UK dish cost index 2026: what 40 pub, café and takeaway dishes really cost to make
Most "food cost" figures stop at the ingredients. This index adds the two costs kitchens feel but rarely price in: food that gets binned, and the minutes someone spends making the dish. 40 classic UK dishes, costed line by line from dated wholesale prices, set against a realistic UK menu price.
The short answer
Across the 32 dishes with a sample menu price, ingredients are a median 18% of the ex-VAT price. Add 5% waste and hands-on staff time and the median rises to 28%. For a typical menu dish, staff time is 32% of the real cost, and for 8 of the 32 the staff time costs more than the ingredients.
Key findings
- Simple dishes are labour, not food. Ploughman's lunch, Cheese and ham toastie, Chicken Caesar wrap, Fish finger bap, Flat white, Full English breakfast and others all cost more in staff time than in ingredients. Pricing them on ingredient cost alone undercharges.
- Batch cooking spreads the labour. Dishes made in a batch, such as a tray of cottage pie, carry far less staff cost per portion than anything made to order.
- The highest share of the menu price goes on Cheese and ham toastie (64% on food, waste and staff); the lowest is Macaroni cheese (12%).
- Recipe cost is not the food cost on your P&L. These are theoretical costs: the recipe made exactly to spec at wholesale prices. UK sites' actual food cost runs around 30–35% of net sales (UK GP benchmarks) once over-portioning, comps, staff food, spoilage and sales mix are in. The gap between the two is where most kitchens lose their margin.
- Food plus staff (prime cost) of 60–65% of sales is the ceiling many UK operators work to. Rent, energy, card fees and everything else come out of what's left.
Where staff time weighs most
- Porridge with honey: staff time is 56% of the real cost (£0.53 of £0.95)
- Flat white: staff time is 55% of the real cost (£0.53 of £0.96)
- Full English breakfast: staff time is 53% of the real cost (£2.65 of £5.00)
- Chicken Caesar wrap: staff time is 52% of the real cost (£1.59 of £3.05)
- Cheese and ham toastie: staff time is 52% of the real cost (£1.32 of £2.57)
The index
Per portion (per serve for single items). "Food share" is ingredients ÷ menu price ex VAT. "Food, waste + staff share" is the real cost ÷ menu price ex VAT. A dash means the dish isn't on one of PrepSheet's sample menus. Each dish name links to its full costing and sources. Download the table as CSV.
Pub and restaurant classics
| Dish | Ingredients | Waste 5% | Staff time | Real cost | Menu price ex VAT | Food share | Food, waste + staff share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 oz beef burger and fries batch of 10 | £2.82 | £0.14 | £0.79 | £3.75 | £12.92 pub | 22% | 29% |
| Apple crumble and custard batch of 12 | £0.77 | £0.04 | £0.66 | £1.47 | £6.25 pub | 12% | 23% |
| Beef lasagne with garlic bread batch of 10 | £2.27 | £0.11 | £1.06 | £3.44 | £12.46 restaurant | 18% | 28% |
| Chicken tikka masala with rice batch of 10 | £1.34 | £0.07 | £0.79 | £2.21 | £12.92 restaurant | 10% | 17% |
| Chickpea and spinach curry with rice (vegan) batch of 10 | £1.33 | £0.07 | £0.40 | £1.79 | £11.25 restaurant | 12% | 16% |
| Chilli con carne with rice batch of 10 | £1.85 | £0.09 | £0.53 | £2.47 | £11.63 restaurant | 16% | 21% |
| Cottage pie batch of 10 | £1.96 | £0.10 | £1.06 | £3.12 | — | — | — |
| Fish and chips batch of 10 | £4.04 | £0.20 | £1.06 | £5.30 | £11.25 pub | 36% | 47% |
| Hunter's chicken with chips and coleslaw batch of 10 | £1.85 | £0.09 | £0.40 | £2.34 | £13.29 pub | 14% | 18% |
| Macaroni cheese batch of 10 | £0.76 | £0.04 | £0.40 | £1.20 | £10.42 restaurant | 7% | 12% |
| Ploughman's lunch | £2.52 | £0.13 | £2.65 | £5.30 | £10.42 pub | 24% | 51% |
| Roast beef dinner batch of 10 | £3.45 | £0.17 | £1.19 | £4.81 | £15.79 pub | 22% | 30% |
| Roast tomato soup batch of 10 | £1.19 | £0.06 | £0.53 | £1.78 | £6.25 restaurant | 19% | 29% |
| Sausage and mash with onion gravy batch of 10 | £1.60 | £0.08 | £0.53 | £2.21 | £11.63 pub | 14% | 19% |
| Scampi and chips batch of 10 | £1.98 | £0.10 | £0.13 | £2.21 | £12.08 pub | 16% | 18% |
| Spaghetti bolognese batch of 10 | £1.82 | £0.09 | £0.53 | £2.44 | £12.08 restaurant | 15% | 20% |
| Steak and ale pie with chips and peas batch of 10 | £2.85 | £0.14 | £0.79 | £3.79 | £14.13 pub | 20% | 27% |
| Sticky toffee pudding batch of 12 | £0.87 | £0.04 | £0.66 | £1.57 | £6.25 pub | 14% | 25% |
| Sweet chilli sauce batch of 30 | £0.16 | £0.01 | £0.18 | £0.35 | — | — | — |
Café and breakfast
| Dish | Ingredients | Waste 5% | Staff time | Real cost | Menu price ex VAT | Food share | Food, waste + staff share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bacon roll | £0.68 | £0.03 | £0.53 | £1.24 | £3.29 café | 21% | 38% |
| Beans on toast | £0.60 | £0.03 | £0.53 | £1.16 | £4.58 café | 13% | 25% |
| Cheese and ham toastie | £1.18 | £0.06 | £1.32 | £2.57 | £4.00 café | 30% | 64% |
| Chicken Caesar wrap | £1.39 | £0.07 | £1.59 | £3.05 | £6.25 café | 22% | 49% |
| Egg mayo sandwich | £0.57 | £0.03 | £1.32 | £1.92 | — | — | — |
| Fish finger bap | £1.23 | £0.06 | £1.32 | £2.62 | £6.25 café | 20% | 42% |
| Flat white | £0.41 | £0.02 | £0.53 | £0.96 | £3.21 café | 13% | 30% |
| Full English breakfast | £2.24 | £0.11 | £2.65 | £5.00 | £9.58 café | 23% | 52% |
| Jacket potato with tuna mayo | £1.31 | £0.07 | £1.06 | £2.43 | £7.08 café | 18% | 34% |
| Porridge with honey | £0.40 | £0.02 | £0.53 | £0.95 | £4.13 café | 10% | 23% |
Takeaway
| Dish | Ingredients | Waste 5% | Staff time | Real cost | Menu price ex VAT | Food share | Food, waste + staff share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo chicken wings batch of 10 | £1.72 | £0.09 | £0.26 | £2.07 | £6.66 takeaway | 26% | 31% |
| Lamb doner kebab in pitta | £2.62 | £0.13 | £0.79 | £3.54 | £7.08 takeaway | 37% | 50% |
| Margherita pizza (12-inch) batch of 10 | £2.01 | £0.10 | £0.53 | £2.64 | £9.99 takeaway | 20% | 26% |
| Portion of chips batch of 10 | £0.40 | £0.02 | £0.05 | £0.47 | £2.92 takeaway | 14% | 16% |
| Southern fried chicken burger | £1.56 | £0.08 | £0.79 | £2.43 | £6.24 takeaway | 25% | 39% |
Bakery and cakes
| Dish | Ingredients | Waste 5% | Staff time | Real cost | Menu price ex VAT | Food share | Food, waste + staff share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting batch of 16 | £0.49 | £0.02 | £0.50 | £1.01 | £3.50 café | 14% | 29% |
| Chocolate brownies batch of 16 | £0.33 | £0.02 | £0.25 | £0.59 | — | — | — |
| Scones with jam and clotted cream batch of 12 | £0.80 | £0.04 | £0.44 | £1.28 | — | — | — |
| Victoria sponge batch of 12 | £0.37 | £0.02 | £0.66 | £1.05 | — | — | — |
Bar and drinks
| Dish | Ingredients | Waste 5% | Staff time | Real cost | Menu price ex VAT | Food share | Food, waste + staff share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gin and tonic | £1.23 | £0.06 | £0.53 | £1.82 | — | — | — |
| Vodka, lime and soda | £1.26 | £0.06 | £0.53 | £1.85 | — | — | — |
Method
- Ingredients: every line is pack price × (amount used ÷ pack size), from public UK wholesale and cash-and-carry pack prices checked on 7 September and 9 October 2026. Suppliers, products and pack sizes are listed on each dish's page.
- Waste: a flat 5% of the ingredient cost for trim, ends and the odd portion that gets binned. Your own waste may be higher or lower; measure it for a week.
- Staff time: hands-on minutes only (prep, assembly, plating), for the whole batch, divided by the portions it makes. Time a dish sits unattended in the oven or the pot is not counted, so this is a conservative figure. Costed at £12.71 an hour, the National Living Wage from April 2026, plus 25% for employer National Insurance, holiday pay and pension. Chefs on more than the minimum wage push the figure up.
- Menu price: the ex-VAT price PrepSheet uses for the dish on its sample pub, café, restaurant or takeaway menu, a realistic UK menu price. Prices in your area may be different. Shares are worked out on the ex-VAT price, the way UK gross profit is measured.
- Not included: rent, rates, energy, packaging, card and delivery-platform fees, or the cost of front-of-house staff.
Using this data
You're welcome to quote or chart these figures. Please credit "PrepSheet UK dish cost index 2026" with a link to this page. The table is also available as CSV, and every dish page shows its sources.
To cost your own dishes with your own prices, wages and waste, use the free food cost calculator (it has a "Labour per dish" line), the prime cost calculator, or open any dish in the recipe tool and change the numbers. For the GP benchmark behind the targets, see UK food cost and GP benchmarks.
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