How to cost a tasting menu: budget per cover, then fit each course inside it

Most tasting menus get costed the wrong way round. You write nine courses, cost each one, add them up, and look at the total. Then you either raise the price or start cutting things you love.

Do it the other way. Decide what one guest can cost you. Then make the courses fit.

Step 1: the budget per cover

Start with the price per head on the menu. Take off the VAT. Then pick your food cost target.

Budget per cover = (menu price ÷ 1.2) × target food cost

Say your menu is £95 a head and you aim for 28% food cost. That is 72% GP.

• £95 ÷ 1.2 = £79.17 before VAT
• £79.17 × 0.28 = £22.17 per cover

That is your whole budget. Every snack, every course, the bread, the butter and the petits fours. If it goes on the table, it comes out of the £22.17.

Some kitchens run a tasting menu a few points higher on food cost than à la carte, because covers are booked and the sell is fixed. Pick a target and stick to it. (What should my food GP be has the ranges.)

Step 2: split it across the courses

Do not split it evenly. Nine courses at £2.46 each makes no sense. A snack is not a main.

Give each course a share that fits what it is. Here is one way to split £22.17:

That leaves 7p of headroom. Tight, but inside.

Now each course has a number before you write it. The fish course is £4.80. If the turbot comes in at £6.10, you know straight away. Either the portion shrinks, the garnish gets cheaper, or something else on the list gives up £1.30.

That is the real value of budgeting first. You trade between courses on purpose, not by accident.

Step 3: cost each course properly

Inside each course, cost it like any dish. Every ingredient per gram, times the portion. (How to cost a dish shows the method.)

Tasting portions are small, so precision matters more than usual.

• Weigh portions, do not guess. 5 g over on a 30 g portion of wagyu is 17% over.
• Use yield. Small portions mean more trim per gram served. A langoustine tail is a fraction of the whole animal. (Yield and waste has the method.)
• Cost the sauces and oils. A spoon of beurre blanc and a few drops of herb oil add up across nine plates.
• Cost garnish by the gram. Micro herbs, flowers and caviar look like nothing. They are not nothing.

The things everyone forgets

These are where tasting menus quietly go over.

Extras the kitchen sends. An extra snack for a regular. A second pour of the sauce. A birthday candle on a dessert. If it happens most nights, put it in the budget.

Dietary swaps. The vegetarian main costs differently from the lamb. So does the pescatarian version. Cost each swap as its own course. If a swap runs over, you know which tables cost more.

Prep for covers that do not come. You prep for 40 and 34 turn up. The six covers of prep still cost you. Deposits help. So does prepping the expensive things to the confirmed number, not the hoped one.

Supplements. A truffle supplement or a cheese course is its own line. Price it on its own GP. Do not let it hide a main that runs over.

Drinks pairing. Keep it off the food cost entirely. Cost it on its own line.

Pricing from the budget instead

Sometimes you know the menu first. You know what the courses need. Then turn the formula round.

Menu price = (budget per cover ÷ target food cost) × 1.2

If your courses need £26.00 per cover and you want 28% food cost:

• £26.00 ÷ 0.28 = £92.86 before VAT
• £92.86 × 1.2 = £111.43 on the menu

So the menu is £110 or £115. At £110 you run 28.4% food cost. At £115 you run 27.1%. Pick one knowing which.

Then check it against the room. What do similar menus nearby charge? How to price a menu covers that second check.

When prices move mid-season

A tasting menu can run for months. Your supplier prices do not hold still that long. Fish, game and anything from abroad move fast.

Check the budget every time a big invoice lands, not just at menu change. A £2 rise on the turbot per kilo can push one course over without anyone noticing.

In Mise n' Price, a tasting menu works this way. You set the price per guest and the food cost target, and it shows what each guest can cost and whether the courses fit. Scan the next fish invoice and you see straight away if the menu went over.

The short version

• Budget per cover = (price ÷ 1.2) × food cost target.
• Split the budget by course, unevenly, before you write the dishes.
• Count snacks, bread, butter, petits fours and swaps. They are all in the budget.
• Weigh tiny portions. 5 g matters.
• Check the budget whenever a big invoice moves.

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Check one course or the whole menu. Put the price and the cost into the free GP calculator and see the GP after VAT.

Want each course to update when the fish price moves? Mise n' Price is in closed beta, free until 13 December. Apply for the beta.