Free tool from HTI India

Food Cost Calculator

Find out how much of your menu price is going into ingredients — and whether you are actually making money on a dish.

Ingredient cost ÷ Menu price × 100 = your food cost %
Step 1 of 2

List what goes into one plate

A butter chicken is filled in as an example. Change it, or clear it and add your own.

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You buy in kilos but cook in grams — work out the cost of what you used

Say you buy chicken at ₹400 a kilo but only use 250 g in the dish. You need the cost of that 250 g, not the whole kilo. Answer three questions and this works it out for you.

  2. ₹

250 g of this costs you ₹100.00

Total cost of ingredients for one plate —
Step 2 of 2

Pick what you want to find out

Two different ways to use the same recipe. Tap one.

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Use the price before GST.

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Add ingredients and a price to begin.
Ingredients Left for you 35% limit
Ingredients cost you
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You charge
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Left on every plate
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What counts as a good food cost?

Under 25%

Very profitable. Check your portions are not too small.

25–35%

The normal, healthy range for most restaurants.

35–40%

Tight. Watch your wastage and supplier rates.

Over 40%

You are barely making money on this dish.

Frequently asked questions

It is the money you spend on ingredients, shown as a share of what you charge. If a dish costs you ₹120 to make and you sell it at ₹400, your food cost is 30%. The other 70% pays for staff, rent, gas, electricity and your profit.

No. Food cost is only the ingredients. Gas, salaries and rent are separate costs and are counted differently. Keeping them out is what makes this number useful to compare dish to dish.

Without GST. GST is not your money — you collect it and pass it on. Using the price with GST will make your food cost look better than it really is.

You have four levers. Buy better: negotiate rates or change supplier. Waste less: check trimming, spoilage and over-portioning. Portion tighter: weigh instead of guessing. Or raise the price. Most kitchens find the fastest win in wastage, not in price.

No. Everything stays in your browser. Nothing is stored and nothing is sent anywhere. Close the page and it is gone.

Your team can learn to do this every single day

HTI trains kitchen and restaurant teams in costing, portion control and wastage — on your property, in your language.

Speak with our team