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Food cost calculator.
Work out what a dish really costs you, what percentage of the menu price the ingredients take, and the price that keeps you profitable. All figures in AUD, GST-aware.
The calculator
Ingredients
Ingredients per plate
$7.50
GST on the sale
$2.18
Menu price excl. GST
$21.82
Food cost percentage
34.4%
Gross profit per plate
$14.32
Menu price for a 30% food cost
$27.50
Costs are what you pay ex-GST for ingredients only — not labour, rent or waste. Menu prices in Australia include GST, so this compares like with like.
What's a good food cost percentage?
Most Australian cafés, restaurants and bars aim for a food cost between 25% and 35%. Below 25% and you may be over-charging or under-portioning; above 35% and every price rise from your suppliers goes straight out of your margin.
The catch: your ingredient prices move. Meat, dairy, seafood and produce are repriced constantly, and a dish that costed at 28% last quarter can quietly become 36% this quarter — nobody raises the menu price, so the margin just disappears.