Recipe Cost Sheet & Menu Pricing (Excel)
Know what every plate really costs. List your ingredients once with their purchase price and usable yield (what is left after peeling, cleaning or trimming). Write each recipe as a few lines of ingredient and quantity. The Menu Costing sheet then shows the cost per portion of every dish, its food cost percent at your menu price, the gross margin in rupees and the price you would need to hit your target food cost.
Free · no sign-up · opens in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice and WPS Office. Files contain no macros.
Preview
Real view of the file with its sample data (yellow cells are where you type).
| Dish | Category | Portions per recipe | Recipe cost (₹) | Extra per plate (₹) | Cost per portion (₹) | Menu price before GST (₹) | Price with GST (₹) | Food cost % | Gross margin per plate (₹) | Suggested price (₹) | Status |
| Paneer Butter Masala | Main course | 10 | ₹ 1,069.94 | ₹ 4.00 | ₹ 110.99 | ₹ 280 | ₹ 294.00 | 39.6% | ₹ 169.01 | ₹ 370 | Food cost high |
| Dal Makhani | Main course | 10 | ₹ 374.09 | ₹ 3.00 | ₹ 40.41 | ₹ 240 | ₹ 252.00 | 16.8% | ₹ 199.59 | ₹ 135 | OK |
| Jeera Rice | Rice | 10 | ₹ 192.00 | ₹ 2.00 | ₹ 21.20 | ₹ 180 | ₹ 189.00 | 11.8% | ₹ 158.80 | ₹ 75 | OK |
| Butter Naan | Breads | 20 | ₹ 197.32 | ₹ 1.00 | ₹ 10.87 | ₹ 50 | ₹ 52.50 | 21.7% | ₹ 39.13 | ₹ 40 | OK |
| Chicken Curry | Main course | 10 | ₹ 840.99 | ₹ 4.00 | ₹ 88.10 | ₹ 320 | ₹ 336.00 | 27.5% | ₹ 231.90 | ₹ 295 | OK |
| Sweet Lassi | Beverages | 10 | ₹ 243.20 | ₹ 2.00 | ₹ 26.32 | ₹ 90 | ₹ 94.50 | 29.2% | ₹ 63.68 | ₹ 90 | OK |
What's inside
- Ingredients sheet: ingredient, purchase unit, price per unit, usable yield percent and the true cost per usable unit
- Recipes sheet: 600 ready lines; pick a dish and an ingredient, type the quantity, and the line cost fills in
- Menu Costing sheet: portions per recipe, extra cost per plate (gas, garnish, packaging), cost per portion, menu price, price with GST, food cost percent, margin and a suggested price at your target food cost
- Dishes above the target food cost turn red so you know which prices or recipes to look at
- Sample data for six popular North Indian dishes so you can see how it works before typing your own
How to use it
- On the Ingredients sheet replace the samples with your ingredients. Type the price for one purchase unit (per kg, per litre, per piece) and the usable yield percent (100 if nothing is thrown away).
- On the Menu Costing sheet type each dish name, its category, how many portions one batch of the recipe makes, any extra cost per plate and the menu price before GST.
- On the Recipes sheet add one line per ingredient of each dish: pick the dish, pick the ingredient and type the quantity used for the whole batch in the same unit as the purchase unit (write 150 g as 0.15 kg).
- Back on Menu Costing, read the cost per portion, food cost percent and margin. Change the target food cost percent at the top if yours is different from 30 percent.
- Every time a supplier changes a price, update the Ingredients sheet; every dish that uses it recalculates.
Tips
- Weigh a real batch once instead of guessing: portion size drives food cost more than the price of any one ingredient.
- Yield matters: if 1 kg of onion gives 0.9 kg after peeling, a yield of 90 percent raises its true cost by about 11 percent.
- Many Indian restaurants aim for a food cost of 28 to 35 percent; a cloud kitchen paying aggregator commission often needs a lower food cost to stay profitable.
- Add the cost of the container, lid and carry bag as "extra per plate" for delivery dishes, or keep separate dine-in and delivery rows for the same dish.
Questions and answers
What is food cost percent?
The cost of the ingredients in one portion divided by the menu price of that portion. A dish that costs ₹84 to make and sells for ₹320 has a food cost of about 26 percent.
How is the suggested price worked out?
Cost per portion divided by your target food cost percent, rounded up to the next ₹5. It is a starting point; your competitors, your portion size and what guests expect still decide the final price.
Should the menu price include GST?
Type the price before GST. The sheet also shows the price with GST at the rate on the Menu Costing sheet (5 percent for most restaurants) so you can print either on your menu.
Can one recipe use another recipe, like a gravy base?
Cost the base as its own dish, then add it to the Ingredients sheet with its cost per kg and use it like any other ingredient.