How Do You Calculate Restaurant Food Cost Percentage?

Food costs can be the bane of your existence, or they can be the most helpful restaurant metric you’ll ever calculate.

Either way, they’re crucial to any restaurant.

If you’re an industry veteran, you know that there are three types of restaurateurs:

Those who calculate their food costs. Those who don’t because it’s too confusing. Those who don’t because it can take way too long. But it doesn’t have to be confusing, and it doesn’t have to take long.

With tools like menu engineering software, inventory modules, and Toast’s free Food Cost Calculator, discerning your true food costs - even compared to others in your competitive landscape - is as simple as typing in your numbers and letting the computer do the work.

Still, it’s important as a restaurant professional to understand the fundamentals of food cost percentage so you can make smart decisions in the back of the house, avoid waste, and remain profitable.

In this post, we’ll share why food cost is so…