Who this is for: food and beverage managers, chefs, and owners at independent hotels, hotel groups, resorts, and bed and breakfasts.
This food costing template (also used as a menu costing template) shows you what every plate on your menu costs to produce and what food cost percentage it earns at your current price. Use it for the restaurant, banquets, room service, or breakfast.
What You Get
- A recipe costing sheet with yield and unit conversion built in
- A menu costing summary with food cost % and gross profit
- A worked example to check your own math against
- Hotel versions for banquets, room service, B&B, and hostel cafes
- Downloadable PDF and Word files, plus a spreadsheet for the totals
The Recipe Costing Sheet
Complete one sheet per dish, sauce, or prep recipe. The usable cost of each ingredient is the purchase price, divided by the recipe units in one purchase unit, divided by the yield percentage. Multiply that by the quantity the recipe uses.
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Dish name and menu category | The menu name and where it sits: starter, entree, dessert, breakfast, banquet |
| Portions per recipe | How many portions the recipe produces (1 for a single plate) |
| Ingredient | One row per ingredient, including oil, butter, and seasoning |
| Purchase unit and price | How you buy it and what the invoice says, for example $4.50 per lb |
| Recipe units per purchase unit | The conversion, for example 16 oz per lb or 1,000 ml per liter |
| Yield % | The usable share after trim, peel, or cooking loss, for example 85% |
| Quantity used | The amount in the recipe, in the recipe unit |
| Ingredient cost | Price ÷ units per purchase unit ÷ yield % × quantity used |
| Garnish and sundries | A flat estimate for herbs, garnish, and items too small to weigh |
| Total recipe cost | The sum of every ingredient cost and sundries |
| Cost per portion | Total recipe cost ÷ portions |
| Menu price | The price on the menu, before tax and service charge |
| Food cost % | Cost per portion ÷ menu price × 100 |
| Gross profit per portion | Menu price minus cost per portion |
| Date costed and costed by | So stale costing is easy to spot |
A Worked Example: Herb Roasted Chicken Plate
Here is the sheet filled in for one portion, so you can check the method.
| Ingredient | Purchase price | Units per purchase unit | Yield | Quantity used | Ingredient cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast | $4.50 per lb | 16 oz | 85% | 8 oz | $2.65 |
| Rice, dry | $1.60 per lb | 16 oz | 100% | 2 oz | $0.20 |
| Broccoli | $2.40 per lb | 16 oz | 80% | 4 oz | $0.75 |
| Olive oil | $18.00 per liter | 1,000 ml | 100% | 15 ml | $0.27 |
| Butter | $4.80 per lb | 16 oz | 100% | 0.5 oz | $0.15 |
| Garnish and herbs | Estimate | n/a | n/a | n/a | $0.20 |
| Total cost per portion | $4.22 |
At a menu price of $14.95, the food cost is 28.2% and the gross profit is $10.73 per plate. To hold a 30% food cost on this plate, the price must be at least about $14.06, so the current price already clears that mark. To check any plate yourself, divide its cost by your target food cost percentage to get the minimum price that target requires.
Menu Costing Summary Sheet
Once each recipe is costed, copy the results into one summary so you can see the whole menu side by side. This is the sheet that shows which dishes earn their place.
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Menu item and category | Name and section |
| Plate cost | Cost per portion from the recipe sheet |
| Menu price | Current price |
| Food cost % | Plate cost ÷ menu price |
| Gross profit per plate | Menu price minus plate cost |
| Units sold | Portions sold in the period, from your sales report |
| Total gross profit | Gross profit per plate × units sold |
| Action | Keep, reprice, rework the recipe, or remove |
A filled example for one month:
| Menu item | Plate cost | Menu price | Food cost % | Gross profit per plate | Units sold | Total gross profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herb Roasted Chicken | $4.22 | $14.95 | 28.2% | $10.73 | 60 | $644 |
| Classic Club Sandwich | $3.10 | $13.00 | 23.8% | $9.90 | 85 | $842 |
| Caesar Salad | $1.85 | $9.50 | 19.5% | $7.65 | 70 | $536 |
| Pan Seared Salmon | $7.20 | $22.00 | 32.7% | $14.80 | 40 | $592 |
| Chocolate Torte | $1.60 | $8.00 | 20.0% | $6.40 | 35 | $224 |
Read the table on two measures. The salmon has the highest food cost percentage but earns more per plate than the chicken, so a high percentage is not automatically a problem. The club sandwich has a low percentage and sells the most, so it contributes the most gross profit in the month. Percentage tells you about price, and gross profit per plate tells you about value.
How to Keep Costs Current
- Set up the ingredient list once. Enter purchase unit, price, units per purchase unit, and yield for every ingredient you buy.
- Cost your sub-recipes first. Cost sauces, stocks, doughs, and dressings as their own recipes, then enter them as a single line in the dishes that use them.
- Cost each dish. Fill in one recipe sheet per dish at the portion size you actually plate.
- Roll up the menu. Copy plate cost and price into the summary and add units sold from your sales report.
- Re-cost on a schedule. Update prices each time supplier invoices change, and review the full menu at least once a quarter.
Costing for Hotel and Resort Food and Beverage
Hotel menus carry costs a restaurant sheet leaves out. Each version below is a complete sheet you can use as it is.
Hotels and Resorts: Restaurant, Banquet, and Room Service
Use the recipe sheet above for restaurant dishes, then add these lines for banquet per-head costing and room service plates.
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Event or outlet | Banquet function name, room service, or restaurant |
| Menu or package name | For example Three Course Plated Dinner |
| Guaranteed guests | The guaranteed headcount for the event |
| Overage allowance % | Extra covers you plan to prepare beyond the guarantee |
| Cost per cover, course by course | Starter, main, dessert, and bread or sides, each from its recipe sheet |
| Beverage cost per guest | Coffee, tea, water, and any included drinks |
| Packaging and tray setup | Room service only: containers, cloches, tray linen, disposables |
| Service labor per guest | Kitchen and service labor allocated to the event or order |
| Rentals and décor | Rented serviceware, linen, or equipment charged to the event |
| Total cost per guest | The sum of the lines above |
| Price per person | What you quote, before service charge and tax |
| Food cost % | Food and beverage cost per guest ÷ price per person |
| Gross profit per guest | Price per person minus total cost per guest |
Bed and Breakfast: Breakfast Cost per Guest
Breakfast is usually a fixed menu served to a known number of guests, so cost it per guest and per night.
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Breakfast menu and rotation day | For example Monday: eggs, bacon, toast, fruit |
| Dishes served | Each dish, costed from its own recipe sheet |
| Cost per guest | Sum of the dishes one guest typically eats |
| Beverage cost per guest | Coffee, tea, juice, milk |
| Shared items | Jam, butter, cereal, and fruit bowls, costed per guest served |
| Dietary alternatives | Gluten free, vegetarian, or vegan options and their cost |
| Average guests per morning | From your occupancy for the period |
| Breakfast cost per day | Cost per guest × average guests |
| Rate included or added | Whether breakfast is in the room rate or charged separately, and the amount |
| Breakfast cost as % of room rate | Cost per guest ÷ the room rate it is included in |
Hostels: Cafe and Breakfast Items
Hostels often buy in bulk and sell by the item, so costing starts from pack size.
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Item | For example toast and spread, coffee, bagel, or a cafe special |
| Pack size and pack price | For example a 1 kg loaf case or a 12 pack of bagels |
| Items per pack | How many servings one pack yields |
| Cost per serving | Pack price ÷ items per pack, adjusted for waste |
| Waste and spoilage allowance % | Stock you expect to throw away |
| Selling price | The price per item, or the included breakfast value |
| Food cost % | Cost per serving ÷ selling price |
| Gross profit per serving | Selling price minus cost per serving |
| Servings sold per week | From your till or sales log |
Common Costing Mistakes to Avoid
- Costing at purchase weight instead of usable weight. Skipping yield percentage understates the real cost of trimmed and cooked ingredients.
- Leaving out small items. Oil, butter, seasoning, and garnish add up across hundreds of covers.
- Using stale prices. A sheet costed six months ago can be wrong by several points of food cost.
- Costing a different portion than you plate. If the plate uses 8 oz and the sheet says 6 oz, the percentage is wrong from the start.
- Ignoring packaging and labor on room service and banquets. Food cost alone makes these look more profitable than they are.
- Judging a dish by percentage only. Compare gross profit per plate and how often the dish sells.
For stock counts and cost of goods, pair this sheet with a restaurant food inventory template. For banquet orders, see the banquet event order template, and for the wider picture, read the hotel food and beverage guide.
Turn Your Costing Into a Live Cost Picture
A costing sheet tells you what each plate should cost, but checking it against what actually sold usually means rekeying sales from the point of sale into a spreadsheet and hoping the two line up. With roommaster, restaurant, banquet, and room service charges tie to the guest folio and your reports, so you can see what sold at each menu price and set it against your costed plates without rebuilding the numbers. The sheet is where you cost the plate, and roommaster is where the sales and cost picture come together. See how it works on the roommaster platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How do you calculate food cost percentage?
Divide the cost of the dish by its menu price, then multiply by 100. A plate that costs $4.22 and sells for $14.95 has a food cost of 28.2%. For the whole menu, divide total food cost by total food sales for the same period.
2. How do you cost a menu item?
List every ingredient, convert its purchase price to a cost per recipe unit, and adjust for yield. Multiply by the quantity in the recipe, add garnish and sundries, and divide by the number of portions. The result is the plate cost.
3. What is a good food cost percentage?
Many operators use roughly 28% to 35% as a starting range for a full-service menu. Your target depends on your concept, pricing, and whether the outlet also covers labor, so treat it as a benchmark rather than a rule. Hotels often set separate targets for the restaurant, banquets, and room service.
4. What is yield percentage in food costing?
Yield percentage is the share of a purchased ingredient you can actually serve after trim, peel, or cooking loss. If you buy a pound of chicken and 13.6 oz is usable, the yield is 85%. Dividing by yield raises the cost to match what you really use.
5. Can I use this template in Excel or Google Sheets?
Yes. The download includes a spreadsheet that calculates ingredient cost, plate cost, and food cost percentage automatically. It opens in Excel, and you can import it into Google Sheets. PDF and Word versions are included if you prefer to fill the sheet in by hand.
