Food costing and menu pricing guides
Practical, no-nonsense guides to costing, pricing and running a tighter kitchen. Free — and they pair with the food-cost calculator and the recipe tool.
Start here — the pages that answer the questions we get most:
What GP should a UK kitchen run at? · How to price a menu · Food cost per portion, step by step · Recosting after a supplier price rise · Free recipe costing template · Free prep list template · Free stock take template
From the video — the worked examples behind The Pass: What a £14 burger actually makes — an honest UK pub costing
How VAT Works on Takeaway Food in the UK (Hot, Cold and Delivered)
Under VAT Notice 709/1, cold takeaway food is zero-rated, anything eaten on your premises is standard-rated whether it's hot or cold, and hot takeaway…
2026-09-22DrinksHow to Calculate Wet GP on Beer, Wine and Spirits (UK)
Wet GP is the same sum as food GP: what a serve sells for, less what the liquid in it cost you, over the ex-VAT selling price. Only two things make drinks…
2026-09-03GuidesHow to Price a Takeaway Menu in the UK So Every Dish Still Makes a Profit
The short answer: work out the true cost of every ingredient in each dish, add your packaging, labour and a share of your overheads, then set a price that…
2026-08-30Food cost & GPHow to Calculate Prime Cost for a UK Restaurant
Prime cost is your cost of sales plus your total labour cost, measured against sales excluding VAT. prime cost % = (cost of sales + total labour) ÷ ex-VAT…
2026-08-30GuidesAllergen Matrix UK: the 14 Allergens and PPDS Labelling
An allergen matrix is one sheet with every dish down the side and the 14 regulated allergens across the top. It exists so that any member of staff, on any…
2026-08-30GuidesHow to Do a Pre-Service Line Check in a Restaurant Kitchen (Step-by-Step)
A pre-service line check is a systematic walkthrough of every station before service begins, verifying that food is prepped, labeled, at the right…
2026-08-28Food cost & GPHow to Calculate Labour Cost Per Dish (And Decide If a Menu Item Is Worth Keeping)
To calculate labour cost per dish, time how long each stage of production takes (prep, cooking, plating), multiply those minutes by your fully loaded…
2026-08-26Menu pricingHow to Price a Set Menu or Fixed Price Menu for a Restaurant (UK Guide)
The short answer: price your set menu by costing every dish on it, adding up the total ingredient cost per head, then dividing by your target food cost…
2026-08-24Stock & wasteRestaurant Stock Take: Actual vs Theoretical Food Cost
An actual food-cost percentage comes from stock and invoices. A theoretical food-cost percentage comes from what your recipes say should have been used.…
2026-08-22CateringHow to Calculate a Catering Quote Per Head
A catering quote per head should show what one guest costs you to serve, not just what the ingredients cost. A practical structure is: quote total =…
2026-08-22Menu pricingHow to Price a Menu to a Target Food Cost Percentage
The shortest reliable calculation is: menu price = cost per portion ÷ target food cost percentage Write the percentage as a decimal. If a dish costs £2.40…
2026-08-22GuidesHow to Forecast Daily Covers So You Know Exactly How Much to Prep
The short answer: forecast tomorrow's covers by averaging the same weekday from the last four to six weeks, adjust that number for trend, weather, events,…
2026-07-31Food cost & GPHow to Convert Supplier Pack Sizes into Cost per Gram or ml (UK Recipe Costing Guide)
The formula is simple: Cost per gram (or ml) = ex-VAT pack price ÷ total grams (or ml) in the pack Everything else in this article is about getting those…
2026-07-29Recipe scalingHow to Cost a Sub-Recipe (Batch Sauce, Stock, or Compound Butter) and Roll It Into a Dish Cost
Short answer: Cost the entire batch, divide that total by the finished, strained, cooled yield — not the volume of liquid you started with — to get a cost…
2026-07-27Menu pricingHow to Price Menu Items for Deliveroo and Uber Eats in the UK (Without Losing Your Margin to Commission)
Short answer: work backwards from what you actually keep. On a standard-rated hot food order, a VAT-registered UK restaurant keeps roughly menu price × (1…
2026-07-25Food cost & GPHow to Cost a Bulk Buffet Menu to Hit Your Target GP (UK)
To cost a bulk buffet menu and hit a target gross profit (GP), work out the total ingredient cost per head, then divide that cost by your target food cost…
2026-07-23Food cost & GPHow to Cost a Daily Specials Board to Hit Your Target GP (UK)
To cost a daily special that hits your target gross profit, work backwards from your GP percentage: calculate the total ingredient cost per portion, then…
2026-07-21Tools & comparisonsHow to Calculate Ideal vs Actual Food Cost Variance for a Small Restaurant (UK)
Your food cost variance is the gap between what your food should have cost (ideal) and what it actually cost (actual), expressed as a percentage or pound…
2026-07-19DrinksHow to Cost a Cocktail and Set Drink Prices for a Bar (UK)
To cost a cocktail, add up the exact cost of every ingredient in the pour — spirits, mixers, garnish, ice loss and consumables — then divide by your…
2026-07-17GuidesHow to Keep Recipe Costs Accurate When Supplier Prices Keep Changing (UK)
The fastest way to keep recipe costs accurate when supplier prices fluctuate is to cost by unit price (cost per gram, per ml, per each) rather than pack…
2026-07-15Food cost & GPHow to Write a Standardised Recipe Card for a Commercial Kitchen
A standardised recipe card is a written document that specifies exactly how to produce a menu item every single time — the same ingredients, quantities,…
2026-07-13CateringHow Much Food to Buy Per Person for Catering 50 Guests in the UK
For 50 guests, plan on roughly 1.2–1.5kg of food per person across a full meal — but that headline number hides the detail that actually keeps you from…
2026-07-11Recipe scalingHow to Build a Batch Prep Production Schedule for a Commercial Kitchen With Limited Staff
Build your batch prep schedule by working backward from service, grouping tasks by equipment and station, and assigning every prep item a specific owner,…
2026-07-09Food cost & GPHow to Calculate Labour Cost Percentage for a Small Restaurant or Cafe (UK)
To calculate your labour cost percentage, divide your total labour cost for a period by your total revenue for the same period, then multiply by 100:…
2026-07-07Stock & wasteHow to Reduce Food Waste in a Restaurant Kitchen and Track It to Cut Costs
The fastest way to cut food waste and recover lost profit is to measure what you throw away before you try to fix it. Most kitchens waste 4–10% of the…
2026-07-05GuidesHow to Build a Mise en Place Prep List for a Busy Service Shift
The fastest way to build a mise en place prep list for a busy shift is to work backward from your menu: list every dish, break each one into its prep…
2026-07-03Stock & wasteHow to Work Out Yield Percentage and Trim Waste When Costing Meat, Fish and Veg
The short answer: yield percentage = (usable weight after prep ÷ purchased weight) × 100. To find the true cost of what you actually serve, divide the…
2026-07-01Stock & wasteHow to Set Par Levels for Kitchen Prep to Reduce Food Waste
To set par levels for kitchen prep, calculate the average amount of each prepped item you use per service, add a safety buffer based on shelf life and…
2026-06-28DrinksHow to Price Coffee Shop Drinks and Work Out Your Margin
To price a coffee shop drink correctly, add up the cost of every ingredient in the cup, divide that cost by your target cost percentage (usually 20–25%…
2026-06-27Prep & kitchenHow to Write a Kitchen Prep Sheet for a Commercial Kitchen
A kitchen prep sheet is a daily checklist that tells your team exactly what to prepare, how much, and in what order before service begins. To write one,…
2026-06-26Food cost & GPHow to Cost a Recipe and Work Out Cost Per Portion in a UK Kitchen
To cost a recipe in a UK kitchen, add up the cost of every ingredient at the exact quantity used, divide by the number of portions it yields, and you have…
2026-06-26Recipe scalingHow to Scale a Recipe Up or Down Without Ruining It
To scale a recipe, multiply every ingredient by a conversion factor (new yield ÷ original yield). But that simple math is where most people stop — and…
2026-06-26Menu pricingMenu Engineering for Small Restaurants: How to Find and Fix Low-Margin Dishes
The fastest way to find low-margin dishes is to calculate two numbers for every menu item: its contribution margin (menu price minus food cost) and its…
2026-06-26Stock & wasteHow to Do a Food Stock Take and Calculate Your Actual Food Cost Percentage
Your actual food cost percentage is calculated with one core formula: (Opening Stock + Purchases − Closing Stock) ÷ Food Sales × 100 That number — not…
2026-06-26DrinksHow to Price a Sandwich or Coffee and Actually Make a Profit in a UK Cafe
To price a sandwich or coffee profitably in a UK cafe, work out your food cost per item, divide it by your target food cost percentage (usually 30–35%),…
2026-06-26Tools & comparisonsFree Alternatives to MarketMan and Toast for Food Costing in Small UK Kitchens and Food Trucks
If you run a small UK kitchen or food truck and can't justify MarketMan's or Toast's monthly fees, the best free food costing options are Google Sheets…
2026-06-26Tools & comparisonsDo You Need Food Cost Software or Is a Free Calculator Enough for a Small UK Restaurant or Cafe?
For most small UK cafes and restaurants, a free calculator or spreadsheet is genuinely enough to get started — if you run fewer than about 30 menu items,…
2026-06-26BakingHow to Price a Cake as a UK Home Baker
To price a cake in the UK, add up your ingredient costs, add your overheads (energy, packaging, equipment wear), multiply your labour hours by an hourly…
2026-06-25Food cost & GPFree Recipe Costing Template UK: How to Build One (and What to Include)
A free recipe costing template for UK kitchens is simply a spreadsheet that lists each ingredient, its purchase cost, the quantity used in a recipe, and…
2026-06-25Food cost & GPHow to Calculate Gross Profit on Food in the UK (With VAT Explained)
To calculate gross profit on food in the UK, work from the VAT-exclusive selling price, subtract your ingredient cost, then divide that figure by the net…
2026-06-25Run the free calculator → · See the templates → · Save your recipes free →