Pricing a dish usually happens backward from how the math actually works: an owner picks a price that "feels right" next to competitors, then finds out months later whether it actually hit their food cost target. This tool flips that order — set your target food cost percentage first, and get the price that actually delivers it.
How menu price is calculated
The formula is the plate-cost calculation run in reverse: ingredient cost divided by your target food cost percentage equals the price you need to charge. A $7 plate cost at a 28% target food cost works out to a $25 price point. Raise the target percentage and the suggested price drops; lower it and the price rises — the same relationship, just solved for the variable you actually want an answer for.
If you provide a current menu price alongside your target, the tool also shows the food cost percentage that price is actually delivering today, and the dollar adjustment needed to close the gap.
Why flat pricing advice gets this wrong
A lot of pricing guidance treats "match the competitor" or "add 3x cost" as universal rules. Neither accounts for your specific target margin, your specific ingredient cost, or the fact that a flat multiplier applied across a whole menu systematically overprices your cheap dishes and underprices your expensive ones. Working from a target percentage instead of a flat multiplier keeps every dish consistent with the margin structure you've actually decided on.
Worked example
A dish with $7 in ingredient cost, targeting a 28% food cost, needs a $25 price ($7 ÷ 0.28). If that same dish is currently priced at $20, it's actually running a 35% food cost today — outside the target range — and needs roughly a $5 increase to hit the goal. On a menu with a dozen dishes drifting the same way, that's a meaningful, fixable margin gap hiding in plain sight.
Common mistakes and benchmarks
- Picking one target percentage for the whole menu. Proteins, sides, and shareables often warrant different target ranges — a single blanket target can misprice entire categories.
- Ignoring perceived value. The suggested price is a cost-driven floor for your target margin, not a ceiling — a dish with strong perceived value can often carry a higher price than the bare formula suggests.
- Setting it once and forgetting it. Ingredient costs move. Run this again whenever a supplier price shifts — see the supplier price impact calculator for modeling that directly — and whenever you revisit the underlying recipe & plate cost for a dish.