Ideal food cost
Also called: target food cost
Ideal food cost is the weighted food cost percentage your menu produces when every dish is made to spec — recipe costs weighted by how much of each dish you actually sell. It's your floor. Actual food cost can only be higher, and the distance between them is your variance.
Formula
Ideal food cost % = Σ(plate cost × units) ÷ Σ(menu price × units) × 100
Worked example · Four dishes, one week
- Burger — 220 sold, $4.20 cost, $15.00 price
- cost $924 · sales $3,300
- Salad — 140 sold, $2.10 cost, $13.00 price
- cost $294 · sales $1,820
- Salmon — 95 sold, $8.45 cost, $29.00 price
- cost $803 · sales $2,755
- Pasta — 180 sold, $2.90 cost, $19.00 price
- cost $522 · sales $3,420
- Totals
- cost $2,543 · sales $11,295
- Ideal food cost
- 22.5%
It moves without you touching anything
Two forces change ideal food cost with no decision from the kitchen. Supplier prices move the numerator. Sales mix moves the weights — a week where the salmon sells unusually well raises your ideal food cost even though every plate was perfect.
That second one catches people out. Before concluding that a rising ideal food cost means a purchasing problem, check whether the menu mix shifted. Promotion, weather and a well-run special all move it.
Run the numbers
Ideal vs. actual variance calculator
The guide that works it through
Ideal vs. Actual Food Cost: Where the Variance Actually Hides
How to compute theoretical food cost from your POS mix, compare it against actual COGS, and work through the six causes of variance in the order that usually pays.
Related terms
Theoretical vs. actual food cost
Theoretical is what the recipes say you should have spent; actual is what inventory says you did. The gap is the whole story.
Menu mix (PMIX)
The share of total sales each menu item represents — the weights behind every menu-level average.
Food cost percentage
The share of a dish's menu price consumed by the ingredients on the plate.