While restaurants sell by the plate, meal prep businesses work entirely differently — you're cooking in batches, packaging everything, and delivering complete meals. Your costs shift dramatically: packaging expenses rise, but you eliminate service staff entirely.
What makes meal prep different?
Meal prep means you're not calculating per plate served, but per packaged meal that goes out the door. Your cost structure looks nothing like a traditional restaurant:
- Packaging costs: containers, lids, labels, bags
- Delivery costs: fuel, time, vehicle wear
- Prep time: cooking everything at once
- No service: this saves on staff
⚠️ Note:
Always calculate excl. VAT. Meal prep falls under 9% VAT, just like restaurant food.
Calculate your total costs per meal
For accurate margins you need every cost component:
Ingredient costs per meal
Add up everything that goes into one meal. Don't skip the small stuff — spices, oil, and garnish add up fast.
💡 Example ingredient costs:
Chicken-rice meal:
- Chicken fillet 200g: €2.40
- Basmati rice 150g: €0.45
- Vegetable mix 100g: €0.60
- Sauce 30ml: €0.25
- Spices/oil: €0.15
Ingredients total: €3.85
Packaging costs per meal
Include every piece of packaging:
- Meal container: €0.35
- Lid: €0.15
- Label with info: €0.05
- Carry bag: €0.10
💡 Example packaging costs:
Packaging total: €0.65 per meal
Calculate your margin percentage
Now you can work out your actual margin with this formula:
Total costs = Ingredients + Packaging + Labor + Delivery
Margin % = (Selling price excl. VAT - Total costs) / Selling price excl. VAT × 100
💡 Example complete calculation:
Selling price: €12.50 incl. VAT = €11.47 excl. VAT
- Ingredients: €3.85
- Packaging: €0.65
- Labor (15 min at €18/hour): €4.50
- Delivery: €1.00
Total costs: €10.00
Margin: (€11.47 - €10.00) / €11.47 × 100 = 12.8%
⚠️ Note:
A margin of 12.8% is low. For meal prep you need a minimum of 20-25% margin to be profitable.
Typical margins for meal prep
From analyzing actual purchasing data across different restaurant types, meal prep services typically work with these margins:
- Food cost: 35-45% (higher than restaurant due to packaging)
- Labor: 25-35% (less than restaurant, no service)
- Overhead: 15-25% (lower rent, no storefront)
- Profit: 10-20%
Improve your margin
If your margin's too low, here's what you can do:
Increase your price
€1 extra per meal goes straight to your margin. Test if customers will accept this.
Optimize portion sizes
20 grams less rice per portion saves €0.15. With 100 meals per week that's €780 per year.
Buy smarter
Larger quantities, direct suppliers, seasonal products can slash your ingredient costs.
💡 Example optimization:
Through smarter purchasing, ingredient costs dropped from €3.85 to €3.40:
New margin: (€11.47 - €9.55) / €11.47 × 100 = 16.7%
That's €0.45 extra per meal. With 100 meals/week = €2,340 per year.
Digital help with calculations
Manually calculating margins per meal eats up hours. Especially if you're offering multiple menus and supplier prices keep changing.
A food cost calculator like KitchenNmbrs automatically works out your cost price and margin per meal. You enter your recipes, and it calculates what each meal costs including packaging.
How do you calculate the margin on meal prep? (step by step)
Gather all costs per meal
Add up ingredients, packaging, labor time and delivery costs. Don't forget spices, oil or labels. Calculate labor as time × hourly rate.
Calculate selling price excl. VAT
Divide your selling price by 1.09 to convert from incl. VAT to excl. VAT. Meal prep falls under 9% VAT, just like restaurant food.
Apply the margin formula
Margin % = (Selling price excl. VAT - Total costs) / Selling price excl. VAT × 100. Aim for a minimum of 20-25% margin for healthy profit.
✨ Pro tip
Track your margin on your top 3 meal offerings every 2 weeks during your first 6 months. These meals typically represent 60-70% of your total volume, so getting their pricing right determines your overall profitability.
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
What is a healthy margin for meal prep services?
A healthy margin sits between 20-30%. Lower than 15% puts you at risk, while higher than 35% might price out customers. Test what your local market will accept.
Should I calculate delivery costs separately or include them in the price?
Both approaches work fine. Separate delivery costs offer transparency, but including them in the meal price simplifies ordering. Budget €0.80-1.50 per delivery for fuel and vehicle wear.
How do I calculate labor time for meal prep?
Track your actual time spent cooking, packing and delivering per meal over a full week. Multiply that average by your target hourly rate — aim for minimum €18-22 per hour to make it worthwhile.
📚 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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