How to calculate food cost per item, and what you make on each
Enter each ingredient at the price you paid and only the amount the recipe uses. KitchenCost works out the cost per piece, your food cost percentage and what you make on every one you sell. This guide follows one chocolate chip cookie from start to finish.
3 min · Example numbers
Step 2
Add ingredients the way you bought them
Tap the ingredient row, then the orange plus (+) button in the corner to create a new ingredient.
Enter the name, package size and price just like your receipt. Flour bought as a 5-pound bag for $4 works out to 80 cents a pound. The app does that math for you.
Tap Save and the amount sheet opens. Enter what this batch uses, 280 grams. The app converts pounds to grams, so the flour in this batch costs 49 cents.
Every other ingredient goes in the same way, with the plus button in the corner. Butter is $4.50 a pound and the batch uses 225 grams. Sugar, brown sugar, eggs and chocolate chips follow.
With every ingredient in, the batch costs $8.37. Tap Save in the top right.
Step 3
See the cost per piece
The recipe opens with the cost of one cookie: about 35 cents ($0.349). That’s the batch cost divided by the yield, $8.37 ÷ 24.
Scroll down to see how much of the cost each ingredient takes up. In this cookie, chocolate chips are about half.
Step 4
Set a price and see your food cost %
Under Sales details, tap Set price manually and enter what a customer pays for one: $3.50.
Your food cost comes out to 9.96%. That’s the cost per cookie, $0.349, divided by the $3.50 price.
Step 5
See what you make on each one
Scroll a little further down to see your profit. Each cookie makes $3.15 after ingredients. Sell all 24 from one batch and that’s $75.63.
Only ingredients are taken out here. Labor and rent are not subtracted yet.
Step 7
Manage your menu
Every item you add goes into your Recipes list, with its cost and margin shown at a glance.
Tap sort to see your most expensive items first.
Step 8
Reuse ingredients in new items
When you make a new item, pick ingredients you’ve already added instead of entering them again.
Pick the flour, enter how much the new recipe uses, and its cost shows up right away.
Start with your best seller, and you’ll see what each one really makes you.
Try it with one of your own menu items
Web App →Still stuck?
Check the help center first. If that doesn't solve it, email help@kitchencost.app and tell us which step you're on, so we can help faster.