Calculate and track your food cost percentage to ensure your restaurant stays profitable. Food cost percentage is the ratio of your total food costs to your total food revenue, expressed as a percentage. Our calculator makes it easy to compute this critical metric for individual dishes, menu categories, or your entire operation.
To calculate food cost percentage, you divide the cost of ingredients by the menu selling price and multiply by 100. For example, if a dish costs four dollars in ingredients and sells for fourteen dollars, your food cost percentage is approximately 28.6 percent. Our tool does this math instantly and lets you compare results across your entire menu to identify high-cost items that may need repricing or re-engineering.
The calculator also helps you work backward. Enter your target food cost percentage and ingredient cost to determine what your selling price should be. Or enter your selling price and target percentage to find out the maximum you can spend on ingredients. You can track your food cost percentage over time to spot trends and react to rising costs before they impact your bottom line. Industry benchmarks are provided for different restaurant categories so you can see how your numbers compare. This is a must-have tool for any food business operator focused on maintaining healthy profit margins.