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Cost & margin

Plate cost

By · Updated · Sources and editorial policy

Also called: plate costing · dish cost

Plate cost is the total ingredient cost of one served portion — protein, starch, vegetable, sauce, garnish, and anything else that leaves the kitchen on that plate. It is built from edible-portion costs, not invoice prices, so trim and yield loss are already inside the number.

Formula

Plate cost = Σ (EP cost per unit × quantity per portion)

EP = edible portion. Using the as-purchased price here leaves the trim and cooking loss out of the plate.

Worked example · Pan-seared salmon plate

Salmon fillet, 6 oz at $14.80/lb EP
$5.55
Fingerling potatoes, 5 oz at $2.20/lb
$0.69
Asparagus, 4 oz at $3.90/lb EP
$0.98
Beurre blanc, 1.5 oz sub-recipe
$0.71
Herb garnish + lemon
$0.22
Butter, oil, seasoning (Q factor)
$0.30
Plate cost
$8.45

At a $29 menu price this dish runs 29.1% food cost and contributes $20.55 per cover.

The four costs most recipe cards miss

  1. Yield loss. Skin, pin bones and trim come off before the salmon reaches the plate. Costing at the as-purchased price understates the plate by the full trim loss — measure it once and use the yield percentage.
  2. Sub-recipes. Stocks, sauces and compound butters have their own cost per ounce. Costing a sauce as "about fifty cents" is where a quarter-point of margin goes to die.
  3. The Q factor. Oil, butter, salt, pepper, and the bread service nobody rings in. Size the allowance from what those items cost you per cover — see Q factor.
  4. Sides and garnish. If the ticket says the entrée comes with fries, the fries are part of the plate cost even though they have their own line on the prep list.

How often to rebuild it

A plate cost is a snapshot of supplier prices on the day you built it. Proteins and produce move weekly; dry goods move seasonally. Rebuild whenever an ingredient in the recipe moves more than about 5%, and re-verify the whole menu at least quarterly.

Should plate cost include labor?

No. Plate cost is ingredients only. Labor is tracked separately and combined with food cost as prime cost, because kitchen labor doesn't scale per plate the way ingredients do.

What about the free bread and butter?

Either fold it into the Q factor across all entrées, or cost it as a line on the plates that receive it. What you cannot do is leave it out — a $0.40 bread service at 200 covers a week is $4,160 a year.

Plate costs that rebuild themselves.

Photograph your menu to start: Marji drafts each dish's recipe as an estimate for you to check. Once the quantities are reviewed and your invoice prices are in, a supplier price change recosts every plate that uses the ingredient and shows which ones crossed your target.

Cost my menu →

Run the numbers

Recipe cost calculator

Open it free →

The guide that works it through

Recipe Costing, Step by Step: Purchase Unit to Served Portion

Cost a recipe from supplier pack to served portion, with source dates, measured yields, a worked plate and explicit handling of missing ingredient costs.

Related terms

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