Free tool
Menu price and food cost calculator
Ingredients went up. Enter the dish price and what the plate costs you, and see your food cost, the margin left, and the sums behind each way to respond.
Know your ingredient cost.
Kadal keeps your billing, suppliers and purchase records in one system, so what you pay for ingredients is on record.
Your numbers
- Food cost today
- 32%
- Food cost after the rise
- 35.2%
- Margin left per plate after the rise
- ₹162 (was ₹170)
Ingredients go from ₹80 to ₹88. Here are three ways to respond, with the sums.
Illustrative example
A dish at 100 whose ingredients go from 40 to 44.
These numbers are an illustration, not a benchmark. Your own numbers will differ.
- Selling price ₹100
- Ingredients ₹40 a plate, rising 10% to ₹44
- Food cost: ₹40 / ₹100 = 40%, then 44% after the rise.
- Margin left: ₹100 - ₹44 = ₹56, down from ₹60.
- Same margin: ₹100 + ₹4 = ₹104.
- Same cost: ₹40 / ₹44 = 0.909, so a plate about 9% lighter.
What the numbers mean.
Food cost % is the ingredient cost of one plate divided by its selling price. A dish at 100 with 40 of ingredients runs at 40%.
Margin left is the selling price minus the ingredient cost. It still has to pay rent, staff, packing, gas and tax, so it is not profit.
Same margin or same food cost %. Adding the rise to the price keeps the money you make per plate. Keeping the food cost % the same needs a bigger rise: at 40%, ingredients of 44 need a price of 110. The calculator shows both.
A lighter plate or a smaller size. Cutting the portion so it costs what it did keeps the price. Adding a smaller named size keeps the old price on the menu while the full plate moves up. Customers can see which is which.
Find your ingredient cost per plate.
Weigh one portion
Write down what goes on one plate: each ingredient and how much of it, including oil, garnish and sides.
Price each ingredient
Use your latest purchase bills. Divide what you paid by the amount you got to get the price per gram, ml or piece.
Add it up
Multiply each amount by its price and add them. Do it again with this week’s bills to see the rise.
What this calculator does not know.
It does not know your rent, staff, packing, gas or tax, so the margin it shows is before those costs.
It does not know how your customers will react to a new price or a smaller plate, or what other places nearby charge. It shows the arithmetic of each option, not which one to choose.
It does not count waste. If part of what you buy is trimmed or spoils, your real cost per plate is higher than the sum of what is on it.
Questions, answered.
Divide the ingredient cost of one plate by its selling price and multiply by 100. A dish at 250 with 80 of ingredients has a food cost of 32%.
To keep the same money per plate, add the rise in ingredient cost to the price. For a dish at 100 whose ingredients go from 40 to 44, that is 104. To keep the same food cost % instead, divide the new cost by the old percentage: 44 / 0.40 = 110.
Divide the old ingredient cost by the new one. 40 / 44 = 0.909, so a plate about 9% lighter costs what the full plate cost before.
No. The maths runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent to us or saved. The worked example is an illustration, not a benchmark.
Bills and purchases in one system.
Kadal runs billing, stock, suppliers and purchase orders for your restaurant or shop, even offline. Start free.