What should my food GP be? UK targets and food cost %
Benn Asaraf ·
Every owner I have cooked for asked the same question at some point. "What's our GP?" Most chefs answer with a number they half remember. Here is the full answer.
The short answer
Aim for 65 to 75% GP on food. That is the same as a 25 to 35% food cost. Most UK kitchens sit between 65 and 72%.
Both numbers are worked on the price without VAT. Work them on the menu price and you fool yourself by a few points. More on that below, and in full in GP and VAT in the UK.
Food cost vs gross profit
They are two sides of one sum.
- Food cost % is what the ingredients cost, as a share of the price you take.
- GP % (gross profit) is what is left after the ingredients, as a share of the same price.
- Food cost % + GP % = 100%. A 30% food cost is a 70% GP.
UK chefs say GP. American sites say food cost percentage, plate cost or COGS. Same maths, other end.
GP is not profit. Wages, rent, energy and card fees all come out of it. That is why the target is so high.
How to calculate food cost percentage
- Cost the plate. Every ingredient, at the price you pay, after trim and waste.
- Take the menu price and remove VAT. At 20% VAT, divide by 1.2.
- Divide the plate cost by the ex-VAT price.
- Times 100. That is your food cost %.
- Take it away from 100. That is your GP %.
If the plate cost is guessed, every number after it is guessed too. How to cost a dish walks through step one properly.
A worked example
Braised lamb shoulder on the menu at £18.
| Step | Number |
|---|---|
| Menu price, inc VAT | £18.00 |
| Ex-VAT price (£18 ÷ 1.2) | £15.00 |
| Plate cost | £4.50 |
| Food cost (£4.50 ÷ £15.00) | 30% |
| GP | 70% |
| Cash GP per plate (£15.00 − £4.50) | £10.50 |
A 70% GP. Right in the middle of the range.
Now the common mistake. Divide £4.50 by £18 and you get 25%. That reads as a 75% GP. It is five points that were never yours. The £3 of VAT goes to HMRC, not into the till.
Going the other way works too. You want 70% GP on a £4.50 plate. Divide £4.50 by 0.30 to get £15.00 ex VAT. Times 1.2 gives £18.00 on the menu. The free GP calculator does this both ways.
Good gross profit margin for a restaurant in the UK
There is no single right number. It depends on what you sell and how you sell it. These are rough ranges, not rules.
| Kind of kitchen | Typical food GP |
|---|---|
| Pub kitchen, gastropub | 62–70% |
| Café, brunch | 65–70% |
| Casual restaurant | 65–72% |
| Fine dining, tasting menus | 70–75% or more |
| Pizza, pasta led | 72–78% |
Low GP is not always bad. A steak at 60% GP can still put £15 in cash on the pass. A soup at 80% might put £5. Cash per plate pays the bills, not percent. Keep both in view.
Dry GP and food GP
In pubs, "dry" means food and "wet" means drinks. Dry GP is food GP. Wet GP is drinks GP.
Keep them apart. Draught beer, wine and spirits all run at different margins to food. A blended figure hides a kitchen that is losing ground.
How to calculate gross profit for the whole restaurant
The plate maths tells you what should happen. The weekly maths tells you what did.
- Take net sales for the week, without VAT.
- Work out cost of sales: opening stock, plus purchases, minus closing stock.
- GP £ = net sales − cost of sales.
- GP % = GP £ ÷ net sales × 100.
An example week for food only:
| Line | Number |
|---|---|
| Food sales, inc VAT | £12,000 |
| Food sales, ex VAT (÷ 1.2) | £10,000 |
| Opening stock | £1,800 |
| Purchases, ex VAT | £3,400 |
| Closing stock | £1,900 |
| Cost of sales (1,800 + 3,400 − 1,900) | £3,300 |
| Food cost | 33% |
| Food GP | 67% |
Purchases go in without VAT too. Brakes, Bidfood and most veg suppliers show VAT as a separate line. Use the net figure.
If the plates say 70% and the week says 67%, the three points went somewhere. Waste, staff food, over-portioning, comps or a price rise you never costed in.
How to move your GP
Five levers. Most kitchens only pull one, the price.
- Portion. Weigh the protein for a week. Say the lamb goes out 20g heavy on a £24/kg cut. That is £0.48 a plate. Plate cost drops to £4.02. Food cost goes from 30% to 26.8%.
- Waste. Trim, shrinkage and the bin are part of the plate cost. Most recipe costs ignore them and come out low. Yield and waste shows how to put them back in.
- Price. Lamb from £18 to £19. Ex VAT it is now £15.83. Food cost goes from 30% to 28.4%. One pound, 1.6 points.
- Mix. Push the dishes that make the most cash per plate. Put them where the eye lands. Train the floor to sell them. More in menu pricing in the UK.
- Supplier. Check invoices against what you costed. Prices creep a few pence at a time. Nobody notices until the month end.
Common mistakes
- Working GP on the menu price with VAT still in it.
- Costing a dish once and never again. Butter moves. Your costing does not.
- Leaving out garnish, oil, salt, bread and butter. Small lines add up.
- Using buying weight, not usable weight, for meat, fish and veg.
- Chasing percent and killing a dish that makes good cash.
- Mixing wet and dry GP into one figure.
What to do this week
Pick your five best sellers. Cost each one properly, with today's invoice prices. Remove VAT from the menu price. Work out food cost % and GP for each. Anything under 65% gets a look at portion and waste first, price second.
Then do the weekly stock sum and compare it to the plates. The gap tells you where to look.