Restaurant Food Cost Calculator

Target food cost: QSR 25–32%, casual dining 28–35%, fine dining 30–38%, cloud kitchen 22–28%. Above 40% consistently indicates pricing, wastage, or portion control issues that require immediate attention. Food cost above 45% makes it mathematically impossible to run a profitable restaurant.

Recipe cost = Sum of (ingredient quantity used × ingredient cost per unit). Menu price = Recipe cost / Target food cost %. Example: a biryani recipe costs ₹85, target food cost 30%, minimum menu price = ₹283. Most restaurants price at ₹295 or ₹299 for psychological pricing.

Key strategies: FIFO rotation in cold storage, daily mise en place planning matched to expected covers, smaller batch prep for slow-moving items, portion standardisation with digital scales, daily waste tracking by dish, and repurposing leftover components. Reducing wastage from 12% to 6% directly adds 3–4% to net margin.

Contribution margin = Menu price minus variable food cost. A ₹250 biryani with ₹85 food cost has ₹165 contribution margin — this is what actually pays your rent, salaries, and profit. Menu engineering uses contribution margin and popularity to classify dishes as Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles, or Dogs.

Strategies: renegotiate supplier contracts quarterly, buy key ingredients in bulk when prices are low, adjust portion sizes slightly (customers rarely notice 5–10% reduction), reformulate recipes with lower-cost substitutes, remove high-cost low-popularity dishes (Dogs), and raise prices on high-popularity items (Stars) where elasticity is lower.