Food cost and menu price calculator
Cost a dish ingredient by ingredient, then see the price that hits your target food cost, on your own menu and on a delivery app. Every figure is yours to change. New to this? Follow a worked example.
How to use this calculator
One dish from start to finish: paneer butter masala, from a recipe that makes 4 portions. Every figure below is exactly what the calculator shows for these entries.
The quantities are a standard restaurant recipe. The prices are examples only; enter what you actually pay.
-
Enter the recipe as you cook it
Type the dish name and how many portions the recipe makes (4). Then add every ingredient: what you pay for it, for how much, how much the recipe uses, and how much of it is lost before it reaches the plate.
Ingredient You pay Recipe uses Wastage Line cost Paneer ₹400 for 1 kg 400 g None ₹160 Tomatoes ₹40 for 1 kg 500 g 10% ₹22.22 Onions ₹35 for 1 kg 150 g 10% ₹5.83 Butter ₹285 for 500 g 50 g None ₹28.50 Fresh cream ₹70 for 250 ml 100 ml None ₹28 Cashew nuts ₹1,000 for 1 kg 30 g None ₹30 Ginger garlic paste ₹80 for 200 g 20 g None ₹8 Kashmiri chilli powder ₹100 for 100 g 10 g None ₹10 Garam masala ₹80 for 100 g 5 g None ₹4 Kasuri methi ₹40 for 25 g 3 g None ₹4.80 Cooking oil ₹180 for 1 litre 20 ml None ₹3.60 Sugar ₹45 for 1 kg 10 g None ₹0.45 Salt ₹28 for 1 kg 10 g None ₹0.28 Whole recipe ₹305.69 Per portion (÷ 4) ₹76.42 Wastage raises a line's cost. 500 g of tomatoes costs ₹20, but 10% is lost in preparation, so the line costs ₹22.22.
-
Add what you spend on every plate
Costs paid once per plate, not once per recipe, go in the second group. Here that is fresh coriander garnish at ₹2 a plate.
Cost per plate: ₹76.42 + ₹2 = ₹78.42
-
Set your target, GST, and rounding
This restaurant wants food to be 30% of the price, has 5% GST added to the bill, and rounds prices up to a price ending in 9. The calculator works out the price:
- Menu price
- ₹269
- You earn per plate, before GST
- ₹269
- Gross profit per plate
- ₹190.58
- Food cost at this price
- 29.2%
- Guest pays, with GST
- ₹282.45
The food cost is 29.2%, a little under the 30% target, because the price is always rounded up, never down.
-
Check the price already on your menu
The dish sells at ₹249 today. Enter it as the current menu price, and the calculator shows the food cost is 31.5%, over the 30% target. It offers two fixes:
- Raise the price to ₹269.
- Or keep ₹249 and cut the plate cost by ₹3.72.
-
Price it for a delivery app
Tick the delivery app box and enter the app's terms. Here the app charges 20% commission and a ₹10 fee per order, with 18% GST on both, and packaging costs ₹15. The calculator finds the app price that still leaves you about the ₹269 a plate you earn on your own menu:
- List it at
- ₹389
- The app deducts
- ₹103.60
- Delivery packaging
- ₹15
- You keep per order
- ₹270.40
- Food cost on what you keep
- 29%
-
See where the cost goes
The results end with every cost as a share of the plate, largest first. Here paneer is the biggest: ₹40 of the ₹78.42 plate, or 51%. If its price goes up by 10%, every plate costs ₹4 more.
It replaces what you have entered. Start over clears it again.
How the numbers are worked out
The cost of one plate
Each ingredient line costs the price you paid, multiplied by the share of it the recipe uses. Units are converted for you within weight (g, kg), volume (ml, litre), and pieces, so buying by the kilo and cooking by the gram works out on its own.
Wastage is what you pay for but never serve: peel, trim, bones, and what cooks away. The line cost is divided by what is left after wastage, so 10% wastage divides it by 0.9. The recipe total is then split across the portions it makes, and costs you pay per plate, such as a takeaway box or a garnish, are added on top.
From cost to menu price
Food cost percentage is the plate cost as a share of the price before GST. To hit a target, the price before GST is the plate cost divided by the target, so a 30% target divides it by 0.30. If your menu prices include GST, the GST is then added to reach the menu price.
Profit and food cost are always worked out on the price before GST, because the GST on a bill is collected for the government, not earned by the restaurant.
Why the price rounds up, never down
The menu price is rounded up to the step you choose: the next rupee, the next ₹5 or ₹10, or the next price ending in 9. Rounding down would push the food cost over the target you set, so the calculator never does it. The results show the food cost at the rounded price, which is usually a little under your target.
The delivery app price
A delivery app takes a commission on the price, sometimes a fixed fee per order, and GST on both, and the order needs packaging. The calculator finds the app price at which, after all of that, you keep the same amount per plate as you earn on your own menu price.
It assumes the commission is charged on the price before GST. If your app works differently, adjust the commission figure to match what you are actually charged.
These are planning figures. The commission, fees, and GST on them are set by your own agreement with each app, so check them against a recent payout statement.
Questions about food cost
What is food cost percentage?
It is the cost of the ingredients in a dish as a share of the price you sell it for, before GST. A plate that costs ₹60 to make and sells for ₹200 before GST has a food cost of 30%. The lower it is, the more of each sale is left to pay for rent, staff, power, and profit.
What food cost percentage should I aim for?
It depends on your format, your rent, and your staff costs, which is why the calculator asks for your target instead of assuming one. Work back from a month: what is left of your sales after rent, salaries, power, and the profit you want is what your food can cost, as a share of sales.
What should I enter as wastage?
The share of what you buy that never reaches the plate. Weigh an ingredient as it arrives and again as it goes into the dish: the difference, as a share of the first weight, is your wastage. Leave it blank for anything used whole, such as a bottle of water or a packet of butter.
Does the calculator handle GST?
Yes. Enter your GST rate and say whether the prices on your menu already include it or GST is added to the bill. Either way, food cost and profit are worked out on the price before GST.
How is the delivery app price worked out?
It is the listed price at which, after the app's commission, any fixed fee, the GST on both, and your delivery packaging, you keep the same amount per plate as you earn on your own menu. If the deductions add up to the whole price or more, no app price can work, and the calculator says so.
Is what I type saved anywhere?
Only in the browser you are using, on this device, so a refresh or a closed tab does not lose your entries. Nothing is sent to us. Start over clears it.
Read next
Your numbers, from your own bills.
Daily sales, item and category performance, average order value, and repeat customers, from the bills you already ring up. Half an hour, on your own menu.
Your demo is booked.
We have emailed you the details, with a link to move or cancel it if your plans change.
