Jul 02, With the right formulas and resources, you can unlock one of the most important restaurant metrics and optimize your business for success. Why is calculating food cost percentage important? To help you get to the bottom of your food cost percentage, the team here at Toast developed a free Food Cost Calculator. First, we have you enter the type of concept you run and in what state.

Chefs are managers and must be able to control food costs in the kitchen. But controlling costs is everyone's responsibility and the chef must convey this message to their culinary team from the cooks to the dishwashers. Food cost is tied to properly training your crew so that they can be efficient, control portion sizes, and reduce food waste. Here are a few more ways to control costs. The two ways foodservice establishments use to determine food costs are:.

The cost of restaurant ingredients changes regularly, as the price of produce fluctuates with the seasons and you find different sources for essential items. It's prudent to calculate food costs before you introduce a menu item, so you can use this decision to help determine the customer's price. You should also calculate actual food costs as closely as possible after you start selling the item, to see whether you're actually spending the amount you expected.

Want to see reciProfity in action? Watch our videos. Learn more about why you should bring your business to the cloud.