Menu pricing calculator
From plate cost to menu price — at your target, at the common targets, and with the margin each price actually leaves.
- Price at your 28% target
- $15.00
The same plate at common targets
| Food cost target | Menu price | Margin per sale |
|---|---|---|
| 22% | $19.09 | $14.89 |
| 25% | $16.80 | $12.60 |
| 28% | $15.00 | $10.80 |
| 30% | $14.00 | $9.80 |
| 33% | $12.73 | $8.53 |
| 35% | $12.00 | $7.80 |
A price is a floor plus a judgment
The arithmetic here gives you the floor: the price below which the dish cannot carry its share. The judgment — psychology, positioning, what the room feels like — belongs to you, and no calculator should pretend otherwise. What this page prevents is making that judgment from a wrong floor. If the plate cost itself is a guess, build it properly first with the food cost calculator.
Common questions
- How do restaurants price a menu item?
- The workhorse method is cost-based: compute the plate cost honestly, divide by a target food cost percentage, then round to a price the market will read well. Competitor anchoring and perceived value then adjust it — but they adjust from a cost-based floor, because a price set below true cost loses money on every sale no matter how good it looks.
- What food cost percentage should I target?
- Common working ranges: quick service in the mid-twenties to low thirties, full service high twenties to mid thirties, and premium proteins often higher with bigger absolute margins. The ladder in this calculator exists because the right answer is a dial per dish, not one number for the whole menu.
- Why does the calculator show margin next to each price?
- Because percentage alone misleads. Two dishes at the same 30% food cost can leave $5 and $12 of margin. Banks accept dollars, not percentages — the margin column is there so you never optimise the ratio at the expense of the money.
- Should I just charge what competitors charge?
- Competitor prices tell you what the market tolerates, not what your dish costs you. Matching a competitor who has better supplier terms than you is how a busy restaurant loses money. Price from your own cost floor first, then look sideways.