Food Cost Per Serve Calculator
What a dish costs per serve once waste and trim are counted — and the menu price that reaches a target food-cost percentage.
The ingredient cost is only the start.
How the food cost per serve calculator works
The ingredient cost is only the start. Yield loss — trim, peel, bone, evaporation — means you buy more than you serve, and a 25% loss raises the true cost by a third, not a quarter.
Menu pricing then works backwards from a food-cost percentage, typically 25 to 35%. Dividing rather than multiplying is the step that gets missed: a 30% food cost means the price is the cost divided by 0.3.
Formula: true cost = purchase cost / yield; price = cost / target food-cost %
Worked examples
| Inputs | True cost per serve | Note |
|---|---|---|
| A 42 batch serving eight | 7 | 7 per serve, 23.33 menu price |
| Better yield | 5.526 | the true cost drops sharply |
| A lower food-cost target | 7 | a higher menu price |
FAQFrequently asked questions
What food cost percentage should I target?
Twenty-five to thirty-five per cent for most restaurants. Lower for beverages, higher for prime cuts where the customer knows the value.
What is yield loss?
Everything you buy but do not serve — trim, peel, bone, evaporation. Twenty to forty per cent is normal for fresh produce and whole proteins.
Why does a 25% loss add a third to the cost?
Because you must buy 1/0.75 of what you serve. Dividing by the yield, not multiplying by the loss, is the correct arithmetic.
Does food cost include labour?
No — food cost is ingredients only. That is why the full-cost row exists, since a dish with a good food cost can still lose money on labour.
How do I improve the number?
Yield first, portion control second, price third. Reducing waste raises margin without a customer ever noticing.
Where these figures come from
- US FDA — Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures — the internal temperatures the roasting calculator targets
- NIST SP 811 — Guide for the Use of the International System of Units — the exact weight and volume conversions used throughout
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand — food safety and labelling standards
Last checked: September 2026. Baking ratios follow standard baker's percentage practice; roasting guidance follows published safe internal temperatures.