Menu pricing calculator
Menu pricing calculator: how to price menu items for profit
Cost a menu item from your supplier prices, including trim and waste, and get the menu price that hits your target food cost %. Built for restaurants, cafés and food trucks.
Free recipe cost calculator
Chicken alfredo pasta
Enter your price to see food cost % and profit.
The app keeps your ingredient prices. When butter goes up, every dish that uses it updates — no re-typing.
How to price menu items in 4 steps
- •Cost the plate: add up every ingredient from your current supplier prices, including trim and waste
- •Pick a target food cost % — most restaurants use 28–35%
- •Divide the plate cost by the target: $3.20 ÷ 0.30 = $10.67 minimum menu price
- •Round to a menu-friendly price ($10.95 or $11.50) and check it against what nearby places charge
Restaurant menu pricing strategies
Whatever strategy you use, re-cost your menu whenever supplier prices change. Most lost margin comes from menu prices set on last year’s ingredient costs.
- •Food cost % pricing — price = plate cost ÷ target %. Simple and the most common starting point
- •Gross profit pricing — make sure each plate earns enough cash (price − plate cost), not just a good percentage
- •Competitor pricing — check what similar places charge, then confirm your margin still works
- •Menu engineering — promote dishes with high profit and high sales; fix or remove low-profit, low-sales ones
- •Charm pricing — prices like $12.95 or $13 read as cheaper than $13.50
Keep your whole menu on target with the free app:
- ✓Home screen highlights dishes that are over your target food cost %
- ✓Filter dishes by On target and Over target
- ✓Update a supplier price once — every dish that uses it recalculates
- ✓No POS or inventory system needed — works on its own
- ✓A fraction of the price of meez or xtraCHEF
Common questions
How do you calculate a menu price?+
Divide the cost of one plate by your target food cost % as a decimal. A plate costing $3.20 at a 30% target should be on the menu for at least $10.67.
How does CostMyDish compare to meez or xtraCHEF?+
Tools like meez and xtraCHEF are built for multi-location groups with invoice scanning and integrations, often $75+ a month. CostMyDish is a focused phone app for recipe costing and margins: free to start and fast to learn.
How do I include waste and trim?+
Enter a waste % on the ingredient — for example 10% for chicken trim. The cost is divided by the usable share, so the plate cost reflects what you actually paid for.
What about food trucks and caterers?+
Same calculator and app. Cost combos, catering trays and single items, and add more than one way to sell the same recipe.
Free calculators
Ready to cost your next dish?
Download CostMyDish free on iPhone or Android. Type what you’re making, add ingredients with what you paid, and see your cost and a selling price in about 2 minutes.
Free plan: 5 dishes and 20 ingredients. No credit card.
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