Most restaurant owners think they need to fix every dish at once when food costs spiral out of control. That's a recipe for kitchen chaos and staff burnout. Focus on the dishes that drain your profits most - not necessarily the ones with the highest percentages.
Focus on your revenue drivers first
You've got 50 dishes on the menu, but probably 5 of them bring in 80% of your revenue. Those deserve your attention first.
💡 Example:
Restaurant with 40 dishes on the menu:
- Steak: 25% of revenue, food cost 38%
- Salmon: 20% of revenue, food cost 32%
- Pasta carbonara: 15% of revenue, food cost 28%
- Risotto: 10% of revenue, food cost 35%
- Other 36 dishes: 30% of revenue
Start with steak and salmon - they control 45% of your profitability.
Identify dishes bleeding money above 35%
Food costs above 35% usually mean you're losing money on that dish. But popularity matters more than percentages.
- Popular + high food cost = immediate profit drain
- Unpopular + high food cost = consider removing from menu
- Popular + low food cost = leave alone for now
⚠️ Note:
A dish with 40% food cost that sells 100 times weekly costs you more than one with 45% food cost that sells 10 times weekly.
Calculate annual impact per dish
Not all dishes hurt your bottom line equally. Figure out how much each dish costs you yearly in excessive food costs.
Formula:
Annual impact = (Current food cost % - Target food cost %) × Sale price excl. VAT × Annual sales volume
💡 Example calculation:
Steak at €32.00 (€29.36 excl. VAT):
- Current food cost: 38%
- Target food cost: 30%
- Difference: 8 percentage points
- Annual sales: 1,300 portions
Impact: 0.08 × €29.36 × 1,300 = €3,055 yearly
Build your priority ranking
From tracking this across dozens of restaurants, I've seen that ranking dishes by annual impact works better than going by percentages alone. List your top 5 profit drains.
- Dish 1: €3,055 annual impact
- Dish 2: €2,240 annual impact
- Dish 3: €1,890 annual impact
- Dish 4: €1,450 annual impact
- Dish 5: €980 annual impact
These 5 dishes combined drain €9,615 yearly. That's worth fixing. Tools like KitchenNmbrs can help you track these calculations automatically.
Tackle one dish weekly
Don't overwhelm your kitchen. Plan one dish per week for redesign:
- Week 1: Calculate exact cost price of dish #1
- Week 2: Test new portion size or alternative ingredient
- Week 3: Roll out adjustment in kitchen
- Week 4: Measure results and move to dish #2
💡 Practical example:
Week 1 - Recalculate steak:
- Current portion: 250g beef at €24/kg = €6.00
- Garnish: €2.50
- Total: €8.50 on €29.36 = 29% food cost
Turns out it was fine - chef was just eyeballing portions instead of weighing them.
Get your team on board
Explain to your kitchen staff why changes are happening. Otherwise you'll face resistance or they'll revert to old habits.
- "We're standardizing portions for consistency"
- "This helps us maintain competitive prices"
- "This way we can afford higher quality ingredients"
Avoid: "You're giving away too much" - that just creates resentment.
How do you determine the order? (step by step)
Make a list of your 10 most popular dishes
Check your POS system or count manually: which dishes do you sell the most? Note the number per week for each dish.
Calculate the current food cost of each dish
Add up all ingredient costs and divide by the sale price excl. VAT. Note which dishes are above 35%.
Calculate the annual impact per dish
Multiply the difference in food cost (in euros) by the number sold per year. Tackle the dish with the biggest impact first.
✨ Pro tip
Start with your 3 highest-impact dishes and fix them within the first month. This approach typically recovers 60-70% of your potential savings immediately.
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 start with the most expensive or the most popular dishes?
Go with the dishes that have the biggest total impact on your profits. A popular dish with 35% food cost drains more money than an expensive dish you rarely sell.
How many dishes can I recalculate simultaneously?
Stick to 1 per week maximum. More than that creates chaos for your kitchen team and leads to mistakes. Slow and steady wins this race.
What if my chef pushes back on smaller portions?
Frame it as consistency, not cost-cutting. Every guest deserves the same experience - that's what separates professionals from amateurs.
Should I remove dishes if their food cost is too high?
Only if they're unpopular too. Popular dishes can usually be saved by tweaking portions or swapping ingredients. Don't throw away crowd favorites.
📚 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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