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Food Cost Calculator

A batch of 12 cookies made with 2 cups of flour, 8 tbsp of butter, 2 eggs and 200 g of sugar costs $2.89, or $0.24 a cookie. Sold at $1.50, that is a 16.0% food cost; at a 30% target the price would be $0.80. Enter what you paid and what the recipe uses for your own costs.

Formulas checked . Ingredient costs only.

Ingredients

What you paid for each ingredient, and how much of it the recipe uses. Bought by the pound and measured in cups? Name the ingredient and we convert with its weight per cup.

  1. Line cost$0.44

    Converting with All-Purpose Flour: 125 g per US cup.

  2. Line cost$1.25

    Converting with Butter: 226.8 g per US cup.

  3. Line cost$0.80
  4. Line cost$0.40

Recipe cost $2.89, $0.24 a serving, food cost 16.0 percent.

Recipe cost
$2.89
Cost per serving
$0.24
Food cost %
16.0%
$1.26 left per serving after food cost
Price for 30% food cost
$0.80

Food cost covers ingredients only, not labor, packaging or overhead. Volume-to-weight conversions use average densities, so weigh expensive ingredients for the most exact cost.

Food Cost Formulas

Four formulas, applied in order:

Ingredient cost

Cost = price paid ÷ amount bought × amount used ÷ usable %

Example: butter at $5.00 a pound, 8 tbsp used. 8 tbsp of butter weighs 113.4 g, a quarter of a pound, so it costs $1.25.

Cost per serving

Cost per serving = recipe cost ÷ servings

Food cost percentage

Food cost % = cost per serving ÷ menu price × 100

Menu price from a target

Menu price = cost per serving ÷ (target % ÷ 100)

Example: a $5.00 plate at a 30% target: $5.00 ÷ 0.30 = $16.67.

Bought by Weight, Measured by Volume

Groceries are sold by the pound or ounce, but recipes often call for cups and spoons. The calculator bridges the two with each ingredient's weight per US cup from our ingredient table:

  • Name the ingredient (start typing to pick from the list) and a 5 lb bag of flour can be costed per cup. Flour is 125 g per cup, so 2 cups is 250 g of the bag's 2,268 g.
  • Not in the list? Enter what one level cup weighs, or use the same unit on both sides.
  • Eggs, lemons and other counted items use "each" on both sides: 12 eggs for $4.80 makes 2 eggs $0.80.

Cup weights vary with how you fill the cup, so for costly ingredients weigh what you use. See how we calculate for the measuring method, or look up a single ingredient with the ingredient converter.

Keeping Food Costs in Check

Update Prices When You Restock

Ingredient prices move. Re-run your best sellers whenever a delivery invoice changes, so a menu price set last season doesn't quietly slip below target.

Count Yield, Not Just Purchase Weight

Bones, peel, trim and cooking loss raise the real cost of what reaches the plate. The USDA Food Buying Guide lists yields for many foods; use the usable % field for them.

Cost the Batch You Actually Make

Scaling a recipe up or down? Use the recipe scaler first, then cost the scaled quantities and servings.

Sources

Checked . Results are estimates from the prices you enter; they are not accounting or financial advice.

Questions

How do you calculate food cost percentage?

Divide the cost of the ingredients in a serving by its menu price and multiply by 100. A dish that costs $3.00 to make and sells for $10.00 has a 30% food cost.

How do I price a menu item from food cost?

Divide the cost per serving by your target food cost percentage as a decimal. A $5.00 plate at a 30% target sells for $5.00 ÷ 0.30 = $16.67. Many cooks then round to a menu-friendly price such as $16.95.

What is a good food cost percentage?

Johnson & Wales University puts profitable restaurants at an average of 28-35%. The right figure depends on the dish: drinks and baked goods often run lower, while steak and seafood run higher. Pick a target that covers your labor and overhead.

How do I work out what an ingredient in a recipe costs?

Divide what you paid by how much you bought to get a unit price, then multiply by the amount the recipe uses, in the same unit. Flour at $4.00 for 5 lb is about $0.0018 a gram; 2 cups (250 g) costs about $0.44. The calculator does the unit conversion for you.

What does the "usable %" field mean?

It is the share of what you bought that ends up in the dish after trimming, peeling, coring or deboning, often called yield. If you lose 20% of a pound of carrots to peel and tops, enter 80%, and the cost of what you use goes up by a quarter.

Does food cost include labor?

No. Food cost covers ingredients only. Labor, rent, packaging, utilities and waste are separate costs your menu price also has to cover, which is why food cost is kept well under half the price.