How to Price Tacos: A Taco Truck's Menu, With a Calculator

To price a carne asada taco you add up its full cost first: the meat, tortillas and toppings by the batch, your time at an hourly rate, the foil or paper, and a share of overhead like rent and power. That's what one taco costs you. Then set the price so that, after card and selling fees, it leaves the margin you want: price = full cost ÷ (1 − margin − fee rate). For a carne asada taco that costs $1.74 to make, a 45% margin after 3% fees means $3.35, rounded up to $3.50. The meat is more than two-thirds of the food in a taco; the truck's commissary, propane and permits are the overhead behind every one. A catered taco bar is priced per taco too, set so it covers the full cost and the trip. In the example below, a San Antonio taco truck prices its carne asada for the window and a catered taco bar.

The short version

• Full cost = meat, tortillas and toppings a taco + your time + foil or paper + overhead.
• Price = full cost ÷ (1 − margin − fee rate).
• Count your time at a real hourly rate, even if you don't pay yourself yet.
• Price by the batch: meat by the case, tortillas by the hundred.
• Spread the commissary, propane and permits over the tacos you sell.
• Check what wholesale leaves after full cost before saying yes.
• TaroStack costs each taco from its recipe and what each batch used. More below.

What goes into a taco's cost

The truck's year is in taco truck business plan, and catering in how to price catering.

An example: a carne asada taco

La Esquina Taco Truck, the made-up taco truck in San Antonio, Texas, I use in these examples, preps about 200 carne asada tacos for a day at the window:

At a 45% margin after 3% card fees, the price is $1.74 ÷ 0.52 = $3.35, so $3.50. At $3.50 a taco, each leaves $1.66. The truck opened at $2.75, which left $0.93, and moved up when beef rose. A catered taco bar at $3.00 a taco leaves $1.17, for a crowd that eats on one schedule. Event permits for a catered taco bar are in temporary food permit.

Get the calculator

Download the taco price calculator. One sheet: type the batch's ingredients, amounts and costs, the tacos it makes, the hands-on minutes, the foil and overhead, your hourly rate, card fees and the margin you want; the full cost, the price for your margin rounded up, and what a wholesale price and a test price leave fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

The calculator prices one taco. Beef that went up 40 cents a pound, a slow Tuesday that leaves meat unsold, and al pastor with its own costs change what each taco really cost.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack costs each taco from its recipe and from what each batch used.

Recipes by weight. Each taco is a recipe, with unit conversion from the case or sack to the gram.

True cost from the batch. Each batch takes ingredients at their real cost, from the deliveries they came from, so a price rise shows up in the next batch.

Price creep. A price-creep report per supplier shows which ingredient is quietly costing more.

Recipes, batches and true cost are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

How much should I charge for a taco?

Work out the full cost, the meat, tortillas, toppings, prep time, foil and overhead, then divide by 1 minus your margin and fee rate; the example's $1.74 taco prices at $3.50 for a 45% margin.

How do you calculate the cost of a taco?

Add the batch's ingredients and divide by the tacos it makes, then add your time, the foil and a share of overhead.

What is a good profit margin on tacos?

Set your own target after fees; the example uses 45% on direct sales and accepts less on wholesale.

How much should I charge for a taco bar?

Enough to cover the full cost and the trip; the example charges $3.00 a taco, which leaves $1.17 each.