Indian Restaurant Cost Guide: Pricing Curry, Biryani, and Naan for Profit

Indian restaurants win on flavor depth, but that depth comes with hidden cost layers.

You are not just costing chicken and rice. You are costing a base gravy, a finishing sauce, a protein yield, and a starch portion that can drift fast during a rush.

This guide gives you a practical Indian restaurant cost workflow: benchmark inputs, base gravy math, and real pricing examples you can adapt to your menu today.

Quick Summary

• Treat base gravy as a recipe with a cost per ounce, then build every curry on top of it
• Protein yields matter more than spice costs in most plates
• Rice is cheap, but portion creep turns it into a margin leak
• Delivery needs its own price tier or your curry margins vanish
• Use retail benchmarks to sanity-check supplier quotes and reprice quarterly

Why Indian Restaurant Costing Is Different

1. Base gravy hides real cost. Onion-tomato masala is in everything, but most shops never cost it.
2. Finishing steps add fat and dairy. Ghee, cream, and butter are small by weight but big by dollars.
3. Protein yield swings by cut. Tikka, tandoori, and curry portions vary more than most owners realize.
4. Rice portioning is silent drift. One extra scoop can move food cost by 2-4 points.
5. Delivery is a major mix. Curry travels well, but packaging and commissions take the margin first.

If you cost only the protein, you will underprice your top sellers.

Baseline Ingredient Benchmarks (U.S. City Average, Nov-Dec 2025)

These are U.S. city average retail prices from BLS/FRED. They are not wholesale, but they are reliable for sanity checks.

Conversion formula:

Price per oz = Price per lb / 16

Rice, tomatoes, butter, and bread are Dec 2025 values. Chicken is the latest available (Nov 2025).

Use these as a reference point when vendor prices move fast.

Step 1: Cost a Base Gravy Batch (Example)

A base gravy should be costed like a sauce recipe. You only need to do this once, then every curry uses the same cost per ounce.

Example base gravy batch (yield: 128 oz):

Cost per oz:

$25.50 / 128 oz = $0.20 per oz

Replace the onion, oil, and spice costs with your invoices.

Step 2: Cost Protein After Yield

Raw protein price is not your real cost. You must account for trimming and cooking loss.

Formula:

Usable yield % = Cooked weight / Raw weight
Cooked cost per oz = Raw price per oz / Yield %

Example (chicken tikka):

• Raw chicken: 8 oz
• Cooked yield: 75% (6 oz cooked)
• Raw cost: $0.259/oz

Cooked cost = (8 oz x $0.259) / 6 oz = $0.35 per cooked oz

Your cook yield might be 70% or 80%. Measure it once and lock it into your costing sheet.

Example #1: Chicken Tikka Masala Plate

Assume a 6 oz cooked chicken portion and 6 oz cooked rice.

Price targets (food cost %):

If your market will not accept $11-13, reduce portion size or raise delivery prices first.

Example #2: Chicken Biryani Plate

Assume a 5 oz cooked chicken portion and 9 oz cooked rice.

Price targets (food cost %):

Biryani often looks like a value deal. Make sure it is not your lowest-margin plate.

Naan and Bread Basket Pricing

Naan is a high-profit add-on, but only if you price it correctly.

A simple naan often costs $0.20-$0.35 to produce, depending on flour, oil, and ghee.

Quick check:

Naan price = (Dough cost + Ghee + Labor) / Target food cost %

If your naan costs $0.28 and your target food cost is 25%:

$0.28 / 0.25 = $1.12

Pricing at $2.00-$3.00 is normal in most U.S. markets, which is why naan is a margin anchor.

Delivery and Packaging Reality

Delivery commissions are typically 15-30%, and Indian food travels well so delivery share is high.

Protect your margin by pricing delivery separately:

• Add a delivery price tier (10-25% higher)
• Track packaging per order, not per item
• Bundle high-margin items (naan, raita, sides) into delivery combos

If delivery is more than 25% of sales, review delivery pricing monthly.

Menu Engineering for Indian Concepts

Focus your menu on items that are repeatable and cost-controlled:

1. Anchor items (butter chicken, tikka masala)
2. Margin drivers (veg curries, dal, aloo, chana)
3. Premium upsells (lamb, shrimp, tandoori platters)
4. Add-ons (naan, lassi, raita, extra rice)

Your best sellers should be easy to portion and easy to reprice.

Weekly Cost Checklist

• Reweigh chicken portions during peak hours
• Update base gravy cost when tomato or butter invoices change
• Recalculate cooked rice cost after any supplier switch
• Check delivery packaging costs and price tier
• Audit top 5 dishes for portion drift

Related Guides

• How to Calculate Recipe Cost
• Food Cost Ratio Guide
• Loss Rate Guide
• Menu Engineering Guide
• Chicken Restaurant Cost Guide
• Bunsik Cost Guide
• Home Baking Pricing Guide
• Pizza Cost Calculator

If you want a faster way to store base gravy recipes, portion weights, and per-plate costs, try KitchenCost.

Sources

• USDA ERS Food Price Outlook (Summary Findings)
• FRED - Rice, white, long-grain, uncooked (APU0000701312)
• FRED - Chicken breast, boneless (APU0000FF1101)
• FRED - Tomatoes, field grown (APU0000712311)
• FRED - Butter, stick (APU0000FS1101)
• FRED - Bread, white, pan (APU0000702111)