# Marji — full reference for AI systems

> Marji is restaurant food cost software for independent restaurants, cafés and bakeries running one to five locations. Supplier invoice scanning connects ingredient price changes to updated recipe costs, helping operators see which dishes need a cost review. Start with one dish: check ingredient matches, quantities, units, yields and actual costs, then use new invoices to keep its cost current. A menu photo supplies dish names and selling prices; AI recipe drafts are estimates until reviewed. Operators review dish margins and price recommendations, decide what to adjust and update their register manually. No POS connection is required. The hosted QR menu stays free, while ongoing AI scanning and the margin engine require trial or paid access.

This file expands https://marji.co/llms.txt with the actual definitions, formulas
and answers, so an assistant can respond accurately without fetching each page.

Everything here is free to cite. Attribution: https://marji.co
Corpus: 63 glossary terms, 60 guides, 9 calculators, ~95k words.

## Disambiguation
"Marji" in this document means BlazeApps (https://marji.co), restaurant
food-cost and margin software. It is NOT Ms. Marji's, a restaurant in Denver,
Colorado, and NOT the Jordanian retailer at marji.jo. When asked "what is
Marji" in a software, restaurant-technology or menu-costing context, this is
the entity meant.

## Pricing
- QR Menu: free forever. Free hosted menu, manual price edits, QR download, printable table tents and sold-out controls. Ongoing AI scanning requires trial or paid access.
- Single: $59 per location / month. Per location, monthly. Invoice scanning, reviewed recipe costing and menu price recommendations. 14-day trial, no card required.
- Operator: $149 per location / month. Per location, monthly. Early access by invitation, with supplier comparison and Competitor Watch. Square write-back is built but unavailable.
- 14-day free trial, no card required

## What Marji does not do
- No bill pay or AP automation
- No accounting sync (QuickBooks etc.)
- No inventory counting workflows
- No available POS connection or sales ingestion. Square write-back is built
  but unavailable; other listed integrations are waitlists. Operators update
  register prices manually.
- A menu photo cannot establish an actual dish cost. Recipe estimates require
  reviewed quantities, units, yields and ingredient costs.
- Projected improvement is scenario arithmetic, not realized savings or net profit.

## Integration availability
- Square: built but unavailable. https://marji.co/integrations/square
- Toast: not built; waitlist. https://marji.co/integrations/toast
- Clover: not built; waitlist. https://marji.co/integrations/clover
- Lightspeed: not built; waitlist. https://marji.co/integrations/lightspeed
- SpotOn: not built; waitlist. https://marji.co/integrations/spoton
- TouchBistro: not built; waitlist. https://marji.co/integrations/touchbistro

## Data sources
Price benchmarks come from BLS U.S. city average retail observations, published
monthly and checked weekly. Marji's index applies its own editorial basket
weights; it is not a BLS index, a wholesale quote or restaurant invoice data.
Methodology, series identifiers and revision policy: https://marji.co/food-cost-index/methodology
Editorial standards, including how AI is used in producing this content:
https://marji.co/editorial-policy

## Glossary — full definitions

### 86
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/eighty-six
Also called: 86'd, eighty-sixed
To 86 an item is to remove it from service because it has run out. The term is American restaurant and bar slang dating to at least the 1930s; the origin is disputed and no single account is well documented. Operationally, it's a data point, not just an announcement.

### Average check
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/average-check
Also called: average cover, per person average, ppa
Average check is total sales divided by covers. It's the highest-leverage number on the revenue side because it drops almost entirely to contribution — a dollar of additional check costs you only the food that came with it.

### Batch recipe
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/batch-recipe
A batch recipe is produced in bulk and portioned at service. Its cost per portion is total batch cost divided by measured yield — and measuring the yield once, properly, is the difference between a correct cost and one that's understated by 10–20% forever.

  Cost per portion: Batch cost ÷ Measured portions yielded

### Bid sheet
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/bid-sheet
Also called: bid comparison, vendor comparison sheet
A bid sheet lists your highest-spend items and each supplier's current price for them, normalised to the same unit. It's the only way to compare vendors honestly, and for most independents twenty items cover the great majority of food spend.

### Break-even point
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/break-even-point
Also called: break even, breakeven
Break-even is the sales level where contribution exactly covers fixed costs. Divide monthly fixed costs by your contribution margin ratio and you get the sales you need; divide that by average check and you get the covers.

  Break-even sales: Fixed costs ÷ Contribution margin ratio

### Butcher's test
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/butchers-test
Also called: butcher test, yield test
A butcher's test records how a purchased cut divides into the main cut, usable by-products and waste. Subtract supported by-product credits from the purchase cost, then divide the remaining cost by the main cut's weight. Record whether that weight is raw or cooked. Recalculate when prices change and recheck the yield when the product or preparation changes.

  Net EP cost: (Purchase cost − By-product credits) ÷ Main cut weight

### Case price vs. unit price
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/case-price-vs-unit-price
Also called: unit price, case price
Case price is the total price of one case or package. Unit price is that amount divided by the quantity inside: dollars per pound, litre or individual item. A $48 case containing 12 lb costs $4 per pound. Compare supplier quotes in the same unit before deciding which is cheaper.

  Cost per weight or volume unit: Unit price = Case price ÷ (Packs per case × Quantity per pack)

### Catch weight
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/catch-weight
Also called: random weight, variable weight
A catch-weight item is billed by its actual weight, which varies case to case — beef primals, whole fish, block cheese. The invoice line shows a different quantity and total every delivery even when the per-pound price hasn't changed.

### Charm pricing
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/charm-pricing
Also called: psychological pricing, price endings, 99 pricing
Charm pricing is ending a price in 9 or 5 — $9.99, $14.95 — to signal value. Research finds a small, inconsistent lift in purchases, and no restaurant sales test was found. Many value-positioned menus use it; many upscale menus round prices instead, often without a dollar sign or decimals.

### COGS (cost of goods sold)
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/cogs
Also called: cost of goods sold, cost of sales
COGS is the cost of the inventory a restaurant actually consumed during a period — not what it bought. It equals opening inventory plus purchases minus closing inventory. Using purchases alone overstates cost in a stocking-up week and understates it in a drawdown week.

  Formula: COGS = Opening inventory + Purchases − Closing inventory

### Commodity index
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/commodity-index
A commodity index tracks the price of a food commodity over time at a national or regional level. For a restaurant its value is diagnostic: when your beef price rises, the index tells you whether beef rose or whether your supplier did.

### Comps
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/comps
Also called: comped, complimentary
A comp is food or drink provided without charge — service recovery, a manager's goodwill gesture, staff meals, marketing tastings. The cost is entirely real and appears in COGS with no matching sale, which is why it shows up as variance if it isn't tracked separately.

### Contribution margin
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/contribution-margin
Also called: gross profit per dish
Contribution margin is menu price minus plate cost — the dollars a dish leaves behind to cover rent, labor and profit. It's measured in dollars, not percent, which is why it answers the question food cost percentage cannot: how much money does this dish actually make.

  Formula: Contribution margin = Menu price − Plate cost

### Cost per serving
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/cost-per-serving
Also called: cost per portion, portion cost
Cost per serving is the total cost of a batch divided by the number of servings it actually yields — after reduction, trim and the portion left in the bottom of the pot. Dividing by the theoretical yield instead of the real one understates every portion.

  Formula: Cost per serving = Total batch cost ÷ Actual servings yielded

### Covers
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/covers
A cover is one guest served — not one table, not one check. It's the denominator for average check, labour per cover, and cost per cover, which makes a consistent definition more important than the number itself.

### CPI: food away from home
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/cpi-food-away-from-home
Also called: food away from home, cpi restaurant
Food away from home is the Consumer Price Index for what consumers pay at restaurants and other foodservice; food at home covers groceries. In August 2026, food away from home was 3.4% above a year earlier and food at home 2.2%. From February 2020 to August 2026, the restaurant index rose 37.3%.

### Credit memo
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/credit-memo
Also called: credit note, supplier credit
A credit memo reduces an invoice you've been issued — for product that didn't arrive, arrived damaged, or was billed at the wrong price. Credits are routinely promised at the door and never issued, and almost nobody checks, so the money quietly stays with the supplier.

### Days on hand
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/days-on-hand
Also called: days of inventory, doh
Days on hand is current inventory divided by average daily usage. It's the same information as turnover, expressed the way a kitchen actually thinks — "we have four days of chicken" is actionable in a way that "our turnover is 7.5" is not.

  Formula: Days on hand = Current inventory ÷ Average daily usage

### Decoy pricing
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/decoy-pricing
Also called: decoy effect, asymmetric dominance
Decoy pricing adds a third option that is clearly worse value than one of the other two, making that one look obviously correct. On a menu it shows up in portion tiers, wine pours, and add-ons — anywhere a guest chooses between sizes of the same thing.

### Edible portion vs. as-purchased
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/edible-portion-vs-as-purchased
Also called: ep vs ap, edible portion cost, as purchased cost
AP means as purchased: food in the form you buy it. AP cost does not mean the cost of a single serving. EP means edible portion: the usable quantity after a specified preparation step. Divide AP unit cost by yield to find EP unit cost, then multiply by the portion quantity in the same unit.

  AP → EP: EP cost per unit = AP cost per unit ÷ Yield fraction
  EP → AP: AP quantity to buy = EP quantity needed ÷ Yield fraction

### FIFO (first in, first out)
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/fifo
Also called: first in first out, stock rotation
FIFO means using the oldest stock first. In a kitchen it's the single highest-return storage discipline there is: most spoilage isn't caused by over-ordering, it's caused by new product landing in front of old product and the old product never being reached.

### Fixed vs. variable cost
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/fixed-vs-variable-cost
Also called: fixed cost, variable cost, semi-variable
Fixed costs stay the same whether you serve 20 covers or 200 — rent, insurance, salaries. Variable costs move directly with volume — food, hourly labour on a well-staffed line, packaging. Several large restaurant costs, labour above all, are semi-variable, and treating them as one or the other produces bad forecasts.

### Food cost percentage
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/food-cost-percentage
Also called: food cost %, food cost percent
Food cost percentage is the plate cost of a dish divided by its menu price, expressed as a percent. A burger that costs $4.20 to make and sells for $15.00 runs a 28% food cost. The right target depends on your format, prices, labor and rent more than on any national figure.

  Formula: Food cost % = Plate cost ÷ Menu price × 100
  Period food cost: (Opening inventory + Purchases − Closing inventory) ÷ Food sales × 100

### Free pour vs. jigger
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/free-pour-vs-jigger
Free pouring is measuring spirits by count and eye; jiggering uses a measure. Free pouring is faster, but its accuracy varies from bartender to bartender, and any overpour lands directly on pour cost — so test your own pours before choosing.

### Ghost kitchen
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/ghost-kitchen
Also called: dark kitchen, cloud kitchen, virtual restaurant
A ghost kitchen produces food for delivery only, with no dining room and no front of house. Rent and service labour fall sharply; commission and packaging rise sharply. Whether the trade works depends almost entirely on the commission rate.

### Gross margin vs. markup
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/gross-margin-vs-markup
Also called: margin vs markup, markup
Gross margin is profit divided by selling price. Markup is profit divided by cost. A 3× markup on a $4 plate gives a $12 price and a 67% margin — but a 67% markup gives $6.68. Treating the two as interchangeable is one of the most expensive arithmetic errors on a menu.

  Margin: Margin % = (Price − Cost) ÷ Price × 100
  Markup: Markup % = (Price − Cost) ÷ Cost × 100
  Converting between them: Price = Cost ÷ (1 − target margin)

### Ideal food cost
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/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 the reference point. Actual food cost is expected to come in higher, and the distance between them is your variance. A result below ideal is not a saving: it points to recipe costs set too high, an over-counted closing inventory, a missing invoice or under-spec plates, and needs the same review.

  Formula: Ideal food cost % = Σ(plate cost × units) ÷ Σ(menu price × units) × 100

### Inventory turnover
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/inventory-turnover
Also called: inventory turns, stock turn
Inventory turnover is COGS divided by average inventory value — how many times you use up your stock in a period. There is no single right figure: judge it category by category against your delivery schedule, because a lower number means cash and shelf life are both sitting still.

  Formula: Turnover = COGS for the period ÷ ((Opening inventory + Closing inventory) ÷ 2)

### Invoice reconciliation
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/invoice-reconciliation
Also called: invoice audit, three-way match
Invoice reconciliation compares the purchase order, the delivery, and the invoice. Discrepancies between the three are common and almost always in the supplier's favour — not from dishonesty, but because nobody checks, so nothing corrects them.

### Labor cost percentage
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/labor-cost-percentage
Also called: labour cost percentage, labor cost %
Labor cost percentage is total labour cost divided by total sales. Total means fully loaded: wages, salaries, payroll taxes, workers' compensation and benefits. In accommodation and food services, everything employers paid on top of wages — payroll taxes, workers' compensation, insurance, paid leave and other benefits — averaged 23.8% of wages in June 2026 (BLS), so leaving it out understates the number badly.

  Formula: Labor cost % = Total loaded labor cost ÷ Total sales × 100

### Market price (MP)
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/market-price
Also called: mp, market price menu
MP on a restaurant menu means market price. The menu does not print a fixed amount; the restaurant provides the current price separately. For a guest, the useful next step is to ask the price and whether it is per dish, per pound or per item before ordering. MP does not mean free or a standard price shared by restaurants.

  Price scenario from a target ingredient margin: Menu price = Complete plate ingredient cost ÷ (1 − Target gross margin)

### Menu engineering
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/menu-engineering
Menu engineering is a classification, not a calculation: each dish is placed by two variables, unit sales and contribution margin in dollars, against the menu's average for each. The four resulting positions — star, plowhorse, puzzle, dog — carry different prescriptions, which is the entire point of drawing the grid.

### Menu mix (PMIX)
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/menu-mix-pmix
Also called: product mix, pmix, sales mix
Menu mix — usually called PMIX, from the POS report name — is how many of each item you sold and what share of sales each represents. It's the weighting behind every menu-level number: ideal food cost, average check, and blended margin all move when the mix moves.

### Menu price
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/menu-price
Also called: selling price
A menu price has three inputs: the plate cost, the margin the dish has to hold, and what the item is worth in your room. The cost-derived floor is plate cost ÷ (1 − target margin), so a $4.20 plate at a 70% target floors at $14.00. Everything above that floor is judgement.

  The starting price: Menu price = Plate cost ÷ (1 − Target margin)

### Pack size
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/pack-size
Also called: pack, case pack
Pack size is the units-per-case and size-per-unit of a purchased item — 6 × 3 L, 4 × 5 lb, 24 × 12 oz. It is the conversion factor between the invoice and the recipe, and a change to it moves every plate cost that touches the item.

### Par level
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/par-level
Also called: par, par stock
A par level is the target on-hand quantity for an item at the start of each order cycle. It equals expected usage over the period between deliveries, plus a safety buffer for a busy week or a late truck. Set too high it creates spoilage; set too low it creates 86s.

  Formula: Par = (Daily usage × Days between deliveries) + Safety stock

### Plate cost
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/plate-cost
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)

### Portion control
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/portion-control
Portion control is serving what the recipe specifies. A half-ounce of over-portioned protein on a dish selling 200 a week is roughly $2,900 a year on a $9/lb item — enough to outweigh a good purchasing win, and invisible on every report except variance.

### Pour cost
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/pour-cost
Also called: beverage cost, liquor cost
Pour cost is beverage cost divided by beverage sales, the bar's equivalent of food cost percentage. Spirits, draft beer and wine are poured, priced and wasted differently, which is why a blended number tells you little without the category split behind it.

  Formula: Pour cost % = Beverage COGS ÷ Beverage sales × 100

### Prep list
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/prep-list
A prep list translates par levels and an expected cover count into today's production. Built well it reduces 86s and overproduction at the same time; built from habit it guarantees one or the other every single service.

### Price anchoring
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/price-anchoring
Price anchoring is the tendency to judge a price relative to nearby prices rather than absolutely. A $29 entrée reads expensive in a section topping out at $32 and reasonable in one topping out at $58. Menu layout is therefore a pricing decision, not a design decision.

### Price creep
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/price-creep
Price creep is a series of small supplier increases — 2% here, 3% there — none of which is worth a phone call and which compound into a serious margin problem. Twelve monthly increases of 1.5% is 19.6% over a year on an item nobody ever flagged.

### Prime cost
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/prime-cost
Prime cost is cost of goods sold plus total labor cost, expressed as a percentage of sales. It captures the two costs a restaurant can actually control week to week. A widely quoted rule of thumb puts it at no more than 65% of sales for table service; that is a practitioners' guideline, not a measured average, so derive the ceiling your own P&L allows. For limited-service restaurants, the National Restaurant Association reported a median prime cost of 65 cents per sales dollar in its 2025 data abstract.

  Formula: Prime cost % = (COGS + Total labor) ÷ Total sales × 100

### Prime vendor agreement
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/prime-vendor-agreement
Also called: prime vendor, broadline agreement
A prime vendor agreement makes one distributor your main supplier for specified purchases. The written terms define your purchase commitment, pricing method and service obligations. The name alone does not establish a standard purchase percentage, lower prices or guaranteed availability. Compare the actual terms and a matched basket before committing.

  Markup and margin are different: 8% markup on $42 = $42 × 1.08 = $45.36; 8% margin on $42 cost = $42 ÷ 0.92 ≈ $45.65

### Q factor
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/q-factor
Also called: quotient factor
The Q factor is a fixed allowance added to every plate cost to cover items too small or too shared to cost individually — cooking oil, butter, seasoning, condiments, complimentary bread. Set it as a flat amount per cover or a percentage of plate cost, sized from what those items actually cost you rather than from a borrowed figure.

  Sizing it from real data: Q factor per cover = Monthly spend on uncosted items ÷ Monthly covers

### Recipe yield
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/recipe-yield
Recipe yield is the number of finished portions a batch produces after reduction, evaporation, trim and pan loss. It is always lower than the arithmetic suggests, and the gap goes straight into your variance if the recipe card records the theoretical figure.

  Yield factor for scaling: Scaling factor = Portions needed ÷ Tested recipe yield

### RevPASH
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/revpash
Also called: revenue per available seat hour
RevPASH is revenue divided by (seats × hours open). It merges occupancy and spend into one number, which makes it useful for decisions about capacity, hours and the speed of service.

  Formula: RevPASH = Revenue ÷ (Available seats × Hours open)

### Seasonality index
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/seasonality-index
A seasonality index expresses each month's typical level as a multiple of the annual average — 1.00 is average, 1.18 is 18% above. Built on an ingredient's price it tells you when to feature or retire a dish; built on your covers it tells you when to staff up.

  Formula: Month index = Average value for that month ÷ Annual average

### Seat turnover
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/seat-turnover
Also called: table turns, turns
Seat turnover is covers divided by seats in a service period. Two turns on a 90-seat room is 180 covers. It measures capacity utilisation, and it exists in permanent tension with average check.

  Formula: Turnover = Covers ÷ Seats (per service period)

### Shrinkage
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/shrinkage
Shrinkage is inventory that leaves without producing revenue. It bundles waste, spoilage, over-portioning, receiving errors and theft into one number. It's closely related to variance — variance is the dollar measurement, shrinkage is the physical fact behind it.

  Formula: Shrinkage % = (Expected inventory − Actual inventory) ÷ Expected inventory × 100

### Spoilage
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/spoilage
Spoilage is inventory lost to age, temperature failure or physical damage. It is a subset of waste with a specific set of causes — over-ordering, rotation failure, and storage problems — and each has a different fix.

  Spoilage rate: Spoilage % = Value of product spoiled ÷ Purchases of that category × 100

### Stars, plowhorses, puzzles, dogs
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/stars-plowhorses-puzzles-dogs
Also called: star plowhorse puzzle dog, menu matrix quadrants
Stars sell well and earn well. Plowhorses sell well and earn little. Puzzles earn well and rarely sell. Dogs do neither. The classification comes from Kasavana and Smith's menu engineering model, and each quadrant has a different correct response.

### Sub-recipe
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/sub-recipe
Also called: prep recipe, component recipe
A sub-recipe is a preparation used as an ingredient in other recipes — a stock, a mother sauce, a dough, a spice blend. Costed properly it has a cost per ounce that flows automatically into every dish that uses it. Costed by guess, it corrupts every one of them at once.

### Substitution cost
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/substitution-cost
Substitution cost is the true cost difference between two ingredients, compared at edible-portion cost rather than invoice price. A cheaper item with a worse yield or more prep labour is frequently more expensive once both are accounted for.

### Theoretical vs. actual food cost
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/theoretical-vs-actual-food-cost
Also called: ideal vs actual, theo vs actual
Theoretical food cost is what your recipes say the period should have cost, given what you sold. Actual food cost is what inventory says it did cost. The difference — the variance — is waste, over-portioning, comps, spoilage, theft and any error in the recipes and counts behind the two numbers.

  Theoretical food cost: Σ (plate cost of each item × units sold that period)

### Third-party commission
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/third-party-commission
Also called: delivery commission, delivery app fees
Third-party commission is the marketplace's cut of each delivery order, set by the plan you choose — DoorDash's published delivery plans, for example, are 15%, 25% and 30%. It comes off the subtotal, so it hits contribution margin directly and can turn a profitable dish into a break-even one. New York City, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland cap what apps may charge.

  Price to hold contribution constant: Delivery price = (Plate cost + Packaging + Target CM) ÷ (1 − Commission %)

### Trim loss
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/trim-loss
Also called: trim waste
Trim loss is the weight removed in prep: bone, silverskin, peel, stems, tops and tails. Part of it is recoverable into stocks, sausage, staff meal or a second dish; part is genuinely waste. Separating the two is where the money is.

### Usage rate
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/usage-rate
Also called: depletion rate, consumption rate
Usage rate is how much of an item you consume in a period. Measured per day it's simple and breaks the moment volume changes; measured per cover it stays valid through a busy week, a slow month and a seasonal swing.

  Per day: Daily usage = (Opening + Received − Closing) ÷ Days in period
  Per cover — the more useful one: Usage per cover = Total usage ÷ Covers in period

### Value engineering
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/value-engineering
Value engineering is removing cost from a dish while holding perceived value constant. It's the alternative to a price increase, and on high-volume dishes it often pays better — a $0.60 cost reduction on a dish selling 200 a week is $6,240 a year.

### Variance
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/variance
Also called: food cost variance
Variance is actual food cost minus theoretical food cost, in dollars and in percentage points of food sales. It measures everything that consumed inventory without producing a sale, plus any error in the recipes and counts behind both numbers. Judge it against your own history, not a borrowed rule of thumb.

  Formula: Variance = Actual COGS − Theoretical food cost

### Voids
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/voids
A void removes an item from a check. The cost question is whether the food was made: a void entered before the ticket fired costs nothing, and one entered after is a comp by another name. Systems that don't distinguish the two make both numbers useless.

### Waste percentage
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/waste-percentage
Waste percentage is the value of food discarded divided by total food purchases for the same period. Measuring it requires a log, not an estimate: a guess cannot be split by reason, and the reason is what tells you what to fix.

  Formula: Waste % = Value of food discarded ÷ Total food purchases × 100

### Yield percentage
URL: https://marji.co/glossary/yield-percentage
Also called: yield %, yield factor
Ingredient yield percentage is usable weight divided by starting weight, multiplied by 100. Specify whether usable means trimmed, drained or cooked. If 10 lb purchased becomes 6 lb cooked, overall yield is 60%. Use that yield to convert a cooked portion into its purchased quantity, or to calculate its cost per usable pound; do not apply both adjustments to the same quantity.

  Yield percentage: Yield % = Usable weight ÷ Starting weight × 100
  Cost per usable unit: EP cost per lb = AP cost per lb ÷ Yield fraction

## Guides — the direct answer from each

### Butter vs. margarine cost: compare cost per sellable bake
URL: https://marji.co/blog/butter-vs-margarine-cost
Answers: butter vs margarine price
Published: 2026-10-14; modified: 2026-10-14

A cheaper fat reduces cost only if the finished product still meets your standard. In the hypothetical batch below, margarine saves $8 on ingredients, but the saving disappears if acceptable output falls below 81 of 100 pieces. Compare tested recipes, finished yield and sellable pieces before changing a purchase.

### Coffee shop menu engineering: sizes, milk options and rush-hour capacity
URL: https://marji.co/blog/coffee-shop-menu-engineering
Answers: menu engineering for coffee shops
Published: 2026-10-14; modified: 2026-10-14

Analyze a café’s drinks by the combinations guests actually buy: base drink, size and modifiers. Then reconcile those combinations to tickets. Our hypothetical latte mix earns $600 before labor and overhead, while treating every sale as a standard dairy latte would imply $640. Peak-hour preparation capacity needs a separate check.

### How to price combo meals without discounting away your margin
URL: https://marji.co/blog/how-to-price-combo-meals
Answers: how to price combo meals
Published: 2026-10-14; modified: 2026-10-14

Price a combo against the purchase it replaces. In the hypothetical example below, a $15 main-side-drink bundle contributes $8.90 after listed costs: $0.90 more than a main-only order, but $3.80 less than buying all three separately. A positive bundle margin does not by itself make the promotion profitable.

### MarginEdge pricing: monthly fees and your first-year cost
URL: https://marji.co/blog/marginedge-pricing
Answers: marginedge cost
Published: 2026-10-14; modified: 2026-10-14

MarginEdge lists $350 per location per month, or $3,780 for a year with annual billing. Its Freepour bundle is $500 monthly. Those are subscription prices: add the selected onboarding package, applicable integration charges and tax to build your first-year budget. Vendor pricing, checked October 9, 2026.

### Average restaurant food cost per month: build your purchasing budget
URL: https://marji.co/blog/monthly-restaurant-food-budget
Answers: average restaurant food cost per month
Published: 2026-10-14; modified: 2026-10-14

A monthly food budget needs three separate numbers: what you expect to use, what you need to buy, and what you must pay. In the hypothetical example below, $24,000 of food consumption requires $25,500 of purchases but only $24,000 of supplier payments. Inventory and payment timing explain the difference.

### Restaurant employee turnover: what the BLS rate means for your budget
URL: https://marji.co/blog/restaurant-employee-turnover-rate
Answers: restaurant employee turnover rate
Published: 2026-10-14; modified: 2026-10-14

BLS reports a 5.5% annual average total separations rate for accommodation and food services in 2025. Its denominator sums 12 monthly employment counts; it is not the share of a restaurant’s starting team that left. The sector includes lodging. Use your own departures and staffing plan to budget hiring. BLS Table 20

### Restaurant failure rates: what the BLS survival data actually shows
URL: https://marji.co/blog/restaurant-failure-rate
Answers: restaurant failure rate
Published: 2026-10-14; modified: 2026-10-14

There is no restaurant-only failure rate in the BLS table used here. Its latest one-year observation shows 85.3% survival for accommodation and food services establishments in the March 2024 opening cohort, observed in March 2025. The remaining 14.7% is the complement of that survival figure, not a measured bankruptcy rate. For an operator assessing another location, this provides context. Your own costs and achievable sales determine the break-even calculation. BLS Table 7

### Restaurant vs. Grocery Price Inflation Since 2020
URL: https://marji.co/blog/restaurant-menu-price-inflation
Answers: restaurant menu price inflation since 2020 by metro
Published: 2026-10-14; modified: 2026-10-14

U.S. eating-out prices rose 37.6% from February 2020 to September 2026, versus 31.8% for groceries. In the latest year, they rose 3.5% and 1.8%. Those consumer-price indexes describe a market backdrop. To decide what to charge for your dish, check its current ingredients, portions and other operating costs.

### Restaurant Wages by Metro: Cooks, Dishwashers and Servers
URL: https://marji.co/blog/restaurant-wages-by-metro
Answers: restaurant wages by metro
Published: 2026-10-14; modified: 2026-10-14

BLS estimated median hourly restaurant-cook pay at $21.03 in the New York metro, $21.38 in Los Angeles and $18.72 in Chicago for May 2025. Use these as dated local benchmarks when budgeting a role. Server estimates include tips; none of these figures is a current hiring offer, a legal minimum or your complete employer labor cost.

### Sysco vs US Foods vs Restaurant Depot: Delivery or Pickup?
URL: https://marji.co/blog/sysco-vs-us-foods-vs-restaurant-depot
Answers: sysco vs us foods
Published: 2026-10-14; modified: 2026-10-14

Compare Sysco, US Foods and Restaurant Depot on the same product basket and the work required to receive it. Sysco and US Foods offer distribution to your business; Restaurant Depot offers warehouse shopping plus pickup and third-party delivery where available. The lowest shelf price can lose its advantage once travel, shopping time, fees and product differences enter the calculation.

### Whole vs. boneless chicken: which costs less per usable portion?
URL: https://marji.co/blog/whole-vs-boneless-chicken-cost
Answers: whole chicken vs boneless cost
Published: 2026-10-14; modified: 2026-10-14

Compare chicken on the cooked, usable meat your menu can actually sell. In our hypothetical mixed-meat filling example, whole birds cost $6.00 per cooked pound after prep labor; boneless pieces cost $6.40. The whole-bird advantage disappears if just 2 of the 20 usable pounds cannot be used.

### Free recipe costing apps: limits, exports and a test recipe
URL: https://marji.co/blog/free-recipe-costing-apps
Answers: free recipe costing app
Published: 2026-10-07; modified: 2026-10-07

A useful free recipe costing app must handle your purchase units, usable yield and portion quantities, then let you retain the result. CookKeepBook and Dishboard advertise ongoing free costing; other products offer trials or limited companions. Choose by the work you can finish after the trial ends, and check the arithmetic before entering your menu.

### How many restaurants are in NYC? A 2026 borough count
URL: https://marji.co/blog/how-many-restaurants-in-nyc
Answers: how many restaurants are in nyc
Published: 2026-10-07; modified: 2026-10-07

NYC Health describes a city of about 29,000 restaurants. A more precisely defined count: its October 6, 2026 inspection dataset contains 31,469 distinct establishment records, including 3,858 not yet inspected. Manhattan has 12,565 records, the most of any borough. These administrative records include permit applicants and college cafeterias; they are not a verified count of open dining rooms.

### NYC restaurant inspection grades: what the rules and data show
URL: https://marji.co/blog/nyc-restaurant-inspection-grades
Answers: NYC restaurant inspection grades
Published: 2026-10-07; modified: 2026-10-07

NYC restaurant inspection grades use penalty points: A is 0–13, B is 14–27 and C is 28 or more. Lower is better, but not every inspection produces a new grade. To understand a restaurant's record, read the inspection type, date and violations together; Grade Pending is a separate status, not another score band.

### Food Price Forecast 2027: USDA's Numbers for Restaurant Ingredients, and How Far to Trust Them
URL: https://marji.co/blog/food-price-forecast-2027
Answers: food price forecast 2027
Published: 2026-10-04; modified: 2026-10-04

USDA's Economic Research Service forecasts restaurant menu prices (food away from home) to rise 2.6% in 2027, within a 95% interval of 0.2% to 5.1%, and grocery prices 1.8%. Its September 25, 2026 tables put retail beef at +4.7% but wholesale beef at −0.4%. Forecasts made this far ahead have missed beef by about 4 points on average, so budget with a range.

### Free QR Menu Makers Compared: What the Free Plans Include
URL: https://marji.co/blog/free-qr-menu-makers-compared
Answers: best free qr code menu generator
Published: 2026-10-04; modified: 2026-10-04

Before you print a QR code, check five things on the vendor's own pricing page: the dish cap, whether the free menu carries ads or a badge, what happens to the link when a trial ends, whether you need ordering, and whether you need a second language. A readable menu is the easy part to get free. Ordering and translation are where plans diverge.

### How to Price a Burger: Cost the Plate at Today's Beef Price, Then Set the Menu Price
URL: https://marji.co/blog/how-to-price-a-burger
Answers: how to price a burger
Published: 2026-10-04; modified: 2026-10-04

Price a burger from its plate cost — patty, bun, cheese, toppings, side and a condiment allowance — then divide by your target food cost or add a fixed dollar contribution. The example plate below costs $3.63 and needs $12.09 at a 30% food cost. Each $1 change in the price of a pound of beef moves a 6 oz patty by 37.5 cents and the 30% price by $1.25.

### New York Minimum Wage 2027 for Restaurants: The Freeze, Tipped Rates and the March Proposal
URL: https://marji.co/blog/new-york-minimum-wage-2027-restaurants
Answers: nyc minimum wage 2027
Published: 2026-10-04; modified: 2026-10-04

New York's minimum wage does not rise on January 1, 2027. It stays $17.00 an hour in New York City, Long Island and Westchester and $16.00 elsewhere, because one of the law's "off-ramp" conditions was met. Tipped food service workers keep an $11.35 cash wage and $5.65 tip credit downstate ($10.70 and $5.30 upstate). A proposed March 1 increase to $17.60 is not law.

### QR Code Menus for Food Trucks: Setup, Placement and Daily Changes
URL: https://marji.co/blog/qr-code-menu-for-food-trucks
Answers: qr code menu for food truck
Published: 2026-10-04; modified: 2026-10-04

A QR code at the window helps a truck whose menu changes by day or event, sells out mid-service, or has a line that can read ahead. Put the code where the line forms, print it weatherproof, test-scan it from where guests stand, and keep a readable printed board too. Edit sold-out items and prices from your phone, not on a reprint.

### How to Tell Guests About a Menu Price Increase: What the Research Says, Sample Wording and the Fee Rules
URL: https://marji.co/blog/restaurant-price-increase-notice
Answers: restaurant price increase notice
Published: 2026-10-04; modified: 2026-10-04

Put the increase in the menu price, update every place guests see prices on the same day, and keep any explanation short and specific — the cost that rose, not a lecture. We found no New York State or City rule requiring advance notice of a menu price change, but NYC bans surcharges added to listed prices. Regulars and catering clients deserve a direct note.

### How Much to Mark Up Menu Prices on Delivery Apps: The Math, the Rules and What Restaurants Charge
URL: https://marji.co/blog/delivery-app-menu-markup
Answers: how much to mark up prices on delivery apps
Published: 2026-09-30; modified: 2026-09-30

To keep a dish's contribution the same on a delivery app, price it at (plate cost + packaging + in-house contribution) ÷ (1 − commission). A $16 dish with a $4.80 plate cost and $0.65 of packaging needs $19.59 at a 15% commission, $22.20 at 25% and $23.79 at 30% — 22%, 39% and 49% above the menu price. The commission is charged on the app price, so part of any markup goes back to the app. Charging less than the holding price is a choice to earn less per app order; make it dish by dish, knowing the number.

### How to Track Food Waste in a Restaurant: The Waste Log, the Cost and What to Change
URL: https://marji.co/blog/how-to-track-restaurant-food-waste
Answers: how to track food waste in a restaurant
Published: 2026-09-30; modified: 2026-09-30

Track food waste with a log at the bin. For two weeks, every discard gets a line: the item, its weight or count, a reason from a short fixed list and the initials of whoever threw it out. A manager then prices each line at what you paid and totals it by reason. Waste percentage is that total divided by food purchases for the same period, and the reasons tell you what to change: pars for spoilage, the prep list for overproduction, specs and training for errors.

### Restaurant Break-Even Analysis: Covers per Day, the Fixed Part of Labor and the Delivery Mix
URL: https://marji.co/blog/restaurant-break-even-analysis
Answers: restaurant break even analysis
Published: 2026-09-30; modified: 2026-09-30

Break-even sales = fixed costs ÷ contribution margin ratio, and break-even covers per day = break-even sales ÷ average check ÷ open days. In the example here, $45,400 of monthly fixed costs and a 52.3% contribution margin ratio need $86,807 of sales — about 88 covers a day at a $38 check over 26 days. Count the minimum crew as fixed, add delivery commission to variable costs, and add loan principal if you want the cash break-even.

### Restaurant Voids and Comps: What to Record, How to Read the Report and What They Cost
URL: https://marji.co/blog/restaurant-voids-and-comps
Answers: restaurant voids and comps
Published: 2026-09-30; modified: 2026-09-30

A void erases an item or check as if it never happened; a comp gives the guest something they received without charging for it; a discount cuts the price; a refund returns money after payment. Require a reason and a manager's approval for each, review a weekly report by reason, employee and time, and put a food cost on every comp: comped food is still used, so it raises your food cost percentage without adding a dollar of sales.

### #10 Can Size and Other Can Sizes: What Each Holds and How to Cost It
URL: https://marji.co/blog/can-sizes-for-food-costing
Answers: #10 can size
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-09-29

A No. 10 can holds an average of 96 to 117 ounces — 12 to 13⅔ cups — depending on its contents, according to USDA. For costing, what matters is the part you use: a No. 10 can of kidney beans gives about 11 cups drained. Divide the can price by the drained cups or ounces your recipe actually uses.

### Cooking Yield: How to Measure Cooking Loss and Cost the Cooked Portion
URL: https://marji.co/blog/cooking-yield
Answers: cooking yield
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-10-09

Cooking yield is cooked weight divided by raw weight, times 100. To cost a cooked portion, divide the raw cost per pound by the yield, then multiply by the portion weight. At a 69% yield, brisket bought at $7.00 per raw pound costs $10.14 per cooked pound. Measure your own: USDA's tests of the same cut vary widely.

### How to Calculate Pour Cost for Liquor, Beer and Wine: Bottle, Keg and Glass Math
URL: https://marji.co/blog/how-to-calculate-pour-cost
Answers: how to calculate pour cost
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-09-29

Pour cost is the cost of what goes into a drink divided by its menu price. Cost a pour from the bottle: price ÷ fluid ounces in the bottle × ounces poured. A $24, 750 mL bottle holds 25.36 fl oz, so a 1.5 oz pour costs $1.42 — 11.8% of a $12 drink. Then measure actual pour cost from inventory.

### RevPASH: How to Calculate Revenue per Available Seat Hour, Hour by Hour
URL: https://marji.co/blog/how-to-calculate-revpash
Answers: revpash formula
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-09-29

RevPASH is revenue for a period divided by the seat-hours available in it: seats × hours open. A 60-seat room that takes $3,000 between 5 and 10 pm earns $3,000 ÷ (60 × 5) = $10 per available seat hour. Calculated hour by hour, it shows which hours fill seats with spending guests and which only fill time.

### How to Price Catering Per Person: Food, Labor, Service Charges and New York Tax Rules
URL: https://marji.co/blog/how-to-price-catering
Answers: how to price catering
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-10-09

Start with the guaranteed guest count, agreed portions and usable yields to calculate what to buy. Price each guest from food, event labor, rentals and delivery plus the contribution you need. In the hypothetical event below, $29.31 direct cost plus $20 contribution rounds to $50 per guest, before separately disclosed charges and tax.

### How to Set Restaurant Par Levels and Turn Them Into a Prep List
URL: https://marji.co/blog/how-to-set-par-levels
Answers: how to set par levels
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-09-29

A par level is the stock an order should bring you up to. Set it from counted usage over the days the order must last — from the count until the following delivery arrives — plus a buffer sized from your own busiest recent cycle. Order the par minus usable stock on hand, in purchase units, within shelf life.

### How to Price Market-Price (MP) Menu Items: A Rule, Price Bands and a Visible Price
URL: https://marji.co/blog/market-price-menu-items
Answers: how to price market price items
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-09-29

Price a market-price item from today's plate cost with a written rule, not a fresh guess each night. Choose the rule — a target food cost percentage or a fixed dollar contribution — set price bands so small cost moves do not change the price, and show the current price where guests see it before they order.

### Menu Psychology: What the Evidence Says About Dollar Signs, Decoys, Anchors and Layout
URL: https://marji.co/blog/menu-psychology-evidence
Answers: menu psychology
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-10-09

Most menu-psychology advice rests on thin evidence. In studies with real orders, effects were modest: guests at one restaurant spent more when prices were plain numerals, taste-focused dish names raised vegetable selection in dining halls, and dishes at the top of a list were chosen a little more. The upper-right "sweet spot" and decoy items have little support.

### NYC Delivery App Fee Caps: What Apps Can Charge a Restaurant, and How to Price the App Menu
URL: https://marji.co/blog/nyc-delivery-app-fee-caps
Answers: nyc delivery app fee cap
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-09-29

In New York City, a delivery app may charge a restaurant at most 15% of an order's menu price for delivery, 5% for a basic listing and ordering service, 3% for payment processing (more only as a proven pass-through), and up to 20% for enhanced services if it also offers the basic plan. Restaurants may price the app menu differently.

### Scoop, Ladle and Measuring-Serving Spoon Sizes: A Portion Chart and the Cost of Each Portion
URL: https://marji.co/blog/portion-scoop-ladle-sizes
Answers: scoop sizes chart
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-09-29

A scoop's number is how many level scoopfuls make one quart: a No. 8 holds ½ cup, a No. 12 ⅓ cup, a No. 16 ¼ cup and a No. 24 2⅔ tablespoons, per USDA. Ladles are marked in ounces, and those are fluid ounces of volume: a 4 oz ladle holds ½ cup. Cost a portion as the batch cost per cup times the tool's volume, and level every scoop.

### Produce Yield Chart: USDA As-Purchased to Ready-to-Use Yields for Common Fruits and Vegetables
URL: https://marji.co/blog/produce-yield-chart
Answers: produce yield chart
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-09-29

A produce yield is the share of the purchased weight left after trimming, peeling, coring or juicing. USDA's measured averages: 1 lb of whole onions gives 0.88 lb ready to use, bell peppers 0.80 lb, romaine 0.64 lb, pineapple 0.54 lb, and limes 0.47 lb of juice. Divide the purchase price by the yield to get the usable cost.

### How to Do a Restaurant Inventory Count That Produces a Usable Food Cost
URL: https://marji.co/blog/restaurant-inventory-count
Answers: how to do restaurant inventory
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-09-29

Count every food storage area at the same point each period, in the unit you buy, then value each item at its current invoice price. Period food cost is opening inventory plus purchases minus closing inventory, so a count taken at the wrong time, in the wrong unit or at stale prices makes that number wrong. Count high-value items weekly.

### Restaurant Inventory Turnover and Days on Hand: How to Calculate and Use Them
URL: https://marji.co/blog/restaurant-inventory-turnover
Answers: restaurant inventory turnover
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-09-29

Inventory turnover is the food cost used in a period divided by average inventory value; days on hand is average inventory divided by average daily food cost. A kitchen that used $32,000 of food in a month and held $6,400 on average turned its stock 5 times, about 6 days on hand. Calculate both by category, not just in total.

### Restaurant Labor Cost Percentage: What to Include and How to Calculate It
URL: https://marji.co/blog/restaurant-labor-cost-percentage
Answers: restaurant labor cost percentage
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-10-09

Labor cost percentage is total labor cost for a period divided by sales for the same period. Include wages, salaries, employer payroll taxes, workers' compensation, benefits and service charges paid out to staff — not customer tips. In 2024 the median full-service restaurant in the National Restaurant Association's survey spent 36.5% of sales on salaries, wages and benefits.

### Seasonal Food Prices: Which Ingredients Follow the Calendar, From 10 Years of BLS Data
URL: https://marji.co/blog/seasonal-food-prices
Answers: seasonal food prices
Published: 2026-09-29; modified: 2026-09-29

Some ingredient prices follow the calendar and some don't. In ten years of BLS retail prices, strawberries ran 30% above trend in December and 17% below in June, while bananas and chicken breast barely moved by month. Eggs and ground beef changed far more through shocks and long trends than through any season.

### Bakery Batch Cost After Bake Loss and Unsold Portions
URL: https://marji.co/blog/bakery-batch-costing
Answers: bakery batch costing
Published: 2026-09-12; modified: 2026-09-12

Calculate bakery batch cost by adding every ingredient at its reviewed purchase cost, then dividing by usable finished portions. Measure bake loss on the finished product instead of dividing by raw dough weight. Keep unsold portions separate: they affect the cost recovered from sales, but should not silently change the standard recipe yield.

### How to Compare Restaurant Supplier Prices When Case Sizes Differ
URL: https://marji.co/blog/how-to-compare-restaurant-supplier-prices
Answers: restaurant supplier price comparison
Published: 2026-09-12; modified: 2026-09-12

Compare restaurant supplier prices by the same usable unit, not the case total. Record the product specification, total pack quantity, known allocated charges and measured yield. Divide adjusted cost by purchased quantity, then by yield. A more expensive case can produce a cheaper served portion; the quotes still need equivalent quality and terms.

### Restaurant Invoice Price Audit: Check the Line Before Updating Recipe Costs
URL: https://marji.co/blog/restaurant-invoice-price-audit
Answers: restaurant invoice price audit
Published: 2026-09-12; modified: 2026-10-09

An invoice price audit checks whether a delivered ingredient matches the product, quantity, price basis and date used in your recipes. Normalize the pack before comparing prices, resolve substitutions and credits, then update the matched ingredient. OCR text alone is not a verified cost. Keep uncertain lines flagged until the missing evidence is supplied.

### Coffee Shop Drink Cost: Coffee, Milk, Cup and Waste
URL: https://marji.co/blog/coffee-shop-cost-control
Answers: coffee shop food cost
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-09-12

A café drink cost should include the coffee dose, milk or alternative, syrup and other ingredients, with the cup, lid and sleeve shown separately. Measure the liquid actually used instead of treating the cup’s labeled capacity as milk quantity. Keep preparation loss and discarded drinks explicit. There is no single beverage-cost percentage that proves a café is profitable.

### Contribution Margin vs. Food Cost Percentage: Compare Two Dishes
URL: https://marji.co/blog/contribution-margin-vs-food-cost-percentage
Answers: contribution margin vs food cost percentage
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-09-12

Food-cost percentage describes the share of a dish’s selling price consumed by ingredients. Ingredient contribution is selling price minus ingredient cost, expressed in dollars. Compare both, then multiply contribution by matching dish counts to understand total contribution. A low percentage does not necessarily mean more dollars, and a high contribution per dish does not establish demand or net profit.

### Food Costing Software vs. a Spreadsheet: When Does Recosting Help?
URL: https://marji.co/blog/food-costing-software-vs-spreadsheet
Answers: recipe costing spreadsheet vs software
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-10-11

A maintained spreadsheet and costing software can produce the same recipe arithmetic. An AI-assisted workflow needs the same input and calculation checks. Choose by running one invoice change through your process: can you trace the new dish cost, resolve missing inputs and repeat the work? Keep the sheet when it delivers that reliably.

### Food Costing With Square: What Actually Works
URL: https://marji.co/blog/food-costing-with-square
Answers: food costing with square pos
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-09-12

You can cost recipes with Square Recipes, a beta feature for eligible Square restaurant plans, or Square Restaurant Inventory by MarketMan. Marji can also cost reviewed recipes alongside Square, but its Square connection is built and unavailable. A menu scan supplies dish names and prices; actual plate costs require checked quantities, yields and supplier costs.

### Food Truck Costs: Where the Room for a Higher Food Cost Comes From
URL: https://marji.co/blog/food-truck-cost-structure
Answers: food truck food cost percentage
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-09-30

A food truck can carry a higher food cost than a dining room, but not because occupancy is cheap: once commissary, fuel, permits and event fees are added, the occupancy-equivalent in the sample below is about the same as a small restaurant's. The room comes from labor — a crew of two or three — and in the example that pays for a 35% food cost. Judge each booking by its own break-even.

### What's a Good Food Cost Percentage? National Medians and the Target Your P&L Can Afford
URL: https://marji.co/blog/good-food-cost-percentage
Answers: what is a good food cost percentage
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-09-29

There is no single good food cost percentage. In the National Restaurant Association's 2024 data, the median full-service restaurant spent 32.0% of sales on food and non-alcohol beverages and the median limited-service restaurant 32.4% — medians the Association says are not standards or goals. The target that matters is the one your rent, labor and profit leave room for.

### How to Calculate Food Cost Percentage: The Formula, a Worked Month and a Worked Dish
URL: https://marji.co/blog/how-to-calculate-food-cost-percentage
Answers: how to calculate food cost percentage
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-10-09

Food cost percentage = (beginning inventory + purchases − ending inventory) ÷ food sales × 100. A kitchen that starts the month with $8,400 of food on hand, buys $31,600, ends with $7,900 and sells $104,000 of food used $32,100 — a 30.9% food cost. For one dish, divide its plate cost by its menu price: a burger that costs $4.20 to make and sells for $15 runs 28%.

### How to Price a Menu Item: Markup vs. Margin
URL: https://marji.co/blog/how-to-price-a-menu-item
Answers: how to price a menu item
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-09-30

Take the plate cost, divide by one minus your target margin — $4.20 at a 70% target gives $14.00 — then round up to your menu's convention and read it against the dishes beside it. Multiply by 1.70 instead and the same plate prices at $7.14, a 58.8% food cost.

### How to Raise Menu Prices After Ingredient Costs Increase
URL: https://marji.co/blog/how-to-raise-menu-prices
Answers: how to raise menu prices
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-09-12

After ingredient costs increase, review the invoice and affected recipe before choosing a new menu price. Decide whether the scenario should restore contribution dollars, ingredient gross-margin percentage or another operating target. Calculate the sales volume needed at the proposed price, then consider demand and other costs. The arithmetic supports a decision; it cannot guarantee customer response.

### Ideal vs. Actual Food Cost: Which Inputs Explain the Gap?
URL: https://marji.co/blog/ideal-vs-actual-food-cost
Answers: ideal vs actual food cost
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-09-12

Calculate ideal food cost by multiplying each reviewed recipe cost by the quantity sold in the same period. Calculate actual food cost from opening inventory plus net purchases minus closing inventory. Compare both against matching food sales. Investigate a gap by checking dates, units, invoice costs and portions before assigning a cause; missing records make the comparison incomplete.

### Menu Engineering: The Four-Quadrant Matrix
URL: https://marji.co/blog/menu-engineering-guide
Answers: menu engineering
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-09-30

Export four weeks of unit sales, put a current plate cost beside each dish, then draw two lines: 70% of an equal share of units, and the weighted average contribution margin. Here they land at 117.5 units and $13.96, and five of the eight dishes above the popularity line — the best-selling burger among them — fall below the margin line. Stale costs name the wrong dish.

### Pizzeria Food Cost: Cheese Portions, Dough and the Box
URL: https://marji.co/blog/pizzeria-food-cost
Answers: pizzeria food cost percentage
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-09-12

Cost a pizza by weighing its dough, sauce, cheese and toppings, then adding any packaging separately. Compare recipe portions with portions actually served before blaming a supplier price. An extra half ounce of cheese costs half the reviewed usable cost per ounce on every pizza. Whether the resulting food-cost percentage is sustainable depends on the rest of the operation.

### Prime Cost Explained
URL: https://marji.co/blog/prime-cost-explained
Answers: restaurant prime cost
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-10-09

Add your COGS and your fully loaded labour for the same week, then divide by that week's sales. A bistro at $14,880 of COGS and $16,320 of labour on $48,000 of sales runs 65.0%. Leaving out payroll tax, workers' comp and benefits — $3,120 in the week below — would understate prime cost by 6.5 points.

### Recipe Costing, Step by Step: Purchase Unit to Served Portion
URL: https://marji.co/blog/recipe-costing-step-by-step
Answers: how to cost a recipe
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-09-12

To cost a recipe, divide each reviewed purchase cost by its pack quantity, adjust for the yield needed to reach the recipe’s preparation state, then multiply by the quantity served. Sum every ingredient and keep missing lines unresolved. A menu photo supplies dish names and prices; quantities, yields and actual ingredient costs still need checking.

### My Restaurant Isn't Making Money. Where Do I Look?
URL: https://marji.co/blog/restaurant-not-making-money
Answers: my restaurant is not making money
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-09-30

First check whether it is profit or cash that is missing: loan principal and owner draws drain cash without appearing as P&L expenses. Then work down one representative month — sales, prime cost, occupancy, everything else — against your own history, find the line that moved, and size each fix in monthly dollars before pulling it. For scale, the National Restaurant Association's 2025 data abstract (2024 figures) put median income before taxes at 2.8% of sales for full-service restaurants and 4.0% for limited-service.

### The Restaurant P&L, Line by Line (For Owner-Operators)
URL: https://marji.co/blog/restaurant-p-and-l-explained
Answers: restaurant profit and loss statement
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-09-30

A restaurant P&L runs sales, then cost of goods sold, then labor (the two together are prime cost), then the other controllable expenses, then occupancy, interest and depreciation, ending in income before taxes. Read every line as a share of sales and against the same period last year. For scale, the National Restaurant Association's 2025 data abstract put 2024 median income before taxes at 2.8% of sales for full-service restaurants and 4.0% for limited-service.

### The Data-Entry Tax in Restaurant Software
URL: https://marji.co/blog/the-data-entry-tax
Answers: why restaurant software fails
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-10-09

The data-entry tax is the work needed to enter and maintain the inputs a costing tool uses: purchase packs, prices, recipe quantities and yields. Before choosing software, test one complete recipe and one supplier-price change. Check what you must review, what happens when an input is missing and whether you can return to unfinished work. A whole menu does not need to be costed before one complete dish becomes useful.

### Why Is My Food Cost So High? Check Units, Portions and Invoices
URL: https://marji.co/blog/why-is-my-food-cost-so-high
Answers: why is my food cost so high
Published: 2026-08-10; modified: 2026-09-12

First identify whether the high number is one recipe’s food-cost percentage or the restaurant’s inventory-adjusted period food cost. Then check matching dates, selling prices, purchase units, current invoices and portion yields. Compare actual consumption with reviewed recipes only after those inputs are complete. A high percentage is a symptom; it does not identify waste, theft or any other cause by itself.

## Calculators

### Yield & EP Cost Calculator
URL: https://marji.co/tools/yield-calculator
Calculate yield, edible-portion cost per pound and usable-portion cost from the purchase price and measured weights before and after preparation.
Inputs: As-purchased price per lb, As-purchased weight (lb), Usable weight after preparation (lb), Usable portion size (oz)
Outputs: As-purchased cost per lb, Yield percentage, Edible-portion cost per lb, Cost per portion, Usable portion priced at purchased rate (ignores yield), Difference from ignoring yield on that portion

### Restaurant Break-Even Calculator
URL: https://marji.co/tools/break-even-calculator
Find the sales, monthly covers and daily covers your restaurant needs before it makes a dollar. Enter fixed costs, variable cost ratio and average check.
Inputs: Monthly fixed costs, Variable cost ratio, Average check, Open days per month
Outputs: Contribution margin ratio, Break-even sales per month, Break-even covers per month, Break-even covers per day, Monthly profit at 10% above break-even

### Labor Cost Percentage Calculator
URL: https://marji.co/tools/labor-cost-calculator
Calculate fully loaded labor cost percentage including payroll taxes, workers' comp and benefits — the version that matches your P&L, not just gross wages.
Inputs: Gross wages & salaries (period), Payroll tax, comp & benefits, Total sales (same period), Covers in the period
Outputs: Fully loaded labor cost, Labor cost percentage, Unloaded (gross wages only), Points understated, Labor cost per cover

### Prime Cost Calculator
URL: https://marji.co/tools/prime-cost-calculator
Calculate prime cost — COGS plus fully loaded labor as a percentage of sales — plus how many dollars separate you from the target you set.
Inputs: Total sales (period), COGS — food + beverage, Fully loaded labor cost, Target prime cost
Outputs: Prime cost, Prime cost percentage, COGS as % of sales, Labor as % of sales, Dollars from target (per period), Annualised gap (52 periods)

### Pour Cost Calculator
URL: https://marji.co/tools/pour-cost-calculator
Calculate cost per pour, pour cost percentage and profit per drink from a bottle price. Includes what a free-pour overpour actually costs you per year.
Inputs: Bottle cost, Bottle size (ml), Nominal pour (oz), Menu price, Actual overpour, Drinks per week
Outputs: Cost per pour (at spec), Pour cost percentage, Pours per bottle, Gross profit per drink, Actual pour cost with overpour, Annual cost of the overpour

### Third-Party Delivery Margin Calculator
URL: https://marji.co/tools/delivery-margin-calculator
See exactly what a delivery marketplace's commission does to a dish's contribution margin, and the delivery price that would hold your margin flat.
Inputs: Menu price (dine-in), Chosen delivery menu price, Direct pickup menu price, Direct pickup percentage fee, Delivery fixed fee per order, Pickup fixed fee per order, Plate cost, Packaging cost per order, Marketplace commission, Delivery orders per week
Outputs: Contribution — direct pickup, Net revenue after commission, Contribution margin — delivery, Contribution margin — dine-in, Contribution lost to the channel, Delivery price to hold margin flat, Required menu uplift, Annual contribution gap at this volume

### Ideal vs. Actual Variance Calculator
URL: https://marji.co/tools/variance-calculator
Compare theoretical food cost against actual COGS to find your variance in dollars, percentage points, and what it costs you over a year.
Inputs: Theoretical food cost (from recipes × units sold), Actual COGS (from inventory), Food sales for the period, Periods per year
Outputs: Variance (dollars), Variance (percentage points), Theoretical food cost %, Actual food cost %, Annualised leakage, Value of closing half the gap

### Par Level Calculator
URL: https://marji.co/tools/par-level-calculator
Calculate par levels from real usage and delivery frequency instead of guessing. Includes safety stock and the order quantity for today's count.
Inputs: Average daily usage (units), Days between deliveries, Safety stock, Currently on hand (units), Cost per unit
Outputs: Expected usage per cycle, Safety stock, Par level, Order this delivery, Cash tied up at par, Current days on hand

### Price Increase Impact Calculator
URL: https://marji.co/tools/price-increase-calculator
Compare a supplier ingredient price change and a chosen menu price. Calculate plate cost, contribution and the volume needed to preserve contribution.
Inputs: Current menu price, New menu price, Plate cost, Old ingredient price per purchased lb, New ingredient price per purchased lb, Usable ingredient portion per dish (oz), Reviewed usable yield (%), Units sold per week, Expected volume change
Outputs: Ingredient cost change per dish, New plate cost, Price to restore original contribution dollars, Price to restore original ingredient margin %, Units needed to preserve original contribution, Contribution margin before, Contribution margin after, Weekly contribution change, Annual contribution change, Volume you could lose and break even, Food cost % after

## Shortlists — the direct answer from each

Every list ranks the same six options and includes both non-software answers.
Marji is first in two of the six, fourth for bars (bar cost control is a
counting problem and Marji does not count stock) and fourth for multi-unit
groups. Competitor facts come from each vendor's own public pages and carry a
verification date; see https://marji.co/best for the full rank matrix.

### Best food cost software for food trucks
URL: https://marji.co/best/food-trucks
Ranking: 1. A spreadsheet · 2. Your POS's built-in reporting · 3. Marji · 4. MarketMan · 5. MarginEdge · 6. Restaurant365

For a food truck, start with a recipe sheet you can keep current. Compare software when reviewing supplier changes, shared prep or stock movements becomes a recurring problem. Neither menu size nor a second vehicle proves that a subscription will pay back. Test the required workflow with actual quantities, yields and costs before committing.

### Best food cost software for cafés and coffee shops
URL: https://marji.co/best/cafes
Ranking: 1. Your POS's built-in reporting · 2. Marji · 3. A spreadsheet · 4. MarketMan · 5. MarginEdge · 6. Restaurant365

Check whether your existing POS plan covers the costing task before adding software. Review complete recipes for relevant drink sizes, milk choices and food items. Compare dedicated tools when supplier-cost review needs more support. Sales mix and discarded product require their own records; recipe costing alone cannot show either one.

### Best food cost software for bars and pubs
URL: https://marji.co/best/bars
Ranking: 1. MarketMan · 2. Your POS's built-in reporting · 3. A spreadsheet · 4. Marji · 5. MarginEdge · 6. Restaurant365

For a bar, inventory software beats costing software. Pour cost is a variance problem — the gap between what your recipes say you poured and what actually left the bottles — and no amount of recipe costing closes it. Count weekly, or the number is fiction.

### Best food cost software for pizzerias
URL: https://marji.co/best/pizzerias
Ranking: 1. Marji · 2. A spreadsheet · 3. Your POS's built-in reporting · 4. MarketMan · 5. MarginEdge · 6. Restaurant365

For a pizzeria, compare tools around complete recipes, portion quantities and supplier changes. Cheese may deserve attention, but its share depends on the actual pie. A maintained spreadsheet can support costing; evaluate software against recurring review work, inventory or paperwork needs. Include setup and review effort, and keep ingredient contribution separate from restaurant profit.

### Best food cost software for single-location independents
URL: https://marji.co/best/single-location-restaurants
Ranking: 1. Marji · 2. A spreadsheet · 3. Your POS's built-in reporting · 4. MarginEdge · 5. MarketMan · 6. Restaurant365

For one independent restaurant, start with the work you need to complete: costing recipes, reviewing supplier changes, counting inventory or managing bills. A maintained spreadsheet may cover recipe costing. Paid software is worth evaluating when its workflow solves a recurring problem you can demonstrate. Menu size alone does not establish value or payback.

### Best food cost software for multi-unit groups
URL: https://marji.co/best/multi-unit-groups
Ranking: 1. Restaurant365 · 2. MarginEdge · 3. MarketMan · 4. Marji · 5. Your POS's built-in reporting · 6. A spreadsheet

At several locations the platforms earn their price. A group has a finance function, a bookkeeper and enough invoice volume that automation pays — which is exactly the operation an all-in-one platform or a back-office tool is built for. This is the one segment where a spreadsheet is genuinely the wrong answer.

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