How to calculate food cost in a restaurant: recipes, portions and food cost percentage
Food cost is one of the biggest drivers of a restaurant's profit. The food cost percentage shows how much of your sales goes to the ingredients on the plate. Setting prices or running campaigns without it is managing by guesswork.
The basic formula
Food cost percentage = cost of ingredients used in the period ÷ food sales in the same period. Ingredients used = opening stock + purchases − closing stock.
The period calculation.
Recipe cost: per plate
Write each item's recipe: which ingredients and how much. Multiply by each ingredient's unit price and add up; that is the plate's theoretical cost. A latte, for example: 18 g of coffee, 220 ml of milk, a cup and a lid. As prices change, recipe cost changes too.
Theoretical versus actual cost
Theoretical cost is what you would use if every recipe were followed exactly. Actual cost is real consumption found by counting. The gap is portion creep, waste, comps and losses — exactly where profit disappears.
Where does the gap come from?
Ways to bring cost down
- Write recipes and train staff; standardise portion sizes.
- Record waste: tracked separately, spoiled and spilled ingredients reveal their cause.
- Tie comps and voids to permissions; make who did it and why visible.
- Count regularly: a short weekly count, a full monthly one.
- Watch purchase prices; when they rise, review recipe cost and selling price.
Every month.
In ari adisyon, recipe-based stock deducts ingredients on every sale, count differences and waste are reported separately, and bookkeeping includes a food cost ratio report. See our inventory page and our stock control guide.