custom Calculator for Your PlatformResult: about $25.00 menu price before tax to land near 28% food cost on ingredients alone
Share it with operators working on menu math
Suggested hashtags: #Restaurant #FoodCost #MenuPricing #Hospitality #Calculator