Food cost in a Canadian kitchen: cost a dish from its recipe
Food cost is the cost of the ingredients in one portion, divided by its menu price before sales tax. You work it out from the recipe card, and this guide shows how, with a complete example.
The formula, in short
- List every ingredient with its net weight, exactly as it lands on the plate.
- Divide the purchase price by the unit and multiply by the weight on the card.
- Add technical loss: what disappears during cleaning, trimming and cooking.
- Add up all the lines. The result is the production cost of the portion.
- Divide the production cost by the menu price before sales tax: food cost % = cost ÷ price before tax × 100.
A complete recipe card: carbonara, one portion
Recipe card with weights, purchase prices and plated cost (illustrative figures)
| Ingredient | Net weight | Purchase price | Plated cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spaghetti | 120 g | $9.00/kg | $1.08 |
| Guanciale | 60 g | $45.00/kg | $2.70 |
| Egg yolks (2) | 40 g | $0.55 each | $1.10 |
| Pecorino | 30 g | $90.00/kg | $2.70 |
| Total raw materials | 250 g | — | $7.83 |
| Final cost (incl. 5% technical loss) | — | — | $8.22 |
What the example tells you
The menu price is $38.00 before sales tax. The figures are illustrative: replace them with your own.
Food cost = $8.22 ÷ $38.00 = 21.6%. That means $8.22 of every $38.00 in sales goes on ingredients.
If food cost climbed above your target, you could raise the price, cut the portion or change supplier for the priciest ingredient, here pecorino and guanciale, about 66% of the cost.
Yield matters more than the price on the invoice
Example: you buy beef tenderloin at $60.00 per kilogram. After trimming, 780 g per kilo remain usable, a 78% yield.
The real cost of the meat on the plate is not $60.00 per kilogram but 60.00 ÷ 0.78 = $76.92 per kilogram. A recipe card that ignores yield understates the meat cost by almost 22%.
Table: target food cost, by category
Where to start: food cost targets by menu category
| Category | Where to start | What drives the result |
|---|---|---|
| Alcoholic drinks | Your own pour and price history | Pour size and discipline behind the bar |
| Coffee and hot drinks | Milk and cup costs | The milk and the cup, not the coffee |
| Pasta and pizza | Your recent months | Weighing portions instead of estimating them |
| Meat and fish dishes | Your measured yield | Trim and cooking yield |
| Soups and sides | The menu average | They balance the menu average |
| House desserts | Include labour | Labour, which is almost always ignored |
What the rules say
- Your recipe card is the internal record behind any allergen information you give guests.
- Ask your health authority what allergen information it expects for non-prepacked food.
- Sales tax varies by province. Work out food cost on the price before tax.
- Any recipe change that alters ingredients or allergens needs an immediate update of the menu guests see.
Common mistakes
- Dividing by the price with tax included, which makes the result look better than it is.
- Using the gross weight from the supplier invoice instead of the net weight on the plate.
- Forgetting the side, the sauce and the packaging, which can add a real share to the cost.
- Updating the recipe card once a year, even though purchase prices change month to month.
- Looking only at the percentage, not at the dollars left from each portion sold.
How 4restaurants.net helps
- Each dish has a recipe card with weights, from which the production cost is calculated.
- Net weights on the recipe card let trimming enter the calculation correctly.
- The QR digital menu is linked to the recipe cards with weights, in the same application.
- Food cost is shown for each dish, next to the reports by dish.