How to cost a dish: a UK chef's worked example
Benn Asaraf ·
Most chefs know what the steak costs. Very few know what the plate costs. The gap is the oil, the butter, the sauce and the garnish. On a busy menu that gap is real money.
Costing a dish is simple arithmetic. It just has to be done the same way every time.
The short answer
- Price every ingredient per gram, per millilitre or per unit.
- Multiply by the amount that actually goes on the plate.
- Add every line, including oil, salt, garnish and sauce.
- Cost sauces and stocks as sub-recipes first, then use them like an ingredient.
- Divide the plate cost by the menu price without VAT. That is your food cost %. GP is 100 minus that.
That is dish costing, plate costing, cost per portion. Same job, different names.
Step 1: get a price per gram
Your invoice says £36.00 for a 2 kg bag. The recipe says 80 g. Neither number helps until you convert.
Divide the pack price by the pack weight. £36.00 / 2,000 g = £0.018 per gram. Do this for every line.
Use the price you actually paid, from the last invoice. Not the price list from March. Brakes, Bidfood and your local veg supplier all move prices week to week.
Food is mostly zero-rated for VAT in the UK, so invoice prices for raw ingredients are usually the real cost. Alcohol and some items carry VAT. If you are VAT-registered, cost them ex-VAT too.
Step 2: price what you can use, not what you bought
A whole strip loin is not 100% steak. You trim fat, sinew and the chain. If 20% goes in the bin or the stock pot, your real cost per kilo is higher.
Bought at £18.00/kg with 20% trim: £18.00 / 0.80 = £22.50 per usable kilo.
Skip this and every steak looks 90p cheaper than it is. The full method is in yield and waste.
Step 3: cost the sauce as a sub-recipe
You don't buy peppercorn sauce by the portion. You make a batch. So cost the batch, then divide by what it yields.
| Ingredient | Amount | Price | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Double cream | 600 ml | £4.50 per litre | £2.70 |
| Beef stock (own, costed) | 400 ml | batch cost | £1.50 |
| Brandy | 50 ml | £20.00 per 70 cl | £1.43 |
| Shallots | 100 g | £2.50 per kg | £0.25 |
| Peppercorns | to taste | £0.12 | |
| Batch total | £6.00 |
It reduces to 800 ml. £6.00 / 800 ml = £0.0075 per ml. A 60 ml portion costs £0.45.
Use the finished yield, not the raw volume. Divide by 1,050 ml and you understate every portion.
Worked example: steak frites, peppercorn sauce
A pub or bistro classic. 200 g sirloin, skin-on chips, peppercorn sauce, watercress. On the menu at £22.00.
| Ingredient | On the plate | Usable price | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sirloin (after trim) | 200 g | £22.50 per kg | £4.50 |
| Maris Piper chips | 300 g | £0.60 per kg | £0.18 |
| Frying oil | 25 ml | £32.00 per 20 L | £0.04 |
| Peppercorn sauce | 60 ml | £0.0075 per ml | £0.45 |
| Watercress | 20 g | £8.00 per kg | £0.16 |
| Butter for basting | 10 g | £8.00 per kg | £0.08 |
| Salt and pepper | pinch | £0.02 | |
| Plate cost | £5.43 |
Now the menu price. £22.00 includes 20% VAT. That VAT is not yours.
- Price ex-VAT: £22.00 / 1.20 = £18.33
- Food cost %: £5.43 / £18.33 = 29.6%
- GP: 100 − 29.6 = 70.4%
That sits inside the 65–72% GP most UK kitchens aim for on food. For more on targets, read what GP to aim for.
Three mistakes that make the numbers lie
Dividing by the VAT-inclusive price
£5.43 / £22.00 = 24.7%. That reads as 75.3% GP. It looks five points better than it is. HMRC takes the difference. The full explanation is in GP and VAT.
Costing only the protein
The steak alone is £4.50. On the ex-VAT price that is 24.5% food cost. The extras add almost a pound and five points. Oil, butter, salt and garnish feel like nothing per plate. Over 300 covers a week they are not nothing.
Using old prices
Cream went up. Brandy went up. The recipe card still says 2024. Re-cost when a supplier price moves, not once a year.
Cost per portion vs batch dishes
Some dishes are made in a tray, not per plate. Braises, lasagne, terrines. Cost the whole tray, then divide by the portions you actually cut.
If you plan 12 portions and cut 10, you divide by 10. The two you lost to edges and staff tasting are part of the cost.
What to do this week
- Pick your three best-selling dishes.
- Pull this week's invoices for every ingredient in them.
- Cost each one as above, sauces as sub-recipes.
- Divide by the ex-VAT price. Check the GP.
- Anything under 65%: look at portion, price or supplier.
To check a single dish fast, put the plate cost and menu price into the free GP calculator. It strips the VAT and shows the price you'd need for your target GP.
If you cost from invoices, there's a full walk-through in cost a dish from a supplier invoice. That's the job I built Mise n' Price for. Photograph one invoice and the prices fill in. Each recipe shows cost per portion and GP, with yield, sub-recipes and VAT handled. It's in closed beta, free until 13 December.