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Food cost calculator: what one plate costs, and what to charge
Plate cost is the cost of everything in the recipe divided by the plates it makes, with each ingredient costed from what you paid: rice bought at ₹1,500 for 25 kg costs ₹9.00 for 150 g.
Food cost % is plate cost ÷ menu price × 100, using the price before GST. To price for a target, divide the plate cost by it: a ₹60 plate at a 30% food cost sells for ₹200 before GST.
Everything is worked out in your browser. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere — no sign-up, no account, and the numbers never leave this device.
How to cost a dish
- Write the recipe for a batch you really cook — a pot of dal, a tray of barfi — not for one plate. Small quantities are easier to get right in bulk.
- For each ingredient, note what you bought and what you paid (the supplier’s bill), and how much the batch uses. The cost is paid × used ÷ bought; the calculator converts kg, g, L, ml, pieces and dozens.
- Add a percentage for what is hard to weigh — salt, spices, frying oil, gas. Measure it once: a month of those small things against a month of ingredients.
- Divide by the plates the batch makes. That is the plate cost.
- Compare it with the menu price before GST, or divide it by a target percentage to find a price.
A worked example: paneer butter masala for 10 plates
| Ingredient | Bought | Paid | Used | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paneer | 1 kg | ₹400.00 | 1.5 kg | ₹600.00 |
| Butter | 500 g | ₹275.00 | 150 g | ₹82.50 |
| Tomatoes | 1 kg | ₹40.00 | 2 kg | ₹80.00 |
| Fresh cream | 1 L | ₹240.00 | 250 ml | ₹60.00 |
| Onions | 1 kg | ₹30.00 | 1 kg | ₹30.00 |
| Ingredients listed | ₹852.50 | |||
| Salt, spices, oil and gas (5%) | +₹42.63 | |||
| Recipe cost, 10 plates | ₹895.13 |
One plate costs ₹895.13 ÷ 10 = ₹89.51. On a menu price of ₹280 before GST, that is a food cost of 32.0%. For a 30% food cost the price would be ₹89.51 ÷ 30 × 100 = ₹298.37 — ₹300.00 rounded up to the next ₹5.
Each line is worked in one step — paid × used ÷ bought — and rounded once. Working out a price per gram first and rounding it is how 250 g of sugar at ₹42 a kilo comes out as ₹10.00 instead of ₹10.50, and how a menu drifts away from its costs a few paise at a time.
Work it out before GST
GST is tax collected for the Government, not money the kitchen earned. Work out food cost against the menu price before GST: on a ₹280 dish at, say, 5%, the customer pays ₹294, but ₹14 of that is tax. Measured against ₹294, the same plate would look cheaper to make than it is.
What a good food cost is
There is no single right percentage. Rent, wages, the dish and what your street will pay all move it. What matters is knowing it dish by dish: the dishes with the highest food cost are where a small price change or a trimmed portion earns the most, and the ones with the lowest are worth putting in front of customers. Do the sum again when prices move — tomatoes and onions do not cost the same in July as in January.
Recipes that take stock off as you sell
A calculator costs a dish once. In Nivasik’s POS the recipe stays attached to the dish:
- Stock comes off as it sells, including recipes — a thali’s rice and dal — and multi-stage production, such as milk into khoya into peda.
- Batches with their own cost and expiry, used first-expiry-first, and wastage recorded as wastage.
- Prices from what you paid: a percentage added on the cost (a markup), a flat amount on the cost, or an MRP taken apart correctly.
- Delivery-app orders on the same books, with the app’s commission booked as a cost on the value before tax.
The POS is ₹1,499 per outlet a month, on its own or with any plan, and free for 45 days to try — we set up your menu with you.
Questions people ask
How do I calculate the food cost of a dish?
Add up the cost of every ingredient in the recipe — each one is what you paid × what the recipe uses ÷ what you bought — and divide by the number of plates it makes.
What is food cost percentage?
The plate cost as a share of the menu price before GST: plate cost ÷ price × 100. A ₹90 plate on a ₹300 menu price is a 30% food cost.
How do I price a menu item from its cost?
Divide the plate cost by the food cost percentage you are aiming for, then multiply by 100. A ₹75 plate at a 25% target is ₹300 before GST.
Should I include GST when I work out food cost?
No. Use the menu price before GST: the tax is collected for the Government and is not what the dish earned.
How do I cost a recipe that makes many portions?
Enter the ingredients for the whole batch — a pot of dal for 40 plates — and set “The recipe makes” to 40. The calculator divides the batch cost by the plates.
More free tools
Margin calculator
Markup against margin, pricing from cost, and the real profit on an MRP item.
Open the tool →Delivery commission calculator
What a Swiggy or Zomato order leaves you once the commission and its GST come off.
Open the tool →GST calculator
Add GST, take it out of an MRP, and split it into CGST and SGST or IGST, to the paisa.
Open the tool →Last reviewed 25 September 2026. The calculator does arithmetic; it is not accounting or tax advice.
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