Food cost % = food cost ÷ food sales × 100. For one plate, that is plate cost ÷ menu price. For a week or a month, the food cost comes from inventory: beginning inventory + purchases − ending inventory. To set a price, run it backward: price = plate cost ÷ target %.
Food cost percentage problems show up in two forms in culinary and hospitality courses. The first is about a single dish — what it costs to make against what it sells for. The second is about a whole operation over a period, where the cost has to be worked out from an inventory count and the invoices. The second kind is where most mistakes happen, so it gets the most space below. If you need the plate cost itself first, the cost per serving word problems cover pricing an ingredient by the ounce and adding up a recipe.
The Formulas
Food cost % = food cost ÷ food sales × 100
Menu price = plate cost ÷ target food cost %
Cost of food sold = beginning inventory + purchases − ending inventory
Adjusted cost = cost of food sold + transfers in − transfers out − employee meals
Level 1: One Dish, One Period
A pasta dish costs $3.15 to make and sells for $12.00. What is its food cost percentage?
$3.15 ÷ $12.00 = 0.2625 → 26.25%.
A café's food cost for the week was $4,200 and its food sales were $13,500. What was the food cost percentage?
$4,200 ÷ $13,500 = 0.3111 → 31.1%.
The cost always goes on top. $13,500 ÷ $4,200 = 3.21 is how many dollars of sales each dollar of food produced — a markup, not a percentage.
Level 2: Pricing From a Target Percentage
A chicken entrée has a plate cost of $4.20. The restaurant targets a 30% food cost. What should the menu price be?
$4.20 ÷ 0.30 = $14.00. Check: $4.20 ÷ $14.00 = 30%.
A side salad costs $2.85. The target is 28%. What price, and what is the actual food cost after rounding to a menu price?
$2.85 ÷ 0.28 = $10.18. Menus rarely print $10.18, so it goes up to $10.25, and the actual food cost becomes $2.85 ÷ $10.25 = 27.8%.
Rounding up lowers the percentage; rounding down raises it. If a problem asks for the price "to the nearest cent", give $10.18.
A target percentage can also be written as a multiplier: 1 ÷ 0.30 = 3.33, so at a 30% target every dollar of plate cost becomes $3.33 of menu price. Same answer, different route.
Level 3: Cost of Food Sold From Inventory
For a period, the cost is not what you bought — it is what you used. Food bought on the last day of the month and still in the walk-in was not sold. The inventory count at each end of the period sorts that out.
A restaurant counts $5,200 of food in inventory on March 1. During March it buys $8,350 of food. On March 31 it counts $4,900. Food sales for March were $27,600. What is the cost of food sold, and the food cost percentage?
Cost of food sold = $5,200 + $8,350 − $4,900 = $8,650.
Food cost % = $8,650 ÷ $27,600 = 0.3134 → 31.3%.
Dividing purchases alone ($8,350 ÷ $27,600 = 30.3%) understates the cost by a full point, because the kitchen used $300 more food than it bought.
Next month the restaurant buys $9,100 of food, starts with March's ending inventory and ends with $6,050 on hand. Sales are $28,400. What happened to the food cost?
Beginning inventory = last month's ending = $4,900. Cost = $4,900 + $9,100 − $6,050 = $7,950. Food cost % = $7,950 ÷ $28,400 = 28.0%.
The heavy purchasing did not raise the food cost — most of it went onto the shelf. One month's ending inventory is always the next month's beginning inventory.
Level 4: Employee Meals and Transfers
Food that leaves the kitchen without being sold to a guest is taken out of the cost; food that arrives from another department is added in.
Using March's figures ($8,650 cost of food sold, $27,600 sales): the staff ate $310 of food, the kitchen sent $95 of lemons, limes and cream to the bar, and the bar sent $60 of wine to the kitchen for cooking. What is the adjusted food cost percentage?
Adjusted cost = $8,650 + $60 − $95 − $310 = $8,305.
Food cost % = $8,305 ÷ $27,600 = 0.3009 → 30.1%.
Employee meals are usually moved to a labor or benefits line, which is why they come out of food cost. The transfers simply put each cost in the department that used it.
Level 5: Target Versus Actual
The March target was 30%. Using the unadjusted $8,650 on $27,600 of sales, how far over budget was the kitchen in dollars and in points?
Allowed cost = $27,600 × 0.30 = $8,280. Over by $8,650 − $8,280 = $370.
In points: 31.3% − 30.0% = 1.3 points over. To hit 30% with the same cost, sales would have needed to be $8,650 ÷ 0.30 = $28,833.
Level 6: When an Ingredient Price Rises
A burger costs $3.60 to make and sells for $13.00. Beef goes up and the plate cost rises to $4.10. What is the new food cost percentage, and what price would bring it back to where it was?
Old: $3.60 ÷ $13.00 = 27.7%. New: $4.10 ÷ $13.00 = 31.5%.
Price to return to 27.7%: $4.10 ÷ 0.2769 = $14.81. A 50-cent cost increase needs a $1.81 price increase to hold the percentage — the multiplier works on every cent of cost.
Quick Reference
| You know | You want | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| Plate cost + menu price | Food cost % | cost ÷ price × 100 |
| Plate cost + target % | Menu price | cost ÷ target (as a decimal) |
| Menu price + target % | Most the plate can cost | price × target |
| Inventory counts + purchases | Cost of food sold | beginning + purchases − ending |
| Cost of food sold + adjustments | Adjusted cost | + transfers in − transfers out − staff meals |
| Sales + target % | Allowed food cost | sales × target |
Common Mistakes
Using purchases as the food cost. Purchases tell you what came in the door, not what was used. Always adjust for the change in inventory.
Subtracting beginning inventory. Beginning inventory is food you already had and then used — it is added. Ending inventory is what is left, so it comes off.
Dividing by total sales when the problem gives food sales. Beverage sales are a separate line with their own cost percentage; mixing them in makes the food cost look lower than it is.
Treating percentage points as percent change. Going from 30% to 31.3% is 1.3 points, but about a 4% increase in the percentage itself. Most courses want points.
What Counts as a "Good" Food Cost?
Most restaurants aim for roughly 28–35%, depending on the concept. Steak and seafood run higher because the main ingredient is expensive; pizza, pasta and breakfast run lower. A café selling mostly coffee drinks may sit well under 25% on food. The number that matters in practice is the gap between your target and your actual, period after period — the same reason the problems above keep checking one against the other.
More Practice
The kitchen math problem generator makes fresh food cost and menu price problems with the working shown. For the steps that come before this one, see cost per serving word problems and unit price word problems; the complete culinary math guide puts every problem type in order, including baker's percentage.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the formula for food cost percentage?
Food cost percentage = food cost ÷ food sales × 100. For one dish, use the plate cost and the menu price. For a period, use the cost of food sold (beginning inventory + purchases − ending inventory) and the food sales for the same period.
How do you price a menu item from a target food cost percentage?
Divide the plate cost by the target written as a decimal. A dish costing $4.20 at a 30% target sells for $4.20 ÷ 0.30 = $14.00.
How do you calculate cost of food sold from inventory?
Beginning inventory + purchases − ending inventory, then subtract employee meals and transfers out and add transfers in. $5,200 + $8,350 − $4,900 = $8,650.
What is a good food cost percentage?
Most restaurants aim for roughly 28–35%, depending on the concept. The more useful comparison is against your own target and your own previous periods.