Plate cost is what the food on one plate costs you. The formula is the sum of each component's cost per portion, where each component's cost per portion = (as-purchased price ÷ yield) × portion size. The yield is the part that matters: a pork shoulder bought at $3.20 a pound that's 60% usable after cooking really costs $5.33 a pound on the plate. Add a small allowance for oil, salt and garnish, and the container if it's to go, and you have the plate cost. In the example below, a catering plate costs $4.26 and sells for $15. Below is the formula, yields worked through, a plate costed line by line, the buying list for an order, and how to price it.
The short version
- Cost per portion = as-purchased price ÷ yield × portion size.
- Yield = usable weight after trimming and cooking ÷ weight bought.
- Plate cost = the sum of every component, plus a small allowance for oil, salt and garnish.
- Price from the plate cost: plate cost ÷ your target food cost percentage.
- Use yields to turn an order into a buying list.
- Measure your own yields; they change with suppliers and cooks.
- TaroStack keeps yields in recipes and checks them against real batches. More below.
The formula
Yield = usable weight ÷ weight bought
Edible cost per lb = as-purchased price per lb ÷ yield
Cost per portion = edible cost per lb × portion in lb
Plate cost = sum of portions + allowance + packaging
As-purchased (AP) is what the invoice says; edible portion (EP) is what reaches the plate. The gap between them is trim, bone, peel and cooking loss, and it's where plate costs usually go wrong.
Yields, worked through
Windward Roots, the made-up taro business I use in these examples, caters a Hawaiian plate:
| Component | Bought at | Yield | Edible cost per lb | Portion | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalua pork, shoulder | $3.20 a lb | 60% cooked | $5.33 | 5 oz | $1.67 |
| Steamed taro | $1.09 a lb | 85% peeled | $1.28 | 6 oz | $0.48 |
| Lomi salmon (salmon, tomato, onion) | 3 oz | $1.03 | |||
| Haupia square | 1 piece | $0.35 |
The pork shows why yield matters: priced at the invoice's $3.20 a pound, the 5 oz portion would look like $1.00. At the real 60% yield it's $1.67, and that 67-cent gap on every plate is the difference between a price that works and one that doesn't. Measure your own yields: weigh what you buy, weigh what you serve, a few times over.
The plate, line by line
| Plate cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Food components | $3.53 |
| Allowance for oil, salt, garnish, 5% | $0.18 |
| Food cost per plate | $3.71 |
| Container, fork, napkin | $0.55 |
| Plate cost | $4.26 |
At a $15 catering price, food is 24.7% of the price and the whole plate 28.4%. To price at a target food cost percentage, divide: at 30%, $3.71 ÷ 0.30 = $12.37. How food cost percentages compare across businesses is in what is a good food cost percentage.
From an order to a buying list
An order for 80 plates turns into what to buy through the same yields, the other way round:
Pork 80 × 5 oz = 400 oz = 25.0 lb served ÷ 0.60 = 41.7 lb of shoulder
Taro 80 × 6 oz = 480 oz = 30.0 lb served ÷ 0.85 = 35.3 lb of taro
Plates 80 × $4.26 = $340.80 of plate cost
Round up for the trimming that runs over and the plate someone drops. The same arithmetic for a week of meal prep is in meal prep business startup cost, and the general method for any recipe is in steps in recipe costing.
Where this stops working
A plate cost sheet holds one price and one yield per ingredient, typed in once. Then pork goes up, the new butcher trims differently and the yield drops to 55%, and the cook's 5 oz becomes 6. The sheet still says $4.26, and the real plate is something nearer $4.80. On a menu of twenty plates, nobody recalculates every one each month, so prices drift behind costs until the year-end numbers come in.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps price and yield together in the recipe, and checks both against what really happens in the kitchen.
Recipes carry their yields. A recipe holds each ingredient in the unit you use it, its expected yield and scrap, and sub-recipes like the kalua pork used in several plates. Units convert: buy pork by the case, cook by the pound, portion by the ounce. Ingredients come in at what you paid, with freight spread across the delivery, so the plate cost is built from this week's prices.
Real batches check the yield. Every batch you record notes what went in and what came out good, so the real yield is in your own history. Recipe truth shows whether a recipe yields what it claims and which ingredient's quantity is off, so the pork that now yields 55% shows up as a number. Margins are reported per product on what each one actually cost.
And an order becomes a buying list. Planning turns orders into what to make and buy, through the recipes and their yields, and every suggestion is a draft you approve. Lots carry their dates, and the oldest goes first.
| The job | Plate cost sheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Pork price | Typed in once | What you paid, this week |
| Pork yield | 60%, forever | Checked by every batch |
| Order for 80 | Worked out by hand | Planning, through recipes and yields |
| Real plate cost | The sheet's number | Margins on actual cost |
Lots and stock value are on every plan, from $49 a month; recipes with yields, batch costs, recipe truth and planning are on Standard at $99. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card, and your recipes import from a spreadsheet or a photo of a recipe card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.