Restaurant Food Cost Calculator
Food cost percentage from stock movements. Using purchases instead of food actually used is the standard error, and it makes a month with a stock build look far worse than it was.
Also called: food cost percentage, restaurant cost of goods.
26.03% food cost: $885,000.00 of food against 3,400,000 of sales. That is at or below the usual target range. Each point of food cost is $34,000.00 in this period.
How this is calculated
Food used is opening stock plus purchases less closing stock, with staff meals and comps taken out because they did not generate sales. Using purchases alone measures buying rather than consumption, so a delivery arriving on the last day of the month distorts the figure entirely. Twenty-eight to thirty-five percent is the usual target range, and each point is worth showing in money because a point sounds small and is not.
food used is a stock movement, not the purchase figure- I
- Inventory
Method and limits
What it assumes
- Accurate stock counts at both ends, which is where the number usually goes wrong.
What it deliberately does not model
- Waste, theft and portion drift all appear inside this figure without being separable.
- Beverage cost should be tracked separately, since its percentage is far lower.
Formula version 1.0.0 · definition 1.0.0 · United States · Report a problem with this calculator
Frequently asked questions
- What food cost should I run at?
- Typically 28 to 35 percent, lower for pizza and pasta, higher for steak and seafood. What matters more is whether it is stable month to month.