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Food Cost Calculator

Food cost percentage and menu price from ingredient cost and target food cost ratio. Free hospitality calculator for food cost. Professional kitchen reference.

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Your signature dish is flying — but the food rep just raised chicken by 15% and your margin report hasn't looked right for two weeks. Time to run the numbers.

Food Cost Calculator
Business
Food cost % = (Ingredient cost per serve ÷ Selling price) × 100 Industry benchmarks: food cost % should be 28–35% for restaurants, 25–30% for cafés. Gross profit margin (after ingredient cost only) should be 65–72%+. Labour and overhead are additional. If food cost % is above 40%, review your pricing, portion sizes or supplier costs.
Reference: AUS Foods — Food Cost Guide
ℹ️ Results are estimates for planning purposes. Verify with current standards and a qualified professional.

1 What this calculator does

Calculates food cost percentage from total ingredient cost and selling price, and reverse-calculates the selling price needed to hit a target food cost percentage. Hospitality standard is 25–35% food cost for full-service restaurants.

2 Formula & professional reasoning

Food cost % = (Ingredient cost ÷ Selling price) × 100 | Required price = Ingredient cost ÷ (Target food cost % ÷ 100)

Food cost percentage tells you how many cents in every dollar of revenue goes to ingredients. Lower is not always better — a 20% food cost item may have lower perceived value; 30–35% on premium dishes drives revenue and guest satisfaction. The formula works in reverse to price menus: divide your ingredient cost by your target food cost percentage.

3 Worked examples

⚠️ Illustrative example only — not clinical or professional instruction.

Basic
Burger with $4.80 ingredient cost, $18 sell
Given: $4.80 ÷ $18 × 100
Working: 4.80 ÷ 18 × 100 = 26.7%
Answer: 26.7% food cost
💡 Within the 25–35% benchmark for casual dining.
Standard
Pasta dish — what should I charge?
Given: Ingredient cost $6.50 · Target food cost 30%
Working: $6.50 ÷ 0.30
Answer: Sell at $21.67+
💡 Round up to $22. Your 30% target is $6.60 ingredient budget — you have a small buffer.
Advanced
Tasting menu — 8 courses at $180
Given: Total ingredient cost for 8 courses: $42.50
Working: $42.50 ÷ $180 × 100
Answer: 23.6% food cost
💡 Tasting menus typically run 20–28% food cost — theatre, labour and exclusivity justify premium pricing.

4 Sanity check

Restaurant benchmark
25–35% food cost
Fine dining: 28–35%. Pub/casual: 25–30%. Fast food: 20–28%.
Beverage food cost
18–25% typical
Beverages and spirits run lower food cost — improves blended margin.
Selling price check
Price × (1 − food cost%) = gross profit
A $20 dish at 30% food cost leaves $14 for labour, overhead and profit.
Wage cost target
30–35% of revenue
Combined food + labour cost over 65% leaves little for rent, utilities, profit.

5 Common errors

ErrorCauseConsequenceFix
Using retail not supplier cost Estimating from supermarket prices Food cost under-stated by 20–40% Use your actual supplier invoice prices, updated weekly
Not including garnishes and sauces Costing main protein only True food cost 3–8% higher than calculated Cost every component including oil, salt, sauce, garnish — they add up
Not accounting for wastage Using raw weight not usable yield Under-costing especially on protein and vegetables Apply a yield factor: 1 kg beef mince may have 90% yield after cooking — use 0.9
Ignoring portion control drift Not weighing portions consistently Food cost creep of 2–5% Weigh portions at service, spot-check weekly, train kitchen on portion sizes

6 Reference & regulatory links

🇦🇺 Australia
🇺🇸 United States

7 Professional workflow

Common tools used alongside this one:

📏
Recipe Scaling Calculator
Scale your recipe to new batch size before re-costing ingredients
→
🍽️
Catering Quantity Calculator
Use Catering Quantity to estimate ingredient volumes for events
→