Enter your ingredients and get the real plate cost, food cost %, and suggested menu price — instantly, no signup.
This free food cost calculator turns a recipe's ingredients, quantities, prices, and yield % into three numbers: the plate cost, the food cost percentage, and a suggested menu price for your target margin. It works as a plate cost calculator and a food cost percentage calculator at the same time — enter ingredients once, get both.
Chefs, F&B controllers, and owners doing a quick margin check before a dish goes on the menu — or deciding whether to absorb, reprice, or reformulate when a supplier's price moves. Handles sub-recipes too, so components (e.g. a house sauce) can be costed on their own line.
Type the menu item name in the Recipe Name field.
How many plates does this recipe make? Total cost ÷ portions = cost per portion.
Name, quantity, unit, unit cost (HK$), and yield % for each line. Click + to add a row.
Total recipe cost and cost per portion update live as you type.
Drag the slider to set your target food cost %. Already have a menu price? Enter it to see your actual food cost %.
Print a kitchen-friendly copy or export CSV to share with finance or ops.
Showing a sample dish (黑椒牛柳粒) so you can see it in action — edit the numbers, or click Reset to start your own.
| Ingredient | Qty | Unit | Unit Cost HK$ | Yield % | Cost |
|---|
Tip: enter quantity and unit cost in the same unit (e.g. both in grams, or both in kg) — this tool doesn't convert between units.
Based on your target %. Enter a current menu price above to see your real split.
Three formulas drive this tool.
Same numbers as the sample dish (黑椒牛柳粒) pre-filled in the calculator above, so you can check every step against it.
Example: our sample dish, 黑椒牛柳粒 (Black Pepper Beef Cubes), uses 300g of trimmed beef tenderloin bought at HK$330/kg, 75% yield: (0.300 × 330) ÷ 0.75 = HK$132.00. Add the bell pepper (HK$3.33) and black pepper sauce (HK$4.00), and total ingredient cost is HK$139.33. Divided across 4 portions, plate cost = HK$34.83 per portion.
Example: our 黑椒牛柳粒 costs HK$34.83 per portion. Selling it at HK$118: 34.83 ÷ 118 × 100 = 29.5%.
Example: plate cost HK$34.83, target 30%: 34.83 ÷ 0.30 = HK$116.11 — the same price the calculator above suggests at its default 30% target.
Realistic worked numbers for a single sample dish, not InvSpot customer data.
If you were trained to track Gross Profit (GP) instead of food cost %, they're two ends of the same number: GP % = 100% − Food cost %. Set the slider to 30% food cost to target a 70% GP.
Yield % is how much of what you bought actually ends up on the plate — after trim, bone, skin, peel, or cooking loss. Skip it, and the calculator (and your own costing) assumes you use 100% of what you buy, which makes your real cost look lower than it is.
| Ingredient | Typical Yield % |
|---|---|
| Beef tenderloin (西冷/牛柳) | 70–75% |
| Whole chicken (光雞) | 55–65% |
| Salmon fillet (三文魚柳) | 80–90% |
| Leafy greens, untrimmed (菜心/生菜) | 70–80% |
| Onions (洋蔥) | 85–90% |
| Tomatoes (番茄) | 80–90% |
| Dry rice / noodles / beans (米粉麵乾貨) | 100% |
| Pre-portioned / case-ready protein (已分切定量肉類) | 95–100% |
General reference ranges — actual yield varies by supplier, cut, and prep method. Calibrate against your own kitchen.
There's no single right number — it depends on concept, service model, and menu mix. HK operators typically run 25–40% food cost, with the exact target set by margin goal, not a rulebook. Use the ranges below to sanity-check where your dish sits, then set your own target.
| Concept | Typical Food Cost % |
|---|---|
| Fast food / 快餐 | 25–30% |
| Cha chaan teng / 茶餐廳 | 28–33% |
| Casual dining / 家庭式餐廳 | 28–35% |
| Fine dining / 高級餐廳 | 30–38% |
| Hotpot / 火鍋 | 32–38% |
| Café / bakery-café | 28–33% |
| Bar-forward / 酒吧 | 22–28% |
General industry ranges, not HK-specific audited data — your actual target depends on your positioning, location, and menu structure.
Food cost is one of two big variable costs — labour is the other. Most independents try to keep food cost + labour cost (= prime cost) at 60–65% of sales or less. E.g. 30% food cost + 32% labour = 62% prime cost.
Delivery platform commissions typically run 20–30% on top of packaging costs. If a meaningful share of sales comes through delivery apps, price and analyse dine-in and delivery separately.
A 35% food cost on a HK$400 tasting-menu item can produce more actual profit than a 22% food cost on a HK$38 rice dish. Focus on contribution margin per dish, not the lowest percentage.
This calculator gives you one dish, one moment in time. Supplier prices move, portions drift, and recipes get tweaked on the floor — a spreadsheet can't keep up. InvSpot connects your recipes, live supplier prices, inventory, and POS data in one system, so every dish's cost updates automatically when a price changes — and you can see real (not just theoretical) food cost, per dish, per outlet.
Per-dish food cost % is (Plate cost ÷ Menu price) × 100. Plate cost itself is the sum of (Quantity used × Unit price) ÷ Yield % across every ingredient, divided by the number of portions.
Most HK operators run 25–40% food cost, with the exact target set by concept and margin goal rather than a fixed rule. A cha chaan teng, a hotpot restaurant, and a fine-dining venue will all land in different parts of that range.
Add up each ingredient's (quantity used × unit price ÷ yield %), then divide the total by the number of portions the recipe makes.
After. Yield % converts what you bought into what actually lands on the plate after trim, bone, skin, or cooking loss. Skipping it understates your real cost.
Per-dish food cost % (this tool) costs one recipe based on its ingredients. Monthly, inventory-based food cost % is (opening stock + purchases − closing stock) ÷ revenue, and it reflects waste, theft, and portioning drift that a recipe costing alone won't show.
Food cost is what ingredients cost. Prime cost is food cost plus labour cost combined — the two largest controllable costs in a restaurant, usually targeted at 60–65% of sales.
Whenever a supplier price moves, at minimum monthly for active menu items, and immediately for any dish where an ingredient's price has shifted by roughly 5–10% or more.
Stop guessing. Start making data-driven decisions.
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