Tip: this prices the dish from food cost alone. Round to a menu-friendly number, then sanity-check it against what guests will happily pay.
Optional
Raise the price $21 (to $221) to hit your 28% target.
Estimates only. This prices from food cost — it doesn't set the final menu price for you. Adjust for perceived value, then check your prime cost and full P&L.
How to read your price.
How to use it
- Cost the dish: add up every ingredient that goes on the plate to get your plate cost.
- Pick the target food cost you want — most full-service kitchens use 28–32%.
- Read the suggested price:
plate cost ÷ target %. Optionally enter your current price to see the change. - Round to a menu-friendly number, then sanity-check it against what guests will happily pay.
Cost-plus is a floor, not a ceiling
Pricing from food cost guarantees the margin. It doesn't capture what guests will actually pay:
- Signature dishes can carry a higher price than the formula suggests — demand, not cost, sets the ceiling.
- Anchors & value items may run a higher food cost on purpose to drive footfall.
- Charm pricing — ฿199 reads very differently from ฿205 for the same margin.
Use the suggested price as your floor, then adjust for perceived value.
Price the menu, not just one dish.
Re-pricing one item is quick. Keeping every dish at target as supplier prices move is the hard part. Here's where to go next.
Food cost calculator
Already have a price? Check the food cost % and gross profit you keep on every plate.
Open the calculator →Automate it with Papaya Stock live
Recipe-level costing that flags when a dish drifts off its target food cost as supplier prices change.
See Papaya Stock →See Papaya pricing
POS, ordering, payments and stock control in one system. Start free, add what you need as you grow.
View plans →Good to know.
The numbers behind the number — and where this calculator stops.