Food cost

How food cost works

At the plate level, food cost is the sum of every ingredient in a dish at its purchase price, including the trim, garnish, and oil most operators forget. At the period level, it is the cost of goods sold across a week or month, calculated as beginning inventory plus purchases minus ending inventory.

Food cost is the foundation every price and margin sits on. Get it wrong and every downstream number is wrong with it.

• Plate food cost — the ingredient cost of one menu item
• Period food cost — total ingredient spend over a date range
• Always include trim, waste, and garnish, not just the headline protein