Food Cost Calculator

Free, in-browser. Build the plate from ingredients, factor in waste and yield loss, and get the three numbers that matter: plate cost, food cost percentage, and the menu price that hits your target. Nothing leaves your machine.

The formulas

Plate cost   = Σ(ingredient qty × unit cost) × (1 + waste %)
Food cost %  = plate cost ÷ menu price × 100
Target price = plate cost ÷ target %

Two honest caveats about what a plate calculator can and can't tell you. First, the unit costs are the whole game — a food cost percentage computed from the prices you remember is fiction; supplier prices move weekly, and a two-point drift hides comfortably inside stale numbers (see purchase price variance). Second, this computes theoretical cost — what the plate should cost if portioning is exact and nothing is wasted beyond your waste factor. The gap between theoretical and actual (from real purchases and counts) is where money disappears, and closing it requires connecting recipes to real purchase prices and inventory — see COGS and food cost management software.

How to use this

1. Take unit costs from your latest invoices, not memory — cost per oz/each from the pack price.
2. Set a waste factor honestly: trim, spillage, and remakes are real (3–10% is common by category).
3. Compare the computed percentage to your category's working range and your own target — then check the dollars too: you bank gross profit, not percentages.
4. Re-run when a supplier reprices a core ingredient — that's the moment menus quietly go underwater.

Related

• Best Food Cost Management Software
• Restaurant Purchasing, Complete
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
• Gross margin
• Managing Supplier Price Increases