Recipe Cost Tool

When to use this tool

Use it whenever you’re costing a dish or drink — a new one before it goes on the menu, or an existing one when ingredient prices change — to see its true cost, gross profit and GP%, and whether your price hits your target.

Currency, tax & royalties

These live in the toolbar and work the same on every tool:

Currency

Pick your currency from the selector — it relabels the tax field to match your region.

Tax rate

Type your tax rate in the field beside the currency, or set it to 0 if you don’t want to factor in tax.

Royalties / commission

Optional. Switch on “Factor in royalties or commission” to open a panel where you set the rate with the slider (or type it exactly), rename it Royalty or Commission, and charge it on net or gross sales.

Recipe cost features

What you enter for this tool, and what it gives back:

The dish

Name it and set the price you sell one portion for (inc tax) — the “before” figure all the margin maths works back from.

Ingredients

For each line: the quantity, the unit, and what that unit costs you (ex tax). Line costs and totals update as you type — paste from a spreadsheet, or use the template buttons below.

Packaging & waste

Packaging is the cost per portion (box, wrap, cutlery); the waste allowance is a % added on top of ingredients for trim, spoilage and yield loss.

Budgeted C.O.S / GP

The target you’re aiming for — a GP%, or flip the toggle to a cost-of-sales %. It’s the budget your price is checked against.

Result & export

Your recipe cost, gross profit, GP% and whether you’re within budget — with the price that would hit your budget exactly. Export a clean PDF spec sheet.

Your data

These buttons sit in the “Your data” panel at the foot of the page and work the same on every tool:

Download template

Downloads a blank Excel template you can fill in offline.

Upload template

Reads a filled‑in template back in and fills the tool in one go.

Save as Excel

Saves this dish to an Excel file you can back up or share.

Load saved file

Re‑opens a dish you saved earlier.

PDF report

Generates a clean PDF of the analysis, ready to save, print or share.

Jargon buster

Contribution

Net revenue less cost of sales and any royalty or commission — what a sale adds before labour and overheads.

Cost of sales (C.O.S)

What the product costs you to make or buy — ingredients, packaging and waste — usually shown as a % of net revenue. Excludes labour and overheads.

Gross profit & %

Net revenue less cost of sales; the % expresses it as a share of net revenue — the mirror of cost‑of‑sales %.

Gross revenue

The total the customer pays, including tax.

Labour

The wage cost of the staff involved, usually shown as a cash figure or a % of net revenue.

Margin of safety

How far sales could fall before you stop making a profit — the cushion between your forecast and break‑even.

Net revenue

Gross revenue with tax removed — all the margin maths is worked on this figure.

Royalty / commission

A fee paid as a % of each sale, charged on net or gross. Optional — switch it on only if your business pays one.

Close