Your top 5 bestsellers hold the key to dramatically boosting your restaurant's profitability. Most restaurant owners fear price increases and end up leaving thousands on the table every year. Here's your roadmap to calculating exactly what those price bumps will generate and implementing them without scaring off customers.
Why your bestsellers have the most impact
Your top 5 bestsellers probably account for 60-80% of your revenue. A small price increase on these dishes therefore has a huge effect on your total profit. It's much more effective than raising all prices a little bit.
💡 Example:
Restaurant with 5 bestsellers, each 20 portions per week:
- Current price: €24.00 per dish
- New price: €26.00 (+€2.00)
- Extra per week: 5 × 20 × €2.00 = €200
Extra per year: €200 × 52 = €10,400
Calculate your current situation
Before any price increase, you need to know where you stand now. Collect data from your 5 bestsellers:
- Current selling price (including VAT)
- Number of portions per week (average over last 3 months)
- Cost price of ingredients per portion
- Current food cost percentage
You need this data to calculate what a price increase will bring in and check if you still have room to increase.
The formula for extra profit
The calculation is simple but powerful:
Extra profit per year = Price increase × Portions per week × 52 weeks
💡 Example calculation:
Steak (bestseller #1):
- Current price: €32.00
- New price: €34.00 (+€2.00)
- Sales: 35 portions/week
Extra profit: €2.00 × 35 × 52 = €3,640 per year
How much can you increase without losing customers?
Research shows that price increases of 8-12% usually have no noticeable effect on the number of orders, especially for popular dishes. Guests will order their favorite dish even if it costs a bit more. But here's something you only learn after closing your first month at a loss - customers care more about consistency and quality than they do about an extra euro or two on dishes they already love.
⚠️ Note:
Don't raise all prices at once. Start with your 2-3 absolute bestsellers and monitor the effect on orders for 4-6 weeks.
Check your food cost after price increase
A price increase automatically improves your food cost percentage. Calculate this beforehand:
New food cost % = (Cost price of ingredients / New selling price excl. VAT) × 100
💡 Example food cost improvement:
Pasta carbonara:
- Cost price of ingredients: €6.50
- Old price: €22.00 (€20.18 excl. VAT) → 32.2% food cost
- New price: €24.00 (€22.02 excl. VAT) → 29.5% food cost
Food cost improvement: 2.7 percentage points
Timing of price increases
The right timing makes a big difference for acceptance:
- New menu: Ideal moment, nobody compares directly
- Season change: Natural moment for adjustments
- After renovation/refresh: Guests expect changes
- Avoid: January (people are frugal after holidays)
Monitor the effect
After a price increase you should monitor the effect for 4-6 weeks:
- Number of orders per dish (per week)
- Total revenue from these dishes
- Guest reactions (direct or via reviews)
- Shift to other dishes
If orders drop by more than 15%, the increase was too much. Then you can make an intermediate step or run a temporary promotion.
Use tools for accurate calculations
Manually tracking portions, cost prices and food cost percentages takes a lot of time and is error-prone. A food cost calculator shows the effect of price changes on your margins directly and helps you calculate the optimal selling prices.
How do you calculate the impact of a price increase? (step by step)
Collect data from your top 5 bestsellers
Note for each dish: current selling price, average number of portions per week (over 3 months), and cost price of all ingredients. You need this basic data for every calculation.
Calculate the new food cost percentages
For each new price: divide ingredient cost price by new selling price (excl. VAT) and multiply by 100. Check that you stay below 35% food cost.
Calculate the extra profit per year
Multiply the price increase by number of portions per week and by 52. Add up the extra profit from all 5 dishes for your total annual profit increase.
✨ Pro tip
Test your price sensitivity by increasing just your #1 bestseller by €1.50 and track orders for exactly 6 weeks. If sales stay within 5% of normal, you've got a green light for the other four dishes.
Calculate this yourself?
In the KitchenNmbrs app you can do this in just a few clicks. 7 days free, no credit card.
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Frequently asked questions
How much percent can I increase my prices without losing customers?
Research shows that price increases of 8-12% on popular dishes usually have no noticeable effect on orders. Start conservatively with 5-8% and monitor the effect for 4-6 weeks before going higher.
Should I make all bestsellers more expensive at the same time?
No, start with your 2-3 absolute top sellers and wait 4-6 weeks. If there's no negative effect on orders, you can also increase the other bestsellers.
What if my food cost is already high, can I still increase?
If your food cost is above 35%, a price increase is actually extra important. Every euro added improves your margin directly and brings your food cost to a healthier level.
How do I tell guests about the price increase?
Don't tell them actively - just put out new menus. If someone asks, explain that ingredient prices have gone up and you want to maintain quality.
What if customers start ordering cheaper alternatives instead?
Track which dishes see increased orders after your price increase. If guests shift to lower-margin items, consider raising those prices too after 6-8 weeks.
Should I round prices to neat numbers like €25.00 or use €24.95?
For restaurants, rounded prices like €25.00 or €24.50 work better than €24.95. Guests don't want to feel like they're in a supermarket.
How often can I raise prices on the same dishes?
Once per year maximum for the same dishes, preferably aligned with menu changes or seasonal updates. More frequent increases will definitely be noticed by regular customers.
📚 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.
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