Food Cost Calculator

How to cost a recipe

Recipe costing turns supplier prices into the cost of a portion. For each ingredient, divide the pack price by what is in the pack to get the cost per unit, convert it to the unit the recipe uses, divide by the yield and multiply by the amount used. Add the ingredients up for the recipe cost and divide by the number of portions. The calculator converts within weight (g, kg, oz, lb), volume (mL, L, teaspoons to gallons) and count, using the NIST definitions: 1 lb is 453.59 g, 1 fl oz is 29.57 mL, a cup is 8 fl oz and a tablespoon is 3 teaspoons.

Worked example: chicken thighs at $42 for a 10 lb case cost $4.20 a pound, or $0.2625 an ounce. Say a plate uses 6 oz of trimmed chicken and your yield test gives 80%: the plate's chicken costs 0.2625 ÷ 0.80 × 6 = $1.97. Add the other ingredients the same way.

Weight and volume do not convert into each other without the ingredient's density: a cup of flour and a cup of honey weigh different amounts. If a recipe measures by the cup and the pack is sold by the pound, weigh a cup once and enter the weight.

Yield: what the trim really costs

The CIA defines yield percentage as the edible portion quantity divided by the as-purchased quantity. If 50 lb of potatoes gives 42.5 lb once peeled, the yield is 85%, and every pound of peeled potato costs the purchase price divided by 0.85. The CIA's table of approximate yields lists, for example, broccoli at 61%, carrots without tops at 82% and onions at 89%. Your own yield test, weighing before and after prep, beats any table, because the cook's knife work and the size of the produce change it.

Menu price from a target food cost

Menu price = cost per portion ÷ target food cost. At a $3.57 portion cost, a 25% target gives $14.28, a 30% target $11.90 and a 35% target $10.20. The calculator assumes no target: what works depends on the concept, the labor in the dish, rent and what guests will pay, so type the one you plan for. The menu price tab also works backward: type a price and see the food cost percentage and the gross profit per plate.

Food cost for a week or a month

Plate costs say what a dish should cost; the period food cost says what the kitchen actually spent. Take the opening inventory, add the food bought during the period from the invoices, subtract the closing inventory, and divide by the food sales for the same days. When the actual percentage runs above what the plate costs predict, the Restaurant Association of New Zealand's guideline points at portions larger than the recipe, waste, price rises and deliveries not checked against the invoice.

Pour cost for the bar

Pour cost is food cost for a drink: the cost of the liquor in one pour divided by the drink price. Cost per pour = bottle cost ÷ bottle size × pour size. The bottle sizes in the list are among the standards of fill US law allows for distilled spirits (27 CFR 5.203), from 50 mL to 1.75 L; type any other size. Use the pour your bar actually measures, and run the tab once per spirit on the menu.

For food and drink sales reps

A distributor or broker rep who can show a chef what a new product does to the plate cost sells on the menu, not on the case price. Put the current product and yours side by side on the recipe tab: a higher case price with a better yield can still cost less per plate. Bring the numbers to the menu review, and the price list to the tasting.

What this calculator does not do

It costs the food or the liquor, not the labor, packaging or the overheads, and it does not track inventory or prices over time. Prices are what you type, so update them from the latest invoice. For drinks, mixers, garnish and spillage are not included unless you add them as ingredients on the recipe tab.

Sources, each read on 2026-10-26:

• The Culinary Institute of America: Kitchen Calculations (yield %, edible portion cost, recipe costing, food cost %, selling price)
• Restaurant Association of New Zealand: Food costing guideline (opening inventory + purchases − closing inventory ÷ food sales)
• NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C: General Tables of Units of Measurement (pound, ounce, fluid ounce, tablespoon, teaspoon)
• NIST: Cooking Measurement Equivalencies (cups and fluid ounces)
• 27 CFR 5.203: standards of fill for distilled spirits (bottle sizes)

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