Food Cost and Menu Price Calculator
What should this dish cost on the menu?
Type what the ingredients cost and the food cost you aim for. Get the menu price, rounded to a price you can print.
When a supplier puts prices up, the question is what the dish should cost on the menu now. The usual answer is a food cost percentage: the ingredients as a share of the price. Pick the share you aim for, type what one plate costs you, and the price comes out, rounded up to one you can print.
Menu price = plate cost ÷ target food cost %. Food cost % = plate cost ÷ menu price.
Everything on the plate or in the cup
Many cafes and restaurants aim for 25–35%
Leave empty for a new item
Menu price for your target
$12.75
$8.95 left per sale after ingredients
Your food cost today
33%
$7.70 left per sale at $11.50
To hit 30%, raise it by $1.25. Or keep the price and bring the plate cost down to $3.45.
Food cost here is the ingredients only. Wages, rent and packaging are not in it, which is why the target is a third of the price and not most of it. Nothing you type leaves this page.
Everything you type stays in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or stored.
How this screen worksOne dish is a guess. Your whole menu is a plan.
Put every item’s price and cost in the free back office and see which ones make you money and which only keep you busy. On the paid plan, KANJIN turns your ledger into supplier and profit reports.
Step 1 · Free
Free profit by item
See which items make you money and which only keep you busy, from your own prices and costs.
Step 2 · Automatic
Printable profit and supplier reports
Profit and supplier reports from your daily ledger, for any week or month, ready to print for your accountant.
Paid plan · $39 a month
How this works
- The menu price is the plate cost divided by the target: $3.80 at a 30% target is $12.67, rounded up to $12.75.
- It rounds UP to the next 25 cents, because rounding down would miss the target you asked for.
- With today’s price filled in, it shows today’s food cost and how far the price is from the target, or what the plate would have to cost to keep the price.
- Food cost here is ingredients only. Wages, rent and packaging are separate, which is why a target of about a third is normal.
- Nothing is uploaded. The sums are done in your browser.
Common questions
- What is a good food cost percentage?
- Many cafes and restaurants aim for 25 to 35%. Drinks usually run lower and meat-heavy dishes higher. What matters is the average across what you actually sell.
- How do I work out the cost of one plate?
- Add up what each ingredient costs for one portion: the weight used times the price per kilo or per unit from your supplier. Include garnish, sauce and the cup or box if it goes with the dish.
- Should every item hit the same target?
- No. A coffee might sit at 15% and a steak at 40%. Profit by item in the free back office shows which items carry the menu and which only keep you busy.
- Why is the price rounded up?
- Because a menu prints $12.75, not $12.67, and rounding down would leave you under the target you chose.
Try next
Want this calculator on your own site? Get the embed code. It is free.