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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food cost % = cost ÷ ex-tax selling price × 100
Benchmarks: kitchen 28–35%, bar 18–24%. And this number is theoretical — the actual one drifts. See why ↓
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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
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.
ex-tax menu price = ingredient cost ÷ target % × 100
Sell at $16.00 ex-tax — then round to the menu's psychology, not away from it.
For a cocktail, ingredient by ingredient: pour cost calculator →
The rest of the math: gross margin, menu price and menu markup calculators.
28–35%
Positioning moves it: premium ingredients push fine dining toward the top of the band, volume concepts sit lower. The number itself matters less than knowing it dish by dish — and seeing which plate pays the rent.
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.
Bands, not laws. A ratio only means something against the concept it serves — a wine bar living at 35% can out-earn a cocktail bar at 19%, because the check sizes and the labor behind them are different animals. Place your number inside the right band, then watch the drift, not the decimal.
| Concept | Target band | Why |
|---|---|---|
| QSR / fast-casual | 25–30% | Volume and tight menus keep it low. |
| Café / bakery | 22–28% | Flour and butter are kind; labor is the cost that bites here. |
| Casual bistro / brasserie | 28–33% | The classic middle of the kitchen band. |
| Gastro / fine dining | 30–35% | Premium ingredients push the ratio to the top of the band — the price carries it. |
| Pub / beer bar | 20–25% | Draft margins are forgiving until the lines pour foam. |
| Cocktail bar | 16–22% | Spirits carry the room — and drift costs the most here. |
| Wine bar | 30–40% | Bottles resell at lower multiples than spirits; the band runs high and that's normal. |
Bands consolidated from industry reporting (Restaurant365, MarginEdge) and operator practice; positioning inside a band is a pricing decision, not a grade.
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 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.
Most venues sit around 10%.
F&B runs thin — often 5–10%.
a year — ≈ 42.9% of your net profit.
Margin you already earned — you just can't see it yet.
Gap range: Sculpture Hospitality · Restaurant365
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.
“The purchase prices are stale”
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.
“The specs sleep in a binder”
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 →
“No one can name the cost mid-service”
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.
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.
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.
Divide the ingredient cost by the target ratio: cost ÷ target % × 100 gives the ex-tax menu price. $4.80 of ingredients at a 30% target prices the dish at $16 ex-tax. Round to the menu's psychology ($16.50, $17), then sanity-check it against the room's positioning.
Yes — enter your numbers and the result shows instantly, no account needed. A free account (30 seconds, no credit card) saves the costing to your library. 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.
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.
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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.
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