Restaurant food cost guide
Food cost % = cost of goods sold ÷ food sales × 100. In a restaurant, COGS usually means recipe ingredient cost on sold items plus logged waste — not the whole grocery bill dumped into one month.
Food cost Insights need Growth/Scale and recipes on menu items.
Simple formula
Food cost % = (Opening stock + Purchases − Closing stock) ÷ Food sales × 100 — or, when you have recipes: theoretical recipe cost of paid items + waste cost, divided by food sales.
- Target bands vary by concept — QSR is often leaner than fine dining
- Track period-over-period change, not one magic target
- Separate beverage cost if alcohol is material
What moves food cost
- Supplier price increases
- Portion creep and missing recipe lines
- Unlogged waste and overproduction
- Discounts and comps (sales side)
- Menu mix shift toward low-margin items
myRestrox Insights
Insights calculates food cost from paid sales and waste for the range you pick. It explains changes and flags recipe variance. Optional Ask uses your API key — it never invents a second ledger.
Questions
- Is food cost calculated by AI?
- No. It is calculated from POS reports. AI Ask is optional explanation over that pack.