Dishes that barely make a profit quietly eat away at your budget. Often these are the popular items you sell the most of. Learn how to spot these profit killers and fix them.
Most restaurants unknowingly serve their most popular dishes at near-zero profit. Your bestseller might be costing you €10,000+ per year. Here's how to find these hidden budget drains.
Calculate the food cost of your bestsellers
Start with your 5 best-selling dishes. These are often the biggest culprits. Add up all the ingredient costs for each dish — including garnishes, sauces, and oil.
💡 Example:
Pasta carbonara (€18.50 on menu, incl. 9% VAT):
- Pasta: €0.80
- Bacon: €2.40
- Cream: €1.20
- Cheese: €1.80
- Eggs: €0.60
- Garnish: €0.40
Total ingredient costs: €7.20
Selling price excl. VAT: €18.50 / 1.09 = €16.97
Food cost: (€7.20 / €16.97) × 100 = 42.4%
A food cost above 35% usually means you're barely scraping by on that dish. At 42.4%, you're practically giving it away.
Find the hidden costs
Most owners forget costs that absolutely belong to the dish. These "invisible" ingredients can push your food cost through the roof.
- Oil and butter: For cooking and finishing
- Spices and seasonings: Seem cheap, but add up
- Garnish: Parsley, lemon, bread with soup
- Sauces: Mayonnaise, ketchup, dressings
- Trim loss: With fish and meat this can be 20-50%
⚠️ Watch out:
Trim loss makes ingredients way more expensive than you think. Whole salmon at €18/kg becomes €32/kg fillet after 45% trim loss. Calculate with the real price: €18 / 0.55 = €32.73/kg.
Compare with your selling prices
Once you know the real ingredient costs, you can calculate food cost. Always use the selling price excluding VAT.
Formula: Food cost % = (Ingredient costs / Selling price excl. VAT) × 100
💡 Comparison example:
Three dishes side by side:
- Steak (€32): ingredients €9.50 → food cost 32.4% ✅
- Pasta (€18.50): ingredients €7.20 → food cost 42.4% ❌
- Salad (€14.50): ingredients €4.20 → food cost 31.6% ✅
The pasta is your loss maker, despite lower ingredient costs.
Watch out for popularity vs. profitability
Popular dishes that make little profit cost you the most money. A dish with 40% food cost that you sell 100 times a week hurts more than a dish with 45% food cost that you sell 5 times a week.
- Calculate total impact: (Food cost % - 30%) × Selling price × Number per week
- Focus on volume losers: Dishes that sell frequently
- Check seasonal dishes: Ingredient prices fluctuate
💡 Impact calculation:
Pasta carbonara: 42.4% food cost, sold 100 times per week
Extra loss per portion: (42.4% - 30%) × €16.97 = €2.10
Loss per year: €2.10 × 100 × 52 = €10,920
Signs that a dish isn't profitable enough
Sometimes you can feel something's wrong before you crunch the numbers. From tracking this across dozens of restaurants, these signals almost always point to razor-thin margins:
- Full restaurant, empty till: Lots sold, little left over
- Customer complaints about prices: "Your competitor is cheaper"
- High turnover, low profit: Numbers don't match your gut feeling
- Stress about purchasing: Every price increase hurts
What to do with loss-making dishes
Once you know which dishes aren't profitable, you've got three options. Pick what fits your situation.
- Raise the price: Often the easiest solution
- Adjust the recipe: Cheaper ingredients or smaller portions
- Remove from menu: If it really won't work
⚠️ Watch out:
Raise prices gradually. A jump from €18.50 to €22 will scare customers away. Go in steps of €1-1.50 at a time.
How do you spot loss-makers? (step by step)
Make a list of your 5 best-selling dishes
Check your POS system or manually count which dishes are ordered most often. Focus on these bestsellers first — that's where the biggest impact is.
Calculate the full ingredient costs per dish
Add up all costs: main ingredients, garnishes, sauces, oil, spices. Don't forget trim loss — this can really increase your costs.
Work out the food cost percentage
Divide ingredient costs by your selling price excluding VAT and multiply by 100. Above 35% becomes critical.
Calculate the total impact per year
Multiply the extra loss per portion by how many times you sell it. This shows which dishes cost you the most money.
Create an action plan for your biggest loss-makers
Decide per dish: raise the price, adjust the recipe, or remove from menu. Start with the dish that costs you the most.
✨ Pro tip
Look for dishes where customers ask "Can I get extra sauce?" more than twice per shift. Free extras on low-margin dishes can push them into loss territory within weeks.
Calculate this yourself?
In the KitchenNmbrs app you can do this in just a few clicks. 7 days free, no credit card.
Was this article helpful?
Frequently asked questions
What is an acceptable food cost percentage?
For most restaurants, a healthy food cost is between 28% and 35%. Above 35% it becomes difficult to make enough profit after all other costs.
Should I calculate with prices including or excluding VAT?
Always excluding VAT. Your menu price includes 9% VAT, but for food cost calculations you divide by the price excluding VAT.
What if a popular dish isn't profitable?
You have three options: gradually raise the price, adjust the recipe with cheaper ingredients, or replace the dish with a more profitable alternative.
How do I factor trim loss into my cost price?
Divide your purchase price by the yield percentage. With 30% trim loss you have 70% yield. €20/kg becomes €20 / 0.70 = €28.57/kg real price.
📚 Sources consulted
- EU Verordening 852/2004 — Levensmiddelenhygiëne (2004) — Official source
- EU Verordening 853/2004 — Hygiënevoorschriften voor levensmiddelen van dierlijke oorsprong (2004) — Official source
- EU Verordening 1169/2011 — Voedselinformatie aan consumenten (2011) — Official source
- NVWA — Hygiënecode voor de horeca (2024) — Official source
- NVWA — Allergenen in voedsel (2024) — Official source
- Codex Alimentarius — International Food Standards (2024) — Official source
- FSA — Safer food, better business (HACCP) (2024) — Official source
- BVL — Lebensmittelhygiene (HACCP) (2024) — Official source
- Warenwetbesluit Bereiding en behandeling van levensmiddelen (2024) — Official source
- WHO — Foodborne diseases estimates (2024) — Official source
Food Standards Agency (FSA) — https://www.food.gov.uk
The HACCP standards shown in this application are for informational purposes only. KitchenNmbrs does not guarantee that displayed values are current or complete. Always consult the FSA or your local authority for the latest regulations.
Written by
Jeffrey Smit
Founder & CEO of KitchenNmbrs
Jeffrey Smit built KitchenNmbrs from 8 years of hands-on experience as kitchen manager at 1NUL8 Group in Rotterdam. His mission: give every restaurant owner control over food cost.
Calculate it yourself with KitchenNmbrs
All the formulas you learn here — KitchenNmbrs calculates them automatically. Enter your ingredients and instantly see your food cost, margin, and selling price. Try it free for 14 days.
Start free trial →