Food Cost Calculator
for Restaurants — Free
Food cost calculator for restaurants and professional kitchens — with VAT correction, waste % per ingredient, unit conversion and suggested pricing. Free, instant, no account needed.
Food Cost Calculator
Add your ingredients with purchase price, package size, portion quantity and waste %. Food cost %, gross margin and suggested sell price update instantly.
- Food cost % = Ingredient cost / Sell price excl. VAT x 100. Always use the net price — VAT is not your revenue.
- Benchmark: 25-35% for most restaurants. Above 35% is a warning sign. Above 40% means you are losing money on food before a single labour hour is counted.
- Waste percentage doubles your real food cost versus what your spreadsheet shows. Bone-in chicken: 22-27% loss. Whole lettuce: 35-45%. Skin-on salmon: 15-20%. Always include it.
What is food cost percentage and why does every decimal point matter?
You finish a Friday service at 11pm. You sold out. The kitchen ran clean. But do you actually know if you made money? Food cost percentage answers that question. The formula is: Food cost % = Ingredient cost / Sell price excl. VAT x 100. Sell a dish for £18.00 incl. 20% VAT. That is £15.00 net. Ingredients cost £4.50. Food cost = 30%. Now add one badly costed dish at 44% and serve it 15 times per night, and you have lost over £200 in margin before wages, rent or energy are even considered.
According to the National Restaurant Association (NRA), food costs should sit between 28-35% for full-service restaurants and 22-28% for fast casual operations. UK Hospitality benchmarks align closely: 28-32% for casual dining, 22-26% for cafes and coffee shops. If you are consistently above 35%, your labour costs, overheads and rent will push you into loss territory before the month is out.
Waste percentage: the number that doubles your real food cost
Waste is what you throw away before, during and after preparation. It sounds minor. It is not. A bone-in chicken breast loses 22-27% to bone, cartilage and fat trim. A whole iceberg lettuce loses 35-45% after washing, outer leaves and core removal. A skin-on salmon fillet loses 15-20% to portioning and pin-bone removal. If you do not account for these losses in your food cost calculation, you are managing your kitchen on numbers that do not reflect reality. This calculator applies waste correction automatically for every ingredient.
Food cost benchmarks by restaurant type
| Restaurant type | Food cost % | Gross margin |
|---|---|---|
| Fine dining | 28-32% | 68-72% |
| Bistro / brasserie | 30-35% | 65-70% |
| Fast casual | 22-28% | 72-78% |
| Catering | 28-36% | 64-72% |
| Cafe / lunch | 18-25% | 75-82% |
How to calculate food cost step by step
Step 1: Remove VAT from your sell price
VAT, GST, sales tax — whatever your jurisdiction calls it — belongs to the government, not you. A £14.00 pasta dish at 20% VAT is £11.67 net. Always calculate food cost against that net figure. Calculate against the gross and your food cost will look 20% better than it actually is.
Step 2: Calculate raw ingredient cost per portion
You bought 5 kg of chicken thighs for £18.50. You use 180g per portion. Raw cost = (18.50 / 5000) x 180 = £0.67. Do this for every single ingredient on the plate. It takes two minutes per dish. Skipping it costs more than that in wasted margin every single service.
Step 3: Apply waste percentage
Those 180g of chicken thighs deliver maybe 130g to the plate after trim and cook loss. That is a 28% yield loss. Your real cost is not £0.67 — it is £0.93. Most food cost spreadsheets skip this step entirely, which is why they consistently understate true cost. This calculator applies waste correction automatically.
Step 4: Divide by sell price excl. VAT
Frequently asked questions about food cost
Related articles from the knowledge base
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