Food Cost Per Portion & Gross Profit Calculator

Food Cost Guide

What should I know about Food Cost Percentage?

Food cost % = (ingredient cost / selling price) × 100. The restaurant industry standard: food cost % of 28-35% is typical for most restaurants. Fast food: 25-30%. Fine dining: 30-38%. Cafes and coffee shops: 20-30% (high margin drinks offset food). Gross profit per dish = selling price − food cost. GP% = (selling price − food cost) / selling price × 100. Example: salmon dish. Food cost £6.50. Selling price £19.00. Food cost % = 6.50/19.00 × 100 = 34.2%. GP = £12.50. GP% = 65.8%. Remember: food cost percentage alone doesn't tell you profitability — a dish with a high food cost % but also a high price point can still contribute more actual profit per cover than a low-cost dish sold cheaply.

What should I know about Calculating True Ingredient Cost?

Waste and yield affect true food cost significantly. A whole salmon fillet bought at £12/kg may yield only 70% usable flesh — true cost = £12/0.70 = £17.14/kg. Common yield percentages: chicken breast (boneless skinless): 95%. Whole chicken: 60-65% usable. Beef tenderloin: 75-80%. Onions: 85% (after peeling). Leafy greens: 75-80%. Always calculate food cost on the as-purchased price AND the yield loss. A recipe that appears profitable based on purchase price may be loss-making once prep waste is properly accounted for, which is why yield-adjusted costing matters more than the sticker price of ingredients.

What's the key thing to understand about Pricing Strategies?

Cost-plus pricing: calculate food cost, divide by target food cost % to get minimum selling price. £6.50 food cost / 0.30 = £21.67 minimum selling price. Competitive pricing: research competitor prices — your cost-plus price may be uncompetitively high or suspiciously low. Psychological pricing: £18.95 rather than £19.00. Value perception: premium presentation, service, and atmosphere justify higher prices independent of food cost. Menu engineering: deliberately design menus to draw attention to higher-margin dishes through placement, description, and visual emphasis, rather than relying on price alone to drive what customers order.

What should I know about Home Cooking Economics?

Home cooking is dramatically cheaper than eating out or ordering takeaway. A home-cooked chicken stir-fry for 4 people might cost £6-8 total versus £12-16 per person at a restaurant. Meal planning and batch cooking amplify savings: cooking 5 meals at once while ingredients are already prepared reduces per-meal time and often reduces waste (a bag of spinach used across 3 meals vs going off after one). Cost per gram of protein: chicken breast approximately 1p/g. Eggs approximately 1.5p/g. Lentils approximately 0.5p/g. Tinned beans and pulses are often the cheapest protein source of all, at a fraction of the cost per gram compared to meat.