food cost % = cost ÷ ex-tax selling price × 100
Food cost
26.7%
$18.00 ex-tax · ingredient cost $4.80
Benchmarks: kitchen 28–35%, bar 18–24%. And this number is theoretical — the actual one drifts. See why ↓
Free calculator
Food cost calculator — the number your spreadsheet hides from you
Kitchens typically drift 3–5% between theoretical and actual food cost — and on a 5–10% net margin, that's 30–50% of profit evaporating every month. The formula, the target ratios, and a free calculator to place your number in 30 seconds.
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Définition
Food cost is the share of a dish's or drink's selling price absorbed by its ingredients. You calculate it ex-tax, dividing the cost of the ingredients by the ex-tax selling price. In hospitality, kitchens typically target 28–35% and bars 18–24%.
Food cost (%) = ingredient cost ÷ ex-tax selling price × 100
The method
The food cost formula
Food cost (%) = ingredient cost ÷ ex-tax selling price × 100
Three classic traps in this calculation. One: the selling price is taken ex-tax — the tax was never yours. Two: the ingredient cost is figured on the quantity actually served, trim and waste included — a fillet bought at $24/kg you only plate 80% of really costs $30 per usable kilo. Three: it's figured on today's purchase prices, not the last price list someone found the time to enter.
For a cocktail, ingredient by ingredient: pour cost calculator →
The rest of the math: gross margin, menu price and menu markup calculators.
What ratio should you target?
In the kitchen
28–35%
It depends on positioning: a bistro runs higher than fine dining. The number itself matters less than knowing it dish by dish — and seeing which plate pays the rent.
Behind the bar
18–24%
Cocktails and spirits carry the room's margin. It's also where drift costs the most: a heavy pour on every Negroni shows up on the P&L, not in the glass.
The trap
Theoretical ≠ actual
The food cost in your spreadsheet is theoretical. The actual one drifts: industry studies find a kitchen typically runs 3–5% between theoretical and actual food cost (Restaurant365, MarginEdge), and a bar can lose up to 20% of its liquor stock to uneven pours and half-remembered recipes (Sculpture Hospitality). On a 5–10% net margin, that gap is 30–50% of profit evaporating every month — without anyone stealing a thing.
The cause is almost always the same: the specs sleep in a binder, the purchase prices are stale, and no one can name the real cost of a plate mid-service.
This is exactly the leak Methodus plugs. See how ↓
The math
The gap is small. The leak isn't.
The gap between what you think a plate costs and what it really costs runs 5–20%. Drag your numbers and watch what it quietly takes off your margin.
You're leaking about
$18,000
Yearly revenue$600,000
Ingredient cost30%
Cost gap — perceived vs. real10%
Most venues sit around 10%.
Net margin7%
F&B runs thin — often 5–10%.
You're leaking about
$18,000
a year — ≈ 42.9% of your net profit.
Margin you already earned — you just can't see it yet.
Gap range: Sculpture Hospitality · Restaurant365
The fix
Methodus plugs the leak
Not another spreadsheet, not a binder in the office: an app the kitchen, the bar, and the floor use morning to night — and that does the data entry for you.
- 1
“The purchase prices are stale”
Your invoices are read automatically
Drop the supplier invoice — PDF, photo, even an email attachment. Methodus reads every line and updates your purchase prices. The hike shows up the same day, not at month-end.
- 2
“The specs sleep in a binder”
Every spec recalculates the moment a price moves
The real cost of every plate and every cocktail, current today. You see which dish pays the rent — and which one eats it. Recipe spec sheet template →
- 3
“No one can name the cost mid-service”
The whole team sees the same numbers
The line and the bar see what a plate or a glass costs, from their phones. The pour holds itself — no policing.
You stop chasing the drift: what used to evaporate every month becomes net profit again.
Try Methodus free14-day trial · No credit card
From invoice to food cost, in action
A supplier invoice lands, a price climbs — and every spec is recalculated within the minute. Here's how it goes in Methodus. Click through, it's interactive.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Divide the cost of the ingredients actually served (trim and waste included) by the ex-tax selling price, then multiply by 100. Example: $4.80 of ingredients on a dish sold at $18 pre-tax gives a food cost of 26.7%.
Kitchens generally target 28–35%, lower in fine dining and higher in fast-casual. Bars target 18–24%, because cocktails and spirits carry the margin. What matters is knowing it dish by dish, not just on average.
Always ex-tax. In the US, menu prices are already pre-tax, so use the menu price directly. In VAT/GST-inclusive markets (UK, EU, Australia, Canada), strip the tax out first — the tax was never your revenue, and including it flatters the number.
Because the theoretical calculation ignores waste, uneven pours, and purchase prices that climb between price lists. The industry sees 3–5% drift in the kitchen and up to 20% on bar liquor stock — often 30–50% of net profit.
Yes, it's free and needs no sign-up. To track food cost across every spec automatically — supplier invoices read, purchase prices kept current, margins recalculated daily — Methodus offers a 14-day free trial, no credit card.
Who builds methodusmethodus is built by an operator. Nathaniel Gilliand, École hôtelière de Lausanne graduate, runs restaurants, bars and beach clubs. This is the tool he built to find the margin that was evaporating in his own P&L.
14-day trial, no credit card.
Food cost kept current, without a spreadsheet
Methodus reads your supplier invoices, updates purchase prices, and recalculates every spec — kitchen and bar, morning to night. What used to evaporate becomes net profit again.
14-day trial · No credit card · Cancel anytime
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