

This method works best for fine dining restaurants, as well as for restaurants that attract a large following. For a fine dining restaurant, however, this wouldn’t be the best option because of the uniqueness of the menu - plus, competitive bargain pricing isn’t typically a consideration for fine dining patrons. This method works best for entrepreneurs who are running a formulaic-type restaurant with items that are identical to those of its competitors. For example, the owner of a barbecue restaurant might look at the menu of another popular barbecue place in town, and either price items exactly the same or slightly lower to attract customers. Some food service providers base their pricing on their competitors’ prices. If your burger ends up costing you $1.50 in ingredients, then by using this method you can divide $1.50 by 30 percent to get your price for the burger, $5.00. Do this for each component of your burger, calculating the cost of the bun, cheese, vegetables etc. If you’re selling quarter-pound hamburgers, then your meat costs $.50 for each burger. Here’s an example of this method: If you purchase 100 pounds of ground beef at $2.00 a pound, your purchase price for the beef is $200. Here’s a look a three of the most popular pricing methods. Restaurateurs can choose from a variety of pricing formulas to calculate food cost against ROI. Typically, food service providers add 28 to 35 percent to their direct cost of a menu item.
Menu pricing calculator plus#
Be sure to account for drip loss - plus spillage, spoilage and prep waste - when calculating direct food costs per portion in your menu items. And when it comes to meat, there’s always the dreaded “drip loss.”ĭrip loss primarily occurs due to trimming and heating, and can account for as much as a 34 percent loss of meat. Likewise, a certain amount of spillage and spoilage happens as well. Include Food Loss in Your Calculationsįood preparation usually involves a certain amount of waste, such as fruit/vegetable peels and meat trimmings.
Menu pricing calculator software#
You can create a standardized recipe cost sheet by using a template, or by utilizing restaurant accounting software (which we’ll discuss below). You’ll also want to add special notes, such as increases or decreases in ingredient prices. In a standard restaurant cost sheet, you’ll want to name the dish, list each ingredient (including the amount used and relevant cost for the dish), notate the recipe yield (number of portions per single recipe preparation) and total recipe cost, and finally calculate the portion size and cost.

Create Direct Costs Sheets for Each Menu ItemĬosts sheets should include anything that’s considered a direct cost, such as ingredients that go into each food item or drink. These five tips can help you accurately calculate how much you’re investing in food, how this investment weighs against your revenue earnings, and what you can do to maximize your profits without cutting corners on quality. This is the challenge that every food service entrepreneur faces - optimizing profitability while providing quality. In the food service industry, food cost is everything when it comes to profitability but it’s absolutely essential to providing a quality product if you want to be successful. If you’re planning to open a restaurant, or if you’ve already opened one and you’re worried about your current return on investment (ROI), then the first thing you need to look at is how your food costs tally up to your sales.
