Menu pricing
Menu Price Calculator
Calculate a recommended restaurant menu price from your food cost and target food cost percentage. Get an instant result in seconds with no signup.
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- Instant results
Recommended Menu Price
$0.00
This is your gross profit after food cost only — it does not include labor, rent or other operating costs.
Markup: 0.0% above food cost
Example Menu Prices at Different Food Cost Targets
These are examples, not universal recommendations — the right target depends on your restaurant.
Get to know the tool
What Is a Menu
Price Calculator?
A menu price calculator is a tool that turns a dish's ingredient cost into a recommended selling price. Instead of guessing a number or copying a competitor's menu, you enter the food cost of a dish and the food cost percentage you want that dish to hit, and the calculator works out the price that gets you there.
Restaurant operators use this kind of tool because food cost and selling price are directly linked: the lower the target food cost percentage, the higher the resulting menu price for the same ingredient cost. Used well, a menu price calculator gives you a fast, consistent starting point for pricing new dishes or reviewing existing ones — before you factor in labor, overhead and the market you're pricing into.
It's a companion to a food cost calculator rather than a replacement for one: a food cost calculator tells you what percentage of an existing price goes to ingredients, while a menu price calculator works in the other direction, turning a target percentage into a price to charge.
Menu Price Formula
Food Cost divided by Target Food Cost % = Menu Price
Example: $4.50 food cost ÷ 30% target food cost (entered as 0.30 in the calculation) = $15.00 recommended menu price.
Four steps
How to Price a
Restaurant Menu Item
Calculate the food cost
Determine the cost of ingredients for one serving.
Choose a target food cost percentage
Use a target that fits the restaurant's concept and overall cost structure.
Calculate the initial menu price
Divide food cost by target food cost percentage.
Review the result
Consider labor, overhead, competition, portion size, customer expectations and positioning before setting the final selling price.
The relationship
How Food Cost
Affects Menu Price
The target food cost percentage you choose has a direct effect on the recommended menu price. Take a dish with a $4.50 food cost: a lower target food cost percentage produces a higher recommended menu price for that same food cost, because you're dividing by a smaller number.
$18.00
Recommended price at a 25% target food cost.
$15.00
Recommended price at a 30% target food cost.
$12.86
Recommended price at a 35% target food cost.
Lower target food cost percentages produce higher recommended menu prices for the same food cost. There's no trick to it — it's simple division, and it's worth keeping in mind any time you compare pricing approaches across dishes or concepts.
Don't mix these up
Markup vs. Margin for
Restaurant Menu Pricing
Markup and gross margin both compare price to cost, but they answer different questions and use different formulas — mixing them up is one of the most common restaurant pricing mistakes.
Markup
Measures how much the price is increased above the food cost.
Markup % = (Price − Cost) ÷ Cost × 100
Gross Margin
Measures how much of the selling price remains after food cost.
Gross Margin % = (Price − Cost) ÷ Price × 100
Example: a $5 food cost on a $15 menu price is a 200% markup — the price is three times the cost — but only a 66.7% gross margin, since that is the share of the $15 selling price left after the $5 food cost.
Neither number is wrong — they're just answering different questions. When you're pricing a dish, markup tells you how much you added on top of cost; margin tells you how much of the final price is actually profit before other expenses.
Worked example
Menu Pricing Example
$4.50 ÷ 0.30 = $15.00. Selling at $15.00 leaves $10.50 of gross profit once food cost is covered, which is 70% of the $15.00 selling price — before labor, rent and other operating costs.
Avoid these
Common Restaurant
Menu Pricing Mistakes
A recommended price from the formula is only a starting point. These are the pricing mistakes that most often throw restaurant operators off after that first number.
Pricing From Competitors Alone
Competitor prices can provide context, but they do not reveal your own costs.
Ignoring Portion Cost
Small changes in portion size can materially change food cost.
Confusing Markup and Margin
Markup and margin use different formulas and give different-looking numbers for the same dish.
Ignoring Operating Costs
A dish can have a healthy food cost percentage and still be unprofitable after labor and overhead.
One step back
Need to Calculate Your
Food Cost First?
Food Cost Calculator
Use our free Food Cost Calculator to calculate food cost percentage and gross profit from your dish cost and menu price.
Use the Food Cost CalculatorGood to know
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the formula for pricing a restaurant menu item?
A simple starting formula is Recommended Menu Price = Food Cost ÷ Target Food Cost Percentage.
How do you calculate a menu price from food cost?
Divide the food cost of the dish by the target food cost percentage expressed as a decimal. For example, $4.50 ÷ 0.30 = $15.
What food cost percentage should I use?
There is no universal target that applies to every restaurant. The appropriate target depends on the restaurant's concept, menu, ingredient costs and overall operating structure.
What is the difference between markup and margin?
Markup measures the increase from cost to selling price, while margin measures the percentage of the selling price remaining after food cost.
Does the menu price calculator include labor?
The basic calculator uses food cost and target food cost percentage. Labor and other operating costs should be considered separately when setting the final menu price.
Can I use this calculator for recipes?
Yes. Use the total food cost for one serving or portion when determining a recommended menu price.
Does this calculator give the final price I should charge?
It provides a pricing starting point based on food cost and target food cost percentage. Restaurants should also consider labor, overhead, market conditions, positioning and perceived customer value.
Calculate Your Menu
Price in Seconds
Enter your food cost and target food cost percentage to get an instant recommended menu price.