How to Cost a Recipe and Work Out Plate Cost
Cost every dish with a simple method, from usable yield and units to the cost per plate, sub recipes, price changes and a worked burger example.
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Key takeaways
- Cost every ingredient at the price you really pay, after trim and cooking loss, for the portion you really serve.
- Do not forget small items: oil, sauce, garnish, bread, packaging and the free extras.
- Make sauces and doughs sub recipes, so one price change updates every dish that uses them.
- Re-cost your top dishes whenever a major price changes, and all dishes at least twice a year.
In short: to cost a recipe you list every ingredient, work out what each usable gram or millilitre really costs, multiply by the quantity on the plate and add them up. The answer, the plate cost, is the starting point for pricing, for menu analysis and for spotting waste.
You cannot price a dish properly, or know which dishes earn money, until you know what each one costs to make. Many owners guess, and a guess nearly always leaves something out. A costed recipe takes ten minutes once and saves money for years.
Step 1: Write the recipe as a plate
List everything that ends up on one plate, in the quantities your kitchen really uses. Use a scale and measuring spoons for a test, not the memory of the cook. Include:
- Main ingredients.
- Sauces, dressings and dips.
- Cooking oil, butter and seasoning (an average amount per portion).
- Garnish and herbs.
- Bread or sides that always come with the dish.
- Packaging for takeaway versions. See takeaway packaging.
If staff often add a little extra, note it and decide whether to standardise it.
Step 2: Get the right price and unit
Take the price from your latest invoice, not from a catalogue. Convert it to the unit you use in the kitchen.
If a 10 kg bag of flour costs 12.00, the price per kilogram is 1.20 and per gram 0.0012. If a case holds 12 tubs and costs 30.00, a tub costs 2.50. If your supplier changes the pack size, recalculate. In your stock records, keep the purchase unit and the kitchen unit separate with a clear conversion. See stock control.
Step 3: Allow for yield
What you buy is not what you serve. Trimming, peeling, cooking loss and bones reduce the usable weight. The usable share is the yield.
Cost per usable kilogram = price per kilogram / yield.
Test yield yourself. Weigh a batch before and after trimming and cooking, three times, and take the average. Do not copy numbers from the internet, since your cuts, suppliers and methods differ.
Step 4: Cost each line and add up
A worked example for a chicken burger. All numbers are made up.
| Ingredient | Quantity | Cost per unit | Line cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast (usable) | 150 g | 6.67 per kg | 1.00 |
| Brioche bun | 1 | 0.45 each | 0.45 |
| Burger sauce (sub recipe) | 30 g | 3.83 per kg | 0.12 |
| Lettuce | 20 g | 2.50 per kg | 0.05 |
| Tomato | 30 g | 3.00 per kg | 0.09 |
| Cheese slice | 1 | 0.20 each | 0.20 |
| Frying oil and seasoning | per portion | 0.10 | |
| Fries (portion) | 150 g | 1.20 per kg | 0.18 |
| Takeaway box and napkin | 1 | 0.40 | 0.40 for takeaway only |
Dine in plate cost: 1.00 + 0.45 + 0.12 + 0.05 + 0.09 + 0.20 + 0.10 + 0.18 = 2.19. Takeaway plate cost: 2.59.
If you sell the burger at 9.00 before tax, the food cost is 2.19 / 9.00 = 24.3% on dine in, and the contribution margin is 6.81. Use how to price a menu to decide whether that is right.
Step 5: Use sub recipes for sauces and preps
If you make sauces, doughs, stocks or marinades in batches, cost the batch first.
Treat the batch as an ingredient in every dish that uses it. When mayonnaise gets more expensive, you update one line and every dish updates. DineHarbor's inventory includes recipe based usage and prepared components, so a batch can feed several dishes. See the stock control guide.
Step 6: Include the small things
Most errors in plate cost are small items that add up:
- Oil that is topped up and not counted.
- Free bread, olives, water or a mint at the end.
- Garnishes that are discarded after sitting.
- Modifiers: extra cheese, no onion, a double portion.
- Staff meals and tastings (these belong in a separate allowance).
Ask your cooks to show you how they plate a dish at speed. The real plate is often bigger than the spec.
Step 7: Check against real purchases
A costed recipe is a theory. Test it. Over a month, compare the theoretical ingredient cost (the recipe cost times the number of portions sold) with the actual cost (opening stock plus purchases minus closing stock). A gap points to waste, over portioning, theft, mistakes or out of date recipes. See food cost percentage and reduce food waste.
Step 8: Keep costs current
Make a simple routine.
- Weekly: check invoice prices of the ten ingredients you spend most on.
- When prices change: update the ingredient price and see which dishes are affected.
- Monthly: list dishes whose cost percentage has moved by more than a few points.
- Twice a year: re-cost the full menu.
Common mistakes
- Using the purchase price per kilogram and ignoring yield. This understates cost for trimmed items, meat on the bone and herbs.
- Forgetting packaging and extras. Delivery dishes cost more than dine in dishes.
- Costing from the menu description, not the real plate. Ask the cook.
- Mixing units. Grams, ounces, each, case. Convert once and write it down.
- Never updating. A recipe cost from last year can be wrong in either direction.
- Putting labour into the plate cost. Keep it separate so you can judge it separately. See labour cost and the rota.
Where to keep the recipes
A spreadsheet works for a small menu if one person owns it. As you add dishes, branches and suppliers, a system that links purchases, recipes and sales saves hours. DineHarbor's inventory records stock items, purchase orders and recipe usage, and reports show sales by product, so you can compare the two sides.
Whatever you use, store the spec: the quantities, the plate photo, the allergen list and the date of the last costing. Allergen information should always come from an approved process, not from the costing sheet. See allergen information for online orders.
A one page costing sheet
Whether you use a spreadsheet or software, each dish needs one page with the same fields: the dish name and menu section, the portion description and a photo of the finished plate, the ingredient list with quantities, the unit price and the yield for each line, the plate cost and the cost with takeaway packaging, the selling price excluding tax, the contribution margin and the food cost percentage, and the date of the last update with the name of whoever did it.
Keep sub recipes on their own pages with their batch size and yield. Print the plate photo and spec for each station, so a new cook can see what the plate should look like and weigh.
Seasonal and volatile ingredients
Some ingredients change price weekly: fish, fresh produce, dairy, oils. For these, cost the dish at an average of the last four invoices and flag the dish for review. If an ingredient is only available for a season, write the end date on the sheet and plan the replacement. Specials made from a surprise delivery should still be costed before they are sold, even in a rough way, so that a special does not lose money without anyone noticing.
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Questions and answers
What is plate cost?
The total cost of the ingredients on one plated portion, including garnish and sauces, based on the price you pay and the yield you get.
Should I include labour in a recipe cost?
Keep ingredient cost and labour separate. Ingredient cost tells you the food margin, labour is judged across the whole business. Note prep time so you can see which dishes are labour heavy.
How do I cost a recipe that makes a batch?
Cost the whole batch, divide by the number of usable portions, and use that as the cost of the sub recipe in each dish.
How often should I update recipe costs?
Update dishes when a key ingredient price changes, and review everything at least twice a year. Fast changing items such as fish, dairy and oil may need monthly checks.
Is a spreadsheet enough?
For a small menu, yes, if you keep it up to date. As the menu grows, software that links ingredients, purchases and sales makes it far easier to keep current.
See it in DineHarbor
About the author
Editorial team
The DineHarbor team writes this blog for restaurant owners and managers. Every article is checked against the product before it is published, so what we describe is what the software does.
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