Plate cost calculator

Cost a dish ingredient by ingredient, get a menu price at the food cost you are aiming for and see what each plate earns. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.

Ingredients for one plate Example recipe

Target food cost

Your menu price optional

Dish name

Suggested menu price$20.67at 30% food cost

At or under target

Plate cost: $6.20
Food cost at your price: 28.2%
Gross profit at your price: $15.80

Illustration only, not advice. The example recipe and target are placeholders, so set your own. Suggested price is plate cost divided by your target food cost.

Talk through these numbers

Save dishes and drinks from the plate and cocktail calculators to see them side by side. Add how many of each sold last month and each one is sorted into stars, plowhorses, puzzles and dogs. Saved dishes stay in this browser only, until you remove them.

Free calculator by TM Hospitality Strategies

How plate cost and menu pricing work

Plate cost is what the ingredients in one portion cost you. Divide it by the food cost percentage you are aiming for and you have a starting menu price. Once the dish is on the menu, the same numbers tell you its actual food cost.

Suggested price = plate cost ÷ target food cost %

Food cost % = plate cost ÷ menu price × 100

Costing a plate accurately

Cost what lands on the plate, not what you buy. A $10 pound of salmon that yields 12 usable ounces after trimming costs about $0.83 an ounce, not $0.63.
Include the small things: cooking oil, sauce, garnish, and any bread or sides served with the dish.
Recost when supplier prices change, so menu prices keep pace with what the ingredients cost today.

A worked example

The example plate costs $6.20: protein $4.20, starch $0.60, vegetables $0.85, and sauce and garnish $0.55.

$6.20 ÷ 30% = $20.67 suggested price

On a $22.00 menu price, food cost is $6.20 ÷ $22.00 = 28.2%, a little under the 30% target, and the plate earns $15.80 of gross profit before labor and overheads.

Look at the dollars as well as the percentage

A lower food cost percentage is not always the better dish. For example, a $40 steak at 38% food cost earns $24.80 a plate, while a $16 pasta at 22% earns $12.48. Weigh the percentage, the gross profit per plate and how often each dish sells.

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Pricing a whole menu?

Menu and pricing reviews look at every dish together: cost, price, margin and how well each one sells.

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