Annual report · 2024
The year in restaurant food costs: 2024.
The tracked basket rose 7.6% across 2024 — 100.0 in January to 107.6 in December, on a base of 2024-01 = 100. Every figure below is measured: all twelve months of 2024 are published for all ten series.
Free to quote with a link. Recomputed from current BLS data rather than frozen, so a Bureau revision moves these numbers — that is the published revision policy, and the URL is permanent either way.
December 2024
107.6
Base 2024-01 = 100
- Jan → Dec 2024
- +7.6%
- Dec 2023 → Dec 2024
- not available
- Since base (2024-01)
- +7.6%
High 107.6 in Dec, low 99.5 in May.
December 2023 is not published, so the December-on-December comparison is shown as not available rather than as zero.
2024 · twelve months
The line covers 2024 only. The full series is on the live index.
What moved 2024
January to December, in index points. Contributions sum to the year's move, so basket weight matters as much as the percentage: a 20%-weighted commodity up 5% moves the index more than a 6%-weighted one up 12%.
| Commodity | Basket weight | Jan 2024 | Dec 2024 | Change | Index points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eggs · grade A, dozen | 7% | $2.52 /dozen | $4.15 /dozen | +64.4% | +4.51 |
| Ground beef · 100%, lb | 20% | $5.03 /lb | $5.61 /lb | +11.4% | +2.29 |
| Coffee · ground roast, lb | 6% | $6.12 /lb | $6.78 /lb | +10.6% | +0.64 |
| Tomatoes · field grown, lb | 9% | $2.15 /lb | $2.07 /lb | −3.7% | −0.33 |
| Bacon · sliced, lb | 7% | $6.61 /lb | $6.92 /lb | +4.6% | +0.32 |
| Milk · whole, gallon | 8% | $3.96 /gal | $4.10 /gal | +3.6% | +0.29 |
| Cheddar · natural, lb | 12% | $5.72 /lb | $5.62 /lb | −1.8% | −0.22 |
| Butter · grade AA, lb | 7% | $4.66 /lb | $4.73 /lb | +1.5% | +0.10 |
| Flour · all-purpose, lb | 8% | $0.55 /lb | $0.55 /lb | −1.1% | −0.09 |
| Chicken breast · boneless, lb | 16% | $4.09 /lb | $4.10 /lb | +0.4% | +0.07 |
US city averages, not wholesale quotes — see the series identifiers and weights.
What 2024 did to a plate
The year's biggest movers, costed on the representative portions published on their ingredient pages. Ingredient cost only — the rest of the plate and the labour behind it are yours. The right-hand column is that per-plate change held at the same portion's weekly volume for a full year.
| Dish | Costed on | Jan 2024 | Dec 2024 | Per plate | A year at that volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two-egg breakfast | 2 eggs · eggs · 240/wk | $0.42 | $0.69 | +$0.27 | +$3,378 |
| House burger | 6 oz patty · ground beef · 412/wk | $1.89 | $2.10 | +$0.22 | +$4,620 |
| Drip coffee (12 oz) | 0.5 oz · coffee · 820/wk | $0.19 | $0.21 | +$0.02 | +$869 |
| Burger garnish (2 slices) | 2 oz · tomatoes · 412/wk | $0.27 | $0.26 | −$0.01 | −$212 |
Portions and weekly covers are the representative figures published on the ingredient pages, not measurements of any real restaurant. Run the same arithmetic on your own portion.
Citing 2024
Marji Restaurant Food Cost Index, December 2024: 107.6 (2024-01 = 100). https://marji.co/food-cost-index/year/2024
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