A popular steakhouse discovered their signature ribeye—selling 80 portions weekly—was losing €3 per plate due to incorrect portioning. That's €12,480 annually from one dish. Your highest-revenue items often hide the biggest profit leaks.
Start with your top 5 revenue generators
80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your dishes. That 20% is what you need to calculate first. Why? If you're making €2 less per portion, and you sell 50 per week, you're losing €5,200 per year on one dish.
💡 Example:
Bistro with 5 top dishes that together make up 70% of revenue:
- Steak: 25 portions/week × €32 = €41,600/year
- Salmon fillet: 20 portions/week × €28 = €29,120/year
- Pasta carbonara: 35 portions/week × €18 = €32,760/year
- Spare ribs: 15 portions/week × €26 = €20,280/year
- Caesar salad: 18 portions/week × €16 = €14,976/year
Total: €138,736 of €198,000 total revenue (70%)
Labor-intensive dishes cost more than you think
A dish requiring 15 minutes of prep per portion costs you €4.50 in labor at €18/hour. Add that to your ingredients. Many business owners forget this completely.
⚠️ Watch out:
Don't just calculate your chef's wage. Add employer contributions: roughly 25% on top of gross salary.
Ingredient-intensive dishes: where you can lose the most
Dishes with expensive main ingredients (meat, fish, premium products) carry the biggest risk. Based on real restaurant P&L data, this is where trimming loss, waste, or incorrect portion sizes can cost you the most.
💡 Example calculation:
Steak at €32 (incl. 9% VAT) = €29.36 excl. VAT
- Meat: €12.50 (200g at €25/kg after trimming loss)
- Garnish: €2.80
- Sauce: €1.20
- Labor: €4.50 (15 min at €18/hour)
Total cost: €21.00 → Margin: €8.36 (28%)
The 3 categories to calculate first
- Volume kings: Your 5 best-selling dishes (by number of portions)
- Revenue heroes: Your 5 dishes with highest revenue per week
- Expensive main ingredients: All dishes with meat >€20/kg, fish >€25/kg, or premium products
Overlap between these categories? Those are extra important. A popular dish with expensive ingredients can make or break you.
Signs that a dish needs to be calculated
- Your chef says: "That dish is actually too cheap"
- Guests think it's "surprisingly affordable"
- Your competitor charges €5-10 more for the same thing
- Your supplier recently raised the price of the main ingredient
- You've adjusted the recipe without adjusting the price
💡 Real-world example:
Restaurant discovers their most popular pasta (40 portions/week) has a food cost of 42%:
- Food cost too high: 42% instead of 30%
- Loss per portion: €2.40
- Annual loss: €2.40 × 40 × 52 = €4,992
By raising the price €3: problem solved
How do you calculate your top dishes? (step by step)
Make a hit list of your revenue
Get your register data from the last 4 weeks. For each dish: calculate number sold × price = revenue per dish. Sort them from highest to lowest revenue.
Calculate the full cost price
Add up all costs: ingredients, labor time (prep + cooking × hourly wage), packaging if applicable. Don't forget garnish, sauces, and oil.
Check your food cost percentage
Divide cost price by selling price excl. VAT and multiply by 100. Above 35%? Then you're losing money. Between 28-35% is standard for restaurants.
✨ Pro tip
Focus on dishes that require over 12 minutes of active prep time and generate more than €800 weekly revenue. These 3-5 items typically account for 40% of your profit but hide the biggest cost calculation errors.
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 if my most popular dish turns out to be unprofitable?
You have 3 options: raise the price, reduce the portion, or use cheaper ingredients. Often a price increase of €2-3 works without losing customers.
Should I include labor time in the cost price?
For labor-intensive dishes, yes. Calculate €18-25 per hour (including employer contributions). A dish that takes 10 minutes of prep costs €3-4 in labor.
How often should I check my cost prices?
Check your top 5 dishes monthly. Suppliers adjust prices regularly. A 10% increase in your ingredients can completely wipe out your margin.
📚 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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