Food Cost Math: the Numbers a Chef Should Know

A restaurant takes €18,000 a month. The food is good, the location works, the team shows up. Yet every month, after expenses, there is nothing left, sometimes less than nothing. The owner believes the food cost is “around 30%”. When the real number is calculated, with every ingredient, every portion and every yield loss, it turns out to be 41%. That 11-point gap, on €18,000 revenue, is €1,980 a month, or €23,760 a year. The money isn't leaving because of theft, laziness or bad food, but because nobody sat down and did the math.

This isn't rare. It is where a kitchen usually ends up when it prices by instinct and portions by feel. The fix is arithmetic a teenager could do. The hard part is doing it regularly, and that is where many kitchens give up.

Food cost isn't something you discover at the end of the month; you work it out before service. If you are not calculating it per dish, per portion and per gram, you are not running a kitchen. You are hoping.

01 — The Formula

Simple Math, Big Consequences

The formula is simple:

If a lamb shoulder dish costs €5.52 in ingredients and sells for €22, the food cost is 25.1%. If the target is 30%, there is room. If the target is 25%, you are on the edge. A chef should know this number for each dish on the menu, by heart, standing at the station.

But “cost of ingredients” is not what the invoice says. It is what the ingredients really cost after yield loss, waste and a dozen small additions that many kitchens don't track. Without that correction, the food cost percentage is a made-up number calculated from made-up inputs.

02 — Yield

From the Invoice to the Plate

This is where restaurants lose money without noticing.

Lamb shoulder is bought at €12.00/kg. The recipe calls for 210g of usable lamb per portion. The quick calculation: 0.21 kg × €12 = €2.52. But 210g of purchased lamb is not 210g of lamb on the plate. After trimming sinew, taking out the bone, cutting off excess fat and the loss in cooking, a whole lamb shoulder gives about 70% usable meat. To get 210g on the plate, you need to buy 300g.

The real cost is €3.60 per portion, not €2.52. That is a 43% difference. A kitchen that doesn't calculate yield won't see it, and multiplied across all the meat and fish on the menu, month after month, it becomes serious money.

Without yield: Lamb cost €2.52 · FC 11.5% · Looks great.
With yield: Lamb cost €3.60 · FC 16.4% · Realistic.
The gap: €1.08 per portion × 38 portions/week = €41/week = €2,132/year, for one ingredient in one dish.

Now apply the same to everything else on the menu. Whole fish gives 40–45% after filleting. Root vegetables 75–85% after peeling. Fresh herbs about 60% after picking. Citrus, juice only, 30–40%. Almost every ingredient has a yield loss, and each one is money the kitchen thinks it has but doesn't.

03 — The Yield Table

Reference Numbers to Start From

These are approximate yields. Each kitchen should measure its own, because technique, the supplier's product and the size of the pieces all change the number. But to start with, these will do:

04 — The Invisible Line Items

What Goes Untracked

Besides yield, there are costs many kitchens skip because they look too small to matter. Added up, they aren't small. They can make the difference between a 28% and a 33% food cost, which on €15,000 monthly revenue is €750 a month, €9,000 a year.

Cooking oil. A deep fryer holds 10–15 liters. At €3/liter, each fill costs €30–45. Changed every three days, that is €300–450 a month. It rarely makes it into recipe costings.
Finishing butter. A tablespoon of butter to mount a sauce: 15g at €8/kg = €0.12 per plate. Across 50 plates a night: €6. A month: €180.
Seasoning. Salt, pepper, finishing oil. Say €0.15–0.25 per plate. Looks negligible, but €0.20 × 60 covers × 26 days = €312 a month.
Bread and amuse-bouche. The free bread basket, the bite before the first course. They cost something. If they aren't in the per-cover calculation, the food cost is understated from the first plate.
Staff meals. If the team eats from the kitchen, and it should, that food has a cost. Budget €3–5 per person per shift. For a team of six: €18–30 a day, €468–780 a month. You don't see it on a plate, but you do see it on the P&L.

05 — The Spreadsheet

One File for the Whole Menu

To me, a proper costing spreadsheet is the most important financial tool in a restaurant, more important than the POS. The POS tells you what sold. The spreadsheet tells you what it should have cost. The gap between those two numbers is what the chef and the owner should be working on.

The spreadsheet has four linked sheets. The first is the ingredient list: for each item, the purchase price, the yield and the cost per usable gram. The second is recipes: each dish pulls prices from the first sheet and calculates its total cost and food cost percentage. The third is a menu overview: each dish's margin and its quadrant from the menu analysis, on one page. The fourth tracks supplier prices: change one cell and the change runs through every recipe that uses that ingredient.

Building it takes a full day, maybe two. It is hard to think of a better use of those sixteen hours for a restaurant owner. After that, every money question about the menu has an answer, not just an opinion.

06 — Where Kitchens Lose Money

The Mistakes That Cost Thousands

Ignoring waste. Trim, peel, bones, overproduction, spoilage, plates sent back: if it isn't written down, you don't see it. A sheet of paper by the bin, where cooks note what they throw away and why, is enough. Within a week the pattern shows, and often within a month waste is down 20–30%.
Guessing instead of weighing. “About 30 grams” isn't a measurement, it's a hope. And hope regularly weighs more than 30 grams, because cooks are generous people and the hand adds a little on its own. A scale at the station isn't a sign of distrust; it's part of the craft. Good kitchens weigh everything.
Forgetting the small costs. Oil, butter, seasoning, garnish herbs, a squeeze of lemon, a crumble of cheese: on their own €0.10–0.40 per plate. Together, across a full menu, they add around 2–4 percentage points to the food cost. A kitchen that doesn't track them later wonders why its “calculated” 28% is really 32% on the P&L.
Old prices in the spreadsheet. A costing sheet from January no longer holds by March. Supplier prices move with the season, fuel costs and exchange rates. If the spreadsheet doesn't have current prices, the margins are neatly organized, formatted and wrong.
Pricing by instinct. “€18 feels right for this dish.” The price should be worked back from the cost: if the food cost is €5.52 and the target FC% is 28%, the minimum price is €5.52 ÷ 0.28 = €19.71. Round to €20 or €21. “€18 feels right” gives away €1.71 of margin per plate. At 38 plates a week that is €65 a week, €3,380 a year, just because nobody did one division.

A suggestion for tomorrow. Pick the three dishes that sell best. In the morning, before prep, weigh every ingredient in one portion of each: not the recipe weight, but what the cook actually puts on the plate. Then calculate the real food cost with current supplier prices and actual yields.

Chances are at least one of the three will surprise you. Either it costs more than you thought, so the kitchen is losing money it didn't know about, or it costs less, so the price could be doing more. Either way, today you know something you didn't know yesterday, and you can decide on it.

If you want all of this set up in your kitchen (the spreadsheet, yields per ingredient, written recipes, menu analysis), that is what I do at AsketCuisine. Not theory, just arithmetic on your own numbers.

Restoran ima €18.000 prometa mesečno. Hrana je dobra, lokacija je dobra, tim dolazi na posao. A svakog meseca, posle troškova, ne ostane ništa, ponekad i manje od toga. Vlasnik misli da mu je trošak hrane „oko 30%“. Kad se izračuna pravi broj, sa svakom namirnicom, svakom porcijom i svakim kalom, ispadne 41%. Tih 11 poena na €18.000 prometa je €1.980 mesečno, odnosno €23.760 godišnje. Novac ne odlazi zbog krađe, lenjosti ili loše hrane, nego zato što niko nije seo da računa.

To nije retkost. Tako obično završi kuhinja koja cene određuje po osećaju, a porcije od oka. Popravlja se računom koji bi uradio i srednjoškolac. Teži deo je da se taj račun radi redovno, i tu mnoge kuhinje odustanu.

Trošak hrane se ne otkriva na kraju meseca, nego se računa pre servisa. Ako ne računate po jelu, po porciji i po gramu, ne vodite kuhinju. Nadate se.

01 — Formula

Prosta matematika, velike posledice

Formula je prosta:

Ako sastojci za jelo od jagnjeće plećke koštaju €5.52, a jelo se prodaje za €22, trošak hrane je 25.1%. Ako je cilj 30%, ima prostora. Ako je cilj 25%, na ivici ste. Šef bi taj broj trebalo da zna za svako jelo na jelovniku, napamet, tu na stanici.

Ali „trošak sastojaka“ nije ono što piše na fakturi. To je ono što sastojci stvarno koštaju posle kala, otpada i desetak sitnica koje mnoge kuhinje ne prate. Bez te popravke, procenat troška hrane je izmišljen broj, izračunat iz izmišljenih brojeva.

02 — Kalo

Od fakture do tanjira

Ovde restorani gube novac, a da to i ne primete.

Jagnjeća plećka se kupuje po €12.00/kg. Recept traži 210g upotrebljivog mesa po porciji. Brz račun: 0.21 kg × €12 = €2.52. Ali 210g kupljenog jagnjeta nije 210g jagnjeta na tanjiru. Posle čišćenja žila, vađenja kostiju, skidanja viška masnoće i gubitka pri kuvanju, cela plećka daje otprilike 70% upotrebljivog mesa. Da bi na tanjir stiglo 210g, treba kupiti 300g.

Pravi trošak je €3.60 po porciji, a ne €2.52. To je razlika od 43%. Kuhinja koja ne računa kalo je ne vidi, a kad se pomnoži sa svim mesom i ribom na jelovniku, mesec za mesecom, postane ozbiljan novac.

Bez kala: Trošak jagnjeta €2.52 · FC 11.5% · Izgleda odlično.
Sa kalom: Trošak jagnjeta €3.60 · FC 16.4% · Realistično.
Razlika: €1.08 po porciji × 38 porcija nedeljno = €41/nedeljno = €2.132/godišnje, za jedan sastojak u jednom jelu.

Isto važi i za sve ostalo na jelovniku. Cela riba posle filetiranja daje 40–45%. Korenasto povrće posle ljuštenja 75–85%. Sveže bilje posle branja oko 60%. Citrusi, ako se koristi samo sok, 30–40%. Skoro svaka namirnica ima kalo, i svaki taj kalo je novac za koji kuhinja misli da ga ima, a nema ga.

03 — Tabela kala

Orijentacioni brojevi za početak

Ovo su približne vrednosti. Svaka kuhinja treba da izmeri svoje, jer na broj utiču tehnika, roba koju dobavljač donosi i veličina komada. Ali za početak, može ovako:

04 — Nevidljive stavke

Ono što se ne prati

Pored kala, postoje troškovi koje mnoge kuhinje preskaču jer deluju sitno. Zajedno nisu sitni. Mogu da naprave razliku između 28% i 33% troška hrane, a to je na €15.000 mesečnog prometa €750 mesečno, odnosno €9.000 godišnje.

Ulje za kuvanje. Friteza drži 10–15 litara. Po €3/litar, jedno punjenje je €30–45. Ako se menja svaka tri dana, to je €300–450 mesečno. U kalkulaciju recepta retko uđe.
Puter za završnicu. Kašika putera da se sos montira: 15g po €8/kg = €0.12 po tanjiru. Na 50 tanjira za veče: €6. Mesečno: €180.
Začini. So, biber, ulje za završnicu. Recimo €0.15–0.25 po tanjiru. Deluje zanemarljivo, ali €0.20 × 60 gostiju × 26 dana = €312 mesečno.
Hleb i amuse-bouche. Korpa hleba koju ne naplaćujete, zalogaj pre prvog jela. I to košta. Ako nije u kalkulaciji po gostu, trošak hrane je potcenjen od prvog tanjira.
Obroci osoblja. Ako tim jede iz kuhinje, a treba da jede, i ta hrana ima cenu. Računajte €3–5 po osobi po smeni. Za tim od šestoro: €18–30 dnevno, €468–780 mesečno. Na tanjiru se ne vidi, ali se u bilansu vidi.

05 — Tabela

Jedna tabela za ceo jelovnik

Za mene je dobra kalkulaciona tabela najvažniji finansijski alat u restoranu, važniji i od kase. Kasa kaže šta se prodalo. Tabela kaže koliko je to trebalo da košta. Razlika između ta dva broja je ono čime šef i vlasnik treba da se bave.

Tabela ima četiri povezana lista. Prvi je spisak namirnica: za svaku kupovna cena, kalo i cena po upotrebljivom gramu. Drugi su recepti: svako jelo uzima cene sa prvog lista i računa ukupan trošak i procenat troška hrane. Treći je pregled jelovnika: marža i kvadrant svakog jela iz analize jelovnika, na jednoj strani. Četvrti prati cene dobavljača: promenite jednu ćeliju i promena prođe kroz sve recepte u kojima je ta namirnica.

Za izradu treba jedan ceo dan, možda dva. Teško da će vlasnik restorana pametnije potrošiti tih šesnaest sati. Posle toga, na svako finansijsko pitanje o jelovniku postoji odgovor, a ne samo mišljenje.

06 — Gde kuhinje gube novac

Greške koje koštaju hiljade

Otpad se ne prati. Obrezak, ljuske, kosti, višak pripreme, pokvarena roba, vraćeni tanjiri: ako se ne beleži, ne vidi se. Dovoljan je list papira kod kante, na koji kuvari upišu šta bacaju i zašto. Za nedelju dana vidi se šta se ponavlja, a često već posle mesec dana otpada bude 20–30% manje.
Od oka umesto na vagu. „Otprilike 30 grama“ nije mera, nego nada. A nada redovno teži više od 30 grama, jer su kuvari darežljivi ljudi i ruka sama doda. Vaga na stanici nije znak nepoverenja, nego deo zanata. U dobrim kuhinjama meri se sve.
Zaborave se sitni troškovi. Ulje, puter, začini, garnitura, malo limuna, malo sira: svako za sebe €0.10–0.40 po tanjiru. Zajedno, na celom jelovniku, dodaju oko 2–4 procentna poena na trošak hrane. Kuhinja koja ih ne prati posle se pita zašto je „izračunatih“ 28% u bilansu zapravo 32%.
Stare cene u tabeli. Kalkulacija iz januara u martu već ne važi. Cene dobavljača se menjaju sa sezonom, cenom goriva i kursom. Ako tabela nema današnje cene, marže su lepo složene i formatirane, ali pogrešne.
Cena od oka. „€18 mi deluje okej za ovo jelo.“ Cena se računa unazad, iz troška: ako je trošak hrane €5.52, a ciljani FC% 28%, najniža cena je €5.52 ÷ 0.28 = €19.71. Zaokružite na €20 ili €21. Sa „€18 mi deluje okej“ poklanjate €1.71 marže po tanjiru. Na 38 tanjira nedeljno to je €65 nedeljno, €3.380 godišnje, samo zato što niko nije uradio jedno deljenje.

Predlog za sutra. Izaberite tri jela koja se najviše prodaju. Ujutru, pre pripreme, izmerite svaku namirnicu u jednoj porciji svakog od njih, ali ne težinu iz recepta, nego ono što kuvar stvarno stavi na tanjir. Onda izračunajte pravi trošak hrane, sa današnjim cenama dobavljača i stvarnim kalom.

Verovatno će vas bar jedno od tri iznenaditi. Ili košta više nego što ste mislili, pa kuhinja gubi novac za koji nije znala, ili košta manje, pa cena može više da donese. U oba slučaja, danas znate nešto što juče niste, i po tome možete da odlučujete.

Ako želite da se sve ovo sredi kod vas (tabela, kalo po namirnicama, zapisani recepti, analiza jelovnika), time se bavim u AsketCuisine. Nije to teorija, nego račun na vašim brojevima.