How menu pricing actually works
The industry method is simple and unforgiving: menu price = full plate cost ÷ target food-cost percentage. A $4.36 plate at a 30% target prices at $14.53 — round to $14.50 and the dish carries its share of labor, rent, and profit. The two places operators go wrong are both on the cost side: pricing from the ingredient list without a Q factor (the oil, salt, garnish, and bread that never make it into recipes), and never re-costing after suppliers raise prices. A menu priced on last year's invoice costs is a slow leak with nice typography.
Food cost isn't the goal — contribution is
A 22% food-cost item that sells four times a week contributes less than a 34% item that sells forty. The percentage keeps the menu honest; the gross profit per plate times volume pays the rent. That's why the table above shows weekly contribution, and why the workbook's menu-engineering matrix sorts your menu by both popularity and margin before you decide what to promote or cut.
Frequently asked questions
Is this calculator really free?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is sent to a server, stored, or shared. Your inputs are saved locally on your own device so they're still there next visit.
What food-cost percentage should I target?
Quick service commonly runs 25–30%, casual full-service 28–35%, fine dining 30–40% (higher food cost, much higher check), pizza 20–30%, and bar programs 18–24%. The right target is the one that covers your labor and rent structure — the full breakdown is here.
What's a Q factor?
The quiet cost of everything that reaches the table without being on a recipe: cooking oil, seasoning, garnishes, condiments, the bread and butter. Untracked, it typically runs 5–12% of ingredient cost — which is exactly the margin many struggling menus are missing.
Should delivery-platform items be priced the same?
No. Marketplace commissions of 15–30% are a second food cost. Most operators run a separate delivery menu priced 20–30% higher, which is both allowed on the major platforms and the only arithmetic that survives the commission.