How do you know if your bestselling dish is actually making money? Most food truck owners guess at their costs, then wonder why profits disappear despite busy days. Three specific data points can reveal your true dish costs and protect your margins.
The 5 essential data categories
Accurate cost calculations require five specific data types. Miss any of these and you're rolling the dice with every sale, watching crowd favorites quietly eat away at your profits.
1. Exact ingredient prices per unit
Write down purchase prices per kilogram, liter, or individual piece for every single ingredient. This sounds obvious, but experienced operators mess this up all the time.
💡 Example:
For your hamburger you need:
- Ground beef: €12.50/kg
- Buns: €0.45/piece
- Cheese: €8.20/kg
- Lettuce: €2.80/head
- Tomato: €3.20/kg
Now you've got precise ingredient costs per hamburger.
2. Portion size per ingredient
Measure exact grams, milliliters, or pieces used per serving. Don't estimate—weigh everything. An extra 20 grams of protein will destroy your margins fast.
💡 Example hamburger portion size:
- Ground beef: 150g
- Bun: 1 piece
- Cheese: 25g
- Lettuce: 15g (1/4 head)
- Tomato: 30g
Cost price: €1.88 + €0.45 + €0.21 + €0.11 + €0.10 = €2.75
3. Fixed costs per day
Food trucks carry specific daily expenses that get split across portions sold. Higher volume means lower per-unit costs—but quiet days really sting.
- Location fees: market permits, spot rentals
- Fuel costs: diesel, propane tanks
- Truck depreciation: monthly payments or depreciation
- Insurance: daily breakdown
- Labor: your wages plus any help
⚠️ Note:
Fixed expenses stay the same if you serve 50 or 200 customers. Busy days boost per-portion profit, slow days slash it.
4. Expected number of portions per day
Estimate realistic daily portion counts to split fixed costs properly. Most kitchen managers discover too late that overly optimistic projections create pricing that can't survive slow periods—and that kills profitability when you need it most.
💡 Example fixed cost allocation:
Daily fixed expenses: €180
Projected sales: 120 portions
Fixed cost per portion: €180 ÷ 120 = €1.50
5. Desired profit margin
Set profit targets before you start calculating. Food trucks need bigger margins than restaurants because revenue swings wildly and weather kills sales.
- Food cost: 25-35% (raw ingredients)
- Fixed costs: 30-40% (truck, permits, labor)
- Profit: 25-45%
Complete cost price formula for food trucks
Once you've collected all the data, use this calculation:
Total cost price = Ingredient costs + (Daily fixed costs ÷ Expected portions)
Minimum selling price = Total cost price ÷ (1 - Target profit margin)
💡 Complete hamburger example:
- Ingredient costs: €2.75
- Fixed costs per portion: €1.50
- Total cost price: €4.25
- Target profit: 35%
Minimum selling price: €4.25 ÷ 0.65 = €6.54
Round to €6.95 for cleaner pricing.
Digital vs. manual calculation
Manual calculations in spreadsheets work but eat up time and create mistakes. Supplier price changes force you to recalculate your entire menu from scratch.
Specialized apps handle these calculations automatically. You enter ingredient prices and portions once, then get instant cost and minimum selling price updates per dish.
⚠️ Note:
Update cost calculations monthly at minimum. Suppliers change prices constantly, and you must pass increases through to stay profitable.
How do you calculate your food truck cost price? (step by step)
Gather all ingredient prices
Record the exact purchase price per kilogram, liter, or piece for each ingredient. Check your latest supplier invoices for the most current prices. Don't forget small ingredients like spices, oil, or packaging materials.
Measure exact portion sizes
Weigh and measure exactly how much of each ingredient goes into one portion. Use a kitchen scale for accuracy. Don't estimate—10 grams difference per portion can cost hundreds of euros per year.
Calculate fixed costs per portion
Add up all daily costs (location, fuel, depreciation, insurance, labor). Divide this by your expected number of sold portions per day. This gives you the fixed costs per portion that you need to pass on.
✨ Pro tip
Weigh and cost your top 3 dishes over the next 10 days. These items usually drive 70% of your revenue, so getting their true costs right protects the bulk of your profit.
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
Should I include VAT in my cost price calculation?
No, calculate excluding VAT throughout. Purchase invoices exclude VAT (you recover it), and cost calculations should use pre-VAT selling prices too. Food truck meals typically fall under 9% VAT.
How often should I update my cost prices?
Monthly at minimum, immediately after supplier increases. Too many truck operators delay updates and discover at month-end that rising ingredient costs have wiped out their profits completely.
What if I can charge different prices at different locations?
Calculate minimum cost price using your most expensive location's fixed costs first. Cheaper spots and busy days create extra profit, but you'll never drop below break-even.
Should I include waste in my calculation?
Absolutely—build 5-10% waste into ingredient costs. This covers spoiled products, prep mistakes, and transport damage. Better to overestimate slightly than get hit by unexpected losses.
📚 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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