Food Cost Calculator
Enter what a plate costs you to make and what it sells for. You get food cost percentage, profit per plate, and the menu price to hit your target, plus where it lands against a healthy range by category.
This is your ideal food cost, the plate at a perfect portion. Your real number comes from counting inventory against sales, and it runs higher. That gap is the money worth chasing.
Healthy food cost by category.
These are the ranges a well-run kitchen aims for. They are targets, not laws. Center-plate proteins carry a higher food cost and earn it on the ticket, pasta and fried items run lean, and where you land depends on your menu and how tight you portion.
| Category | Healthy food cost | Margin on the plate |
|---|---|---|
| Steak and seafood entrees | 35% to 45% | 55% to 65% |
| Chicken and pork entrees | 28% to 35% | 65% to 72% |
| Pasta, pizza, fried apps | 18% to 28% | 72% to 82% |
| Salads, soups, sides | 20% to 30% | 70% to 80% |
| Whole kitchen, blended | 28% to 35% | 65% to 72% |
A number inside the range is not the same as money in the bank. A calculator gives you the ideal. What you actually spend to put the plate out is a different figure, and the only way to see it is to count. Bar Cop reads your count against your sales and prices the gap in dollars, per category, so a high food cost tells you which station to look at.
How food cost is calculated.
Plate cost
Cost every ingredient on the plate. For each one it is the buy price divided by the pack size, times the portion you put on the plate. An 8 ounce pour of a 30 dollar gallon of sauce is not a rounding error when it sells forty times a night. Add them all up and that is your plate cost.
Food cost percentage
Divide the plate cost by the menu price and multiply by 100. A 4 dollar 50 plate at 15 dollars runs a 30 percent food cost. To go the other way and price to a target, divide the plate cost by the target as a decimal: 4.50 divided by 0.30 is a 15 dollar price.
Ideal is not actual
This math assumes an exact portion every time with nothing lost. Real kitchens trim, over-portion, and let product spoil. Your real food cost comes from counting what came in against what sales say went out. The distance between the two is the leak.