Food Cost Calculator

What is your food cost really costing you?

See how your food cost compares to restaurants like yours, and what cutting a few points is worth.

1Your restaurant

Use a full year of food sales, or multiply a typical month by 12.

Type

Annual food sales $

Food cost %

Not sure? Calculate it below.

Calculate your food cost % from inventory

Use the same period for all four numbers, like last month.

Starting inventory $

Food purchases $

Ending inventory $

Food sales $

Food cost: –

2Where the savings are

Turn each lever on or off and adjust the assumptions to fit your kitchen.

Cut kitchen waste

Restaurants throw out 4–10% of the food they buy before it ever reaches a plate: trim, spoilage, overproduction. Tracking it is how kitchens cut it.

% of purchases wasted

% you cut it by

Tighten portions

An extra half-ounce of protein on every plate adds up fast. Recipe cards and portion tools keep every plate on spec.

% of food cost over-portioned

% you rein in

Buy smarter

Comparing vendor prices, watching invoices for creep, and ordering to par instead of by feel.

% better pricing

Shift the menu mix

Item-level sales data shows which dishes earn the most per plate. Featuring them nudges your blended food cost down without raising a single price.

Points off food cost

Where the starting numbers come from

Hard data

Median food and non-alcoholic beverage cost: 32.0% of sales for full-service, 32.4% for limited-service (National Restaurant Association, 2025 Restaurant Operations Data Abstract)
Full-service restaurants under $2M in sales run a median 33.7%; those at $2M or more run 31.0% (National Restaurant Association)
Foodservice operations throw out 4–10% of the food they buy before it reaches a guest (LeanPath / National Restaurant Association)

Derived

Annual food spend is your food sales times your food cost %. One point of food cost is 1% of your food sales.
Waste reduction default (30%) is conservative: measurement programs often cut pre-consumer waste in half (LeanPath)

Estimated

Over-portioning, purchasing, and menu-mix defaults are conservative starting points, not published benchmarks. Replace them with what you see in your own kitchen.

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate food cost percentage?

Starting inventory plus purchases, minus ending inventory, divided by food sales for the same period. For example, $12,000 + $34,000 − $11,000 = $35,000 in food used. On $100,000 in food sales, that's a 35% food cost.

What's a good food cost percentage?

The industry median is about 32% of sales for both full-service and limited-service restaurants (National Restaurant Association). Volume matters: full-service restaurants under $2M in sales run closer to 34%, and those above $2M closer to 31%.

How much food do restaurants waste?

Foodservice operations throw out 4–10% of the food they buy before it reaches a guest, mostly from trim, spoilage, and overproduction (LeanPath). Kitchens that measure their waste routinely cut it by half.

What's the difference between actual and theoretical food cost?

Theoretical food cost is what you should have spent if every plate matched its recipe. Actual is what your inventory says you spent. A gap of more than about 2 points usually means waste, over-portioning, unrecorded comps, or theft.

Is a lower food cost always better?

No. Food cost only means something next to labor. Scratch cooking can lower food cost and raise labor. Watch prime cost (food plus labor) too, and never cut food cost by shrinking the quality guests come back for.