Recipe Cost Calculator — Your True Cost Per Portion
What does that plate actually cost you? Enter your purchase prices once, build up your recipes, and you instantly see the cost per portion, your food cost % and your margin — with yield after trim and cooking loss factored in, which is exactly where most costings go wrong. Preparations like a sauce or a stock are costed once and reused in every dish. Everything runs in your browser — no install, no account.
How does the recipe costing tool work?
- 1
Enter your purchase prices
Add ingredients the way you actually buy them: 5 kg for £32. The tool works out the price per kilo or litre and applies the yield — what is left after trimming, boning or reducing.
- 2
Build up your recipe
Pick an ingredient or a preparation on each line and type the quantity. The cost per portion appears live, along with your food cost %, your margin and a suggested price based on your target.
- 3
Print your recipe card
Print the costing sheet for yourself and the kitchen card for your team — with or without prices, scaled to the number of portions you are making that day.
Built for restaurant owners
Your margin in black and white
A £24 dish at 38 % food cost looks fine until you line it up against the rest of your menu. This tool puts every dish on one overview and flags whatever falls below your target.
Model a supplier increase
Supplier announcing +12 %? One slider shows you what that does to every single margin on your menu — and which three dishes it hurts most.
Cost it once, use it everywhere
Your bolognese, stock or dressing is costed once as a preparation. Every dish that uses it picks up the right cost automatically — even when your purchase price changes tomorrow.
Frequently asked questions
Is this recipe cost calculator free?
Yes, completely free, with no account and nothing to install. Fill in your figures and print your sheets straight from your browser.
What is yield and why does it matter?
Yield is the percentage of an ingredient that actually reaches the plate. A kilo of unpeeled onions leaves you around 850 g once trimmed: a yield of 85 %. Cost with the gross price and you understate your cost by 15 %. The tool corrects for that automatically.
What is a good food cost percentage for a restaurant?
In most European restaurants food cost sits between 25 % and 35 % of the selling price excluding VAT; drinks are usually much lower. You set your own target — the tool marks each dish green, amber or red against your number, not an industry average.
What are preparations (sub-recipes)?
A sauce, stock, dough or dressing you make in batch and use across several dishes. Tick 'preparation', state how much one batch yields (four litres, say), and you can then drop it into any recipe like an ingredient — at the correct cost per litre.
Does the tool work with or without VAT?
You type the menu price exactly as it appears on your menu, so including VAT. The tool converts back to the price excluding VAT and calculates food cost and margin on that — because VAT was never your revenue.
Is my data stored anywhere?
Everything stays in your own browser (localStorage); nothing is uploaded. Your ingredients and recipes are still there next time you open the tool, and the backup button gives you a file to keep or move to another computer.