Recipe Costing

Calculate plate costs with real-time pricing from your actual invoices

PlateCost's recipe costing connects your menu items to your actual invoice data — so plate costs update automatically as ingredient prices change.

Creating a recipe

  1. Navigate to Recipes

    Go to Recipes > New Recipe in your dashboard.

  2. Add ingredients

    Search for ingredients by name. PlateCost matches them to items from your invoices, pulling in the latest pricing automatically.

    For each ingredient, specify:

    • Quantity — how much you use per serving
    • Unit — oz, lb, each, cup, etc.
    • Preparation — raw, trimmed, cooked (affects yield calculations)

  3. Set yield and portions

    Define:

    • Recipe yield — total output (e.g., 4 quarts of sauce)
    • Portion size — how much goes on each plate (e.g., 4 oz per serving)
    • Number of servings — auto-calculated from yield and portion size

  4. Review plate cost

    PlateCost calculates your cost per serving based on current invoice prices. You'll see:

    • Total recipe cost
    • Cost per serving
    • Food cost percentage (at your menu price)
    • Ingredient cost breakdown

Live pricing

Recipe costs are always based on the most recent invoice price for each ingredient. When a new invoice is processed:

  • Ingredient prices update automatically
  • Recipe costs recalculate
  • You can see price change impact on the recipe detail page

Food cost percentage

PlateCost shows food cost percentage for every recipe:

Text
Food Cost % = (Cost per Serving / Menu Price) × 100
Food Cost %Status
Under 28%Excellent margin
28–32%Healthy range for most concepts
32–35%Watch closely
Over 35%Action needed — review pricing or portions

Use the Menu Modeler to simulate changes before committing:

  • Adjust menu prices — see how a $1 increase affects food cost %
  • Swap ingredients — compare costs with alternative products
  • Change portions — model the impact of portion adjustments
  • Seasonal planning — project costs based on historical price trends

Sub-recipes

PlateCost supports nested recipes for complex preparations:

  • Create base recipes (sauces, stocks, marinades)
  • Reference sub-recipes as ingredients in other recipes
  • Costs cascade — when a sub-recipe's ingredients change in price, all parent recipes update