Think of vegetable trimmings like buried treasure hiding in your kitchen waste bin. Most restaurants toss these scraps without realizing they're throwing away pure profit. Turn those onion ends and carrot peels into a money-making daily soup with proper margin calculations.
Why daily soup from waste can be so profitable
Vegetable trimmings don't actually cost you anything extra. You've already paid for them when you bought the whole vegetables. Toss them in the bin? You lose money. Transform them into soup? You're printing cash.
💡 Example:
You make 8 liters of vegetable soup from trimmings:
- Vegetable waste (onion, carrot, celery): €0.00 (already paid)
- Bouillon cubes: €0.80
- Cream: €1.20
- Herbs and salt: €0.50
- Gas for cooking: €0.75
Total costs: €3.25 for 8 liters = €0.41 per liter
The three cost categories for daily soup
1. Free ingredients (trimmings)
- Onion skins and ends
- Carrot tips and peels
- Celery leaves and ends
- Yesterday's leftover vegetables
Price these at €0.00. You've already paid for them with the whole vegetables.
2. Extra ingredients
- Bouillon or stock
- Cream or milk
- Herbs and spices
- Flour for thickening (if needed)
3. Preparation costs
- Gas or electricity for cooking
- Labor time (estimate 15-30 minutes)
- Water
⚠️ Note:
Don't skip labor time, even if you're doing it yourself. Your time has value - calculate at least €15 per hour.
Calculate your selling price and margin
Once you know your soup's true cost, you can set a profitable selling price. After managing kitchen operations for nearly a decade, I've seen daily soups work well with 15-25% food cost ratios.
💡 Example calculation:
Cost price per portion (250ml): €0.41
Target food cost: 20%
Minimum selling price excl. VAT: €0.41 / 0.20 = €2.05
Selling price incl. 9% VAT: €2.05 × 1.09 = €2.23
Menu price: €2.50 → Margin: €2.09 per bowl
Sell 20 bowls daily and you'll pocket €41.80 extra from what used to be trash.
Track what you actually use
Too many kitchens guess their waste amounts. This skews your margin calculations completely. Better to track for a full week:
- Kilos of vegetable waste you use
- Liters of soup you produce from it
- Portions you actually sell
- Extra ingredient costs
This gives you real numbers, not wishful thinking.
💡 Real-world example:
Restaurant The Green Spoon tracks for a week:
- 3.2 kg vegetable waste used
- 24 liters of soup produced
- 96 portions sold at €2.50
- Extra costs: €12.50
Revenue: €240 | Costs: €12.50 | Profit: €227.50
Daily soup in your cost system
Treat daily soup like any other dish in your books. Create a standard recipe, even though the vegetable mix changes daily.
Tools like KitchenNmbrs let you build a base recipe for "vegetable daily soup" with fixed ingredients (bouillon, cream, herbs). Enter the vegetable trimmings at €0.00 per kilo.
You'll instantly see your margin and can adjust if cream or bouillon prices spike.
How do you calculate the margin on daily soup? (step by step)
Gather all costs
Note what you add to the vegetable trimmings: bouillon, cream, herbs, gas for cooking. The trimmings themselves cost €0.00 because you already paid for them when you bought the vegetables.
Measure your output
Count how many liters of soup you make and how many portions that yields. Divide the total costs by the number of portions to get your cost price per portion.
Calculate your selling price
Use the formula: cost price per portion divided by desired food cost percentage. For daily soup, 15-25% food cost is typical.
Check your margin
Subtract your cost price from your selling price. This is your profit per portion. Multiply by the number of portions per day for your daily extra profit.
✨ Pro tip
Track your soup operation for exactly 7 days straight. Weigh every gram of vegetable waste, measure soup output to the milliliter, and count each portion sold. You'll discover your real profit potential instead of guessing.
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
Should I include labor time in the cost price of daily soup?
Absolutely, even if you're doing it yourself. Your time has value - calculate at least €15 per hour for cutting, cooking and finishing. This keeps your margin calculations honest.
Can I really set vegetable trimmings at €0.00?
Yes, because you've already paid for them with the whole vegetables. Throwing them away costs you money, turning them into soup earns you money.
What food cost percentage is normal for daily soup?
For trimming-based daily soup, aim for 15-25% food cost. This runs lower than regular dishes since your main ingredient is essentially free.
📚 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.
Make food waste measurable and manageable
Every kilo you throw away is lost margin. KitchenNmbrs connects your inventory to your recipes so you can see exactly where waste occurs — and how much it costs. Try it free.
Start free trial →