The numbers behind every dish — costing, tracking, and protecting your margins.
Understand food yield percentage and why it makes your recipe costs inaccurate. Includes the formula, real examples for common proteins, and how to fix your costing.
Breakfast food cost can hit 24–28% when managed well, but egg price spikes in 2025 have added $74,000/year in cost for a typical busy breakfast restaurant. Here's how to respond.
Learn how to scale a recipe for restaurant production using the scaling factor formula, and avoid the common mistakes that inflate food cost.
Build a restaurant recipe card template that tracks ingredient costs, portion sizes, and food cost percentage for every dish on your menu.
Learn how to calculate alcohol pour cost percentage, use the formula correctly, and hit your bar's target pour cost to maximize profit.
Learn how to calculate buffet food cost per person, set per-head targets, and price your fixed-format dining to stay profitable without running short.
Learn how to calculate catering food cost per person for buffets, plated dinners, and events. Includes formulas, benchmarks, and per-format pricing guides.
McDonald's runs 30% food cost across 40,000 locations. The systems they use aren't secret—and independent restaurants can implement them too. Here's how.
Sushi food cost is uniquely complex — fish is priced by weight but sold by piece, and avocado swings 40% seasonally. The best sushi operators run 24–28% through yield and portion discipline.
Steakhouses run 38–42% food cost by design. The path to profitability isn't lowering protein cost — it's using beverage margins and side dishes to make the model work.
Plate cost is the total ingredient cost for one serving of a dish. It is the foundation of menu pricing and profitability decisions. Here is how to calculate it correctly including yield adjustments.
Plate cost is the total ingredient cost to produce one serving. Learn the step-by-step method including yield adjustments and why getting it right matters for every pricing decision.
A brisket at $5.50/lb raw becomes $9.63/lb cooked after yield loss. Most BBQ operators are underpricing brisket by $2–4/lb. Here's how to calculate your true BBQ food cost.