How do you calculate food cost per dish and for the month?
Food cost is what the food costs you as a share of what it sells for. For one dish, add the cost of every ingredient on the plate and divide by the menu price. For the month, take the food you had at the start, add what you bought, subtract what is left, and divide by food sales.
By The Mise team, restaurant people. Last updated .
At a glance.
| Question | What you add up | What you divide by |
|---|---|---|
| What does one plate cost? | The cost of every ingredient on it, at the weight you buy | The menu price, before tax and service charge |
| What did the month cost? | Food on hand at the start, plus food bought, minus food on hand at the end | The food sales of the month |
What food cost is.
Food cost is the share of a price that goes on the food itself. In Indonesia it is often called HPP. It answers two different questions, so you need two numbers: one for each plate, and one for the whole month.
One dish, ingredient by ingredient.
- List every ingredient on the plate, with the oil, the sauce and the garnish.
- For each one, find the weight you must buy to serve its portion. A fillet that trims from 200 g to 150 g costs you 200 g.
- Multiply that weight by the price you paid per kilogram or per litre.
- Add the lines. That is the cost of one portion.
- Divide it by the menu price of the portion, before tax and service charge.
Sample. Invented numbers.
One fish plate, in rupiah, with prices made up for this example.
Fish: 200 g bought to serve 150 g, at Rp 120,000 a kg: Rp 24,000.
Rice: 100 g at Rp 16,000 a kg: Rp 1,600.
Vegetables: 80 g at Rp 30,000 a kg: Rp 2,400.
Oil and seasoning: Rp 1,000.
Sauce: Rp 3,000.
Cost of one portion: Rp 32,000.
Menu price: Rp 110,000.
Food cost: 32,000 divided by 110,000 is 29.1%.
Costed on the 150 g served, the fish would be Rp 18,000 and the plate would look like 23.6%. The 5.5 points between the two are real money you spend.
The whole month.
- Count the food on hand on the first day of the month.
- Add the food you bought in the month, from your invoices.
- Count the food on hand on the last day, and take it away.
- What is left is the food you used.
- Divide it by the food sales of the month. Leave the drinks out of both.
Sample. Invented numbers.
One month, in rupiah, with figures made up for this example.
Food on hand on the first day: Rp 40,000,000.
Food bought in the month: Rp 185,000,000.
Food on hand on the last day: Rp 35,000,000.
Food used: 40,000,000 plus 185,000,000 minus 35,000,000 is Rp 190,000,000.
Food sales of the month: Rp 620,000,000.
Food cost: 190,000,000 divided by 620,000,000 is 30.6%.
When the two numbers disagree.
Your dishes say one thing and your month says another. That is normal, and it is useful. The dish figure is what the food should have cost. The month figure is what it did cost. The difference is food you paid for and did not sell.
Sample. Invented numbers.
The same month, with figures made up for this example.
Portions sold times portion cost, added up for every dish: Rp 176,000,000.
Food used by the count: Rp 190,000,000.
Difference: Rp 14,000,000, which is 2.3% of the food sales.
Look for the difference in this order.
- Are all the invoices in the right month? A delivery booked a day late moves the whole figure.
- Did both counts cover the same shelves, fridges and stores?
- Are the prices in your recipes the prices you pay today?
- Do the portions leave the kitchen at the weight in the recipe? Weigh a few.
- For one week, write down what is thrown away, and why.
From the floor.
Cost the plate on the weight you buy, not the weight you serve. If 200 g of fish trims to a 150 g portion, that portion costs you 200 g.
Questions
The questions people ask.
What is a good food cost percentage?
There is no single right number. It depends on your menu, your prices and your kind of restaurant. Set your own lines from your own books, then watch which way the number moves from month to month.
Why do my dish figures and my month figure not match?
The dish figure is what the food should have cost. The month figure is what it did cost. The gap is food you paid for and did not sell: waste, large portions, old prices, or a delivery counted in the wrong month.
How do I know my food cost before the month ends?
Use the same sum on a shorter stretch. Count the food on hand at the start of a week, add what you buy, take away the count at the end, and divide by that week’s food sales.
Should drinks be in the same number?
Keep them apart. A plate of fish and a bottle of wine take very different shares of their prices, so one mixed number hides both.
Which price do I divide by?
The menu price of one portion, before tax and service charge. They go on top at the till, so they are not part of the price of the dish.
Can I try this with my own dish?
Yes. The food cost calculator on this site does the dish sum and the month sum as you type. It is free and keeps nothing.
Now try it.
Free, in your browser, with nothing stored.