Food Cost Calculator
Ingredient cost + selling price → food cost %, gross profit per plate, and the recommended menu price for your target %. Deep-link to live mandi recipe costing when you need more.
This plate
What it costs to make and what you charge for it.
Raw materials + beverages for one plate
Menu price before GST if you price exclusive
Your target
The food cost percentage you are trying to hold.
Most Indian restaurants aim for 28–32%
Need live mandi rates and multi-ingredient recipes? Use the menu pricing calculator with Agmarknet prices.
Your food cost
LiveWhat is food cost percentage?
Food cost percentage is the share of a dish's selling price consumed by ingredients — before rent, salaries, or electricity. It is one of the highest-leverage KPIs in restaurant finance because every point you save drops straight to net profit.
Formula: Food Cost % = (Ingredient Cost ÷ Selling Price) × 100. Ideal band for Indian restaurants: 28–32%.
How to use this free food cost calculator
Enter ingredient cost and current selling price. Optionally set a target food cost % (default 30). Instantly see food cost %, gross profit per plate, and the recommended menu price. For multi-ingredient recipes with live mandi rates, open the menu pricing calculator.
Food cost bands explained
- Below 28% — Excellent portion control and pricing.
- 28–32% — Healthy; leaves room for labour, rent, and 10–15% net.
- 32–38% — Caution; review recipes, suppliers, and prices.
- Above 38% — Critical; net profitability is unlikely unless rent and labour are unusually low.
From dish food cost to restaurant profit
Fixing one plow-horse dish is not enough — roll menu-level COGS into the restaurant profit calculator and confirm you still clear break-even. Inside Forkcast, recipe costing and Supply Watch re-cost when mandi moves.
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Related reading
- financeFood cost percentage benchmarks by cuisine (India 2026)‘Aim for 30% food cost’ is useless without context. Mughlai with paneer and ghee has fundamentally different economics than South Indian thali. Here are the realistic 2026 bands by cuisine, plus the ingredients that swing each one.
- menuRecipe costing for Indian kitchens: thali, biryani, tandoorRecipe costing a thali isn't the same as recipe costing a pizza. Indian cooking has sub recipes (gravies, masala mixes, marinades), yield variance from cooking method, and shrinkage rates that copy pasted Western formulas miss.
- operationsPlate-cost leak: why recipe says 32% but P&L says 40%Your recipe spreadsheet says 32% food cost. Your accountant's P&L says 40%. The 8-point gap is not a spreadsheet error; it's portion drift, waste, theft, unrecorded comps, and aggregator refunds leaking out of the kitchen every service. Here is how to find and close it.
- financePrime cost explained: food + labour ceiling by formatPrime cost is the single number that tells you whether your restaurant can survive. Most owners track food cost and labour cost separately; few add them and compare to the format ceiling. Here is the formula, the benchmarks by format, and the levers when you breach.
Common questions
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