Free GP and food cost tools for UK pubs and cafés
Work out what a dish costs, what to charge for it and what GP you are actually making, in pounds and with VAT done properly. Free, no sign-up, built for UK kitchens.
Download the GP and VAT cheat sheet for the pass (PDF) → Open the calculator
What to charge: the quick table
GP is worked out on the price without VAT. For every £1 a plate costs you in ingredients, this is the price you need:
| Target GP | Price ex VAT per £1 of cost | Menu price inc 20% VAT | Multiply plate cost by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 65% | £2.86 | £3.43 | 3.43× |
| 68% | £3.13 | £3.75 | 3.75× |
| 70% | £3.33 | £4.00 | 4.00× |
Worked example: a plate that costs £3.00 in ingredients, at 68% GP, needs £3.00 ÷ 0.32 = £9.38 ex VAT, which is £11.25 on a menu that includes 20% VAT.
The UKHospitality × Christie & Co Benchmarking Report 2022 found food GP of 65.9–69% across every segment it surveyed; 68% is used across our costed dishes. Our benchmarks guide explains the source and its limits.
Three numbers to know for every dish
- Food cost % = ingredient cost ÷ price ex VAT.
- GP % = 100 − food cost %.
- Cash GP = price ex VAT − ingredient cost. This is what pays the wages, so look at the pounds as well as the percentage.
VAT: which rate is on the menu price
- Eaten in (restaurant, pub, café, your own outside tables): standard-rated, 20%.
- Hot takeaway: standard-rated, 20%.
- Cold takeaway food (a sandwich, a slice of cake to go): generally zero-rated, 0%. The same item eaten in is 20%.
- Alcohol and most soft drinks: 20% wherever they are drunk.
Source: HMRC VAT Notice 709/1, Catering, takeaway food. On the cost side most food you buy is zero-rated, but confectionery, crisps and savoury snacks, ice cream, most soft drinks and all alcohol carry 20% (HMRC VAT Notice 701/14, Food products). This is a summary, not tax advice; the notices have the detail and the exceptions.
Start from a costed dish
Every dish below is costed ingredient by ingredient from dated wholesale prices. Open one in the free recipe tool, type your own supplier prices over ours and the menu price updates.
Pub
- Fish and chips: £4.00 a portion
- Steak and ale pie with chips and peas: £2.84 a portion
- Sausage and mash with onion gravy: £1.56 a portion
- Beef lasagne with garlic bread: £2.26 a portion
- Scampi and chips: £1.98 a portion
- Ploughman's lunch: £2.52 a serve
- Hunter's chicken with chips and coleslaw: £1.85 a portion
- Apple crumble and custard: £0.77 a portion
Café
- Full English breakfast: £2.24 a serve
- Bacon roll: £0.68 a serve
- Beans on toast: £0.60 a serve
- Egg mayo sandwich: £0.57 a serve
- Chicken Caesar wrap: £1.39 a serve
- Fish finger bap: £1.23 a serve
- Porridge with honey: £0.40 a serve
- Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting: £0.49 a portion
The free tools
- Food cost and GP calculator and GP calculator.
- Recipe costing tool: batch, portion and menu price from pack prices.
- Ingredient yield chart: how much of a case is usable after prep, so your costings use the real cost of a usable kilo.
- Par level calculator and a free stock-take template.
Run a blog or a trade site?
You can put the food cost calculator on your own page for free with one line of code. See the embed page.
For colleges and courses · All costed dishes · Ingredient yields