Food Cost Percentage Calculator
Food cost percentage is the share of a dish's selling price consumed by its ingredients. It is the single most useful number in menu pricing, because it tells you which dishes are quietly losing money at their current price.
Summary
This calculator computes a dish's food cost percentage and gross margin from ingredient cost and menu price, plus the price needed to hit a target food cost.
It covers why the figure is ingredient cost only, excluding labour and rent, and why both price and cost must be entered excluding GST.
This covers ingredient cost only. It does not include labour, rent, utilities or wastage, so a dish that looks healthy here can still be unprofitable once those are allocated. Most full-service restaurants target 28-35% food cost, but the right number depends on your format.
Why food cost percentage moves even when your menu doesn't
A dish priced correctly last quarter can drift out of target purely from ingredient cost inflation — the menu price stayed the same, but the cost side moved. Recalculating periodically is what catches that before it shows up as a margin problem at month-end. See restaurant profit margins in India for how food cost feeds into overall profitability.
What this calculator leaves out
This is ingredient cost only — labour, rent, utilities, packaging and wastage all sit outside this number. A dish can look healthy here and still lose money once the full cost structure is allocated, which is why food cost percentage is a diagnostic, not the full P&L.
GST does not belong in either side of this calculation
Both the menu price and the ingredient cost should be entered excluding GST — mixing a tax-inclusive price with a tax-exclusive cost produces a food cost percentage that looks better than reality. If your POS displays prices inclusive of tax, back GST out before entering the figure here.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good food cost percentage for a restaurant?
Most full-service restaurants aim for 28-35%. Quick service and beverage-led formats often run lower, while premium ingredient-driven menus run higher. What matters more than the benchmark is whether the figure is stable month to month.
How do you calculate food cost percentage?
Divide the ingredient cost of a portion by its selling price excluding GST, then multiply by 100. A dish costing ₹90 in ingredients and selling for ₹300 has a food cost of 30%.
Does this calculator store or share the numbers I enter?
No. Calculations happen locally in your browser — nothing is sent to a server.
Can I use this for every dish on my menu, across multiple outlets?
Yes, it's free and unlimited — run it per dish and per outlet as needed.
Try Servyn free
QR ordering, GST billing, kitchen display and inventory in one platform. No card required, no hardware to buy — tell us about your restaurant and we set it up with you.
Get Servyn free