Menu selling price

The menu selling price is what the guest actually pays. You build it from the bottom up: ingredient cost ex-tax, a target food or pour cost (or its coefficient), which gives the ex-tax price, then add VAT to reach the tax-inclusive figure printed on the menu. Food and alcohol often carry different VAT rates, so the same coefficient can yield different shelf prices.

Cost-plus is only the starting point. Cross-check against what the market will bear and against psychological price points — 14.50 reads very differently from 15. The costed recipe sets your floor; the guest's willingness to pay sets your ceiling; the menu price lives between them.

The common mistake is setting the menu (TTC) price first, then judging margin by dividing ingredient cost by that tax-inclusive price — which overstates margin by the whole VAT amount. Always strip the VAT back out and measure cost against the ex-tax price.