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Free Menu Pricing Calculator

Calculate the right price for any menu item using the industry-standard food-cost percentage formula. Adjust for labor, packaging, and overhead.

Inputs

Optional: labor, packaging, overhead

Suggested Menu Price

Industry-standard formula applied to your inputs

$15.95
Total direct cost $4.50
Pre-overhead price $15.00
After overhead $15.00
Actual gross margin 71.8%
Actual food-cost % 28.2%

How to read this

The suggested price hits your target food-cost percentage. If actual food-cost % is higher than target, your inputs were under-priced.

The Formula

Restaurant pricing follows a deceptively simple formula:

Menu Price = (Food Cost + Labor + Packaging) ÷ (Target Food-Cost %)

If your food cost is $4.50 and you target 30% food cost, the math is $4.50 ÷ 0.30 = $15.00. That's the baseline. Layer on overhead allocation if you want the menu to also cover rent, utilities, and indirect labor without relying solely on volume.

Casual-dining benchmarks: 28-32% food cost. Fast-casual: 25-30%. Fine dining: 30-35% (offset by lower beverage cost ratios). Below 25% means you may be over-pricing and risking customer perception. Above 35% means you're leaving money on the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

What food-cost percentage should I target?
Industry-standard targets are 28-32% for full-service casual dining, 25-30% for fast-casual and QSR, and 30-35% for fine dining (where labor is also higher). Lower is not always better — under-pricing protein-heavy items can leave money on the table; over-pricing high-margin items like sodas can hurt perceived value.
Should I include labor cost in my menu pricing?
Direct preparation labor (the line cook making this specific item) usually IS factored in, especially for labor-intensive dishes like risotto or sushi. Indirect labor (managers, dishwashers, prep cooks) is typically covered by overhead instead. Use the 'Labor minutes' field for direct labor only.
What is psychological pricing and does it actually work?
Psychological pricing rounds menu prices to amounts ending in .95 or .99 because customers process the leading digit and ignore cents. Studies (notably Cornell's School of Hotel Administration) show 9-ending prices increase sales 24-28% versus round-number prices on identical items. Toggle it on for casual; off for fine dining where round numbers signal quality.
How is this calculator different from a recipe-cost calculator?
A recipe-cost calculator helps you total ingredient costs for one dish. This menu-price calculator takes that food cost as input and tells you what to charge — applying food-cost percentage, labor, packaging, and overhead. Use a recipe-cost tool first, then plug the result into this calculator.
Why is the calculated price different from what competitors charge?
Two reasons. (1) Your costs may differ — better-buying restaurants get lower food costs, busier kitchens have lower labor cost per dish. (2) Competitors may be under-pricing or over-pricing relative to what's sustainable. Use the calculated price as a floor for negotiation, not as a fixed answer. If the market won't bear it, find a way to lower direct costs (smaller portion, cheaper sourcing, faster prep) before lowering the price.
Does this work for cocktails, beer, and wine?
Yes — but use a higher target food-cost percentage. Beverage targets are typically 18-22% for beer, 22-28% for cocktails, 30-40% for wine (because wine markup conventions differ — a wine that costs you $15 wholesale often retails $40-60 by glass / $50-90 by bottle). For wine, multiply your wholesale cost by 2.5-3x as a starting point.
Should I use the same food-cost % across the entire menu?
No — use a blended target. Stars (high-margin signature items like steak frites or charcuterie boards) carry 22-28% food cost. Plowhorses (popular but lower-margin like pasta primavera) carry 30-35%. Cocktails and sodas carry 18-22%. Specials and seasonal items often run higher (35-40%) because they justify experimentation. The menu-wide average should land in your target band.

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