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Recipe Cost Calculator
Build a plate cost line by line — with the yield adjustment most recipe calculators leave out. Edit the example below or replace it with your own dish.
Common questions
Why does this calculator ask for yield?
Because costing at the invoice price is the most common and most expensive recipe-costing error there is. A protein at 70% yield costs 43% more per usable pound than the invoice says. Leave a row at 100% for anything you use whole — packaged goods, a sub-recipe you've already costed.
What units should I use?
Whatever you like, as long as price and quantity use the same one. If the price is per pound, the quantity is in pounds — a 6 oz portion is 0.375. If the price is per ounce, the quantity is in ounces.
How do I include a sauce or stock?
Cost the batch separately first, divide by the measured yield to get a cost per ounce, then add it as a row at 100% yield. That number is now correct for every dish that uses it.
What's the Q factor?
An allowance for the small unbilled items no recipe card lists: cooking oil, butter, salt, condiments, complimentary bread. Most kitchens land at 2–5% of ingredient cost. Derive yours by dividing monthly spend on those items by monthly covers.
Should labour be in here?
No. Plate cost is ingredients only. Kitchen labour doesn't scale per plate the way ingredients do, so it's tracked separately and combined with food cost as prime cost.
Can I save or share this?
Yes — every change is encoded in the page URL, so copying the link reproduces the exact recipe and result. Bookmark it, send it to a partner, or print it to PDF.