Practical guides for chefs and restaurant owners: how to calculate food cost, count and order stock, compare supplier prices and cut waste. Worked examples are labeled as illustrative, and benchmarks name their source.
Food costs
Food cost percentage is food used divided by food sales. Here is how to work it out for the whole restaurant and for a single plate, with numbers you can follow.
AI tools
AI can read invoices faster than you can type them. You still need to check the output.
Food costs
A catering quote that ignores labor, packaging and yield can turn a big order into a loss.
Suppliers
Small restaurants can still negotiate. It starts with knowing what you buy and what it costs.
Inventory
A weekly count only helps if it is quick, consistent and used. Here is a routine that fits a busy kitchen.
Food costs
When protein prices move, margins move. These are the levers a kitchen actually controls.
Suppliers
Most invoice errors are cheapest to fix at the back door. Use this checklist before you sign.
The guides our other articles link back to most.
Enter ingredients, portions and a selling price to see cost per portion, food cost percentage and gross profit. No account needed.
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