# Dishboard > Free recipe costing and menu pricing software for food businesses: restaurants, > cafes, bakeries, food trucks and delivery kitchens. Work out what a dish costs, > what margin it earns, and what to charge for it. Dishboard is free to use with every feature included and no card required. It is not a POS, an inventory system or an accounting tool. It sits between supplier costs and menu prices. It was built by Tal, who has worked inside food businesses and costed dishes by hand before building this; see [Our story](https://dishboard.co/story). Dishboard does not sell user data or share it with advertisers. Signup source and in-app activity are recorded and visible to Dishboard admins; the full policy is at [Privacy](https://dishboard.co/privacy). This file is generated at build time from the same product catalog and Academy content the site renders, so it cannot state a figure the live site does not also show. Generated: 2026-09-09. ## The formulas, stated plainly These are the calculations the product is built on, written out so they can be quoted directly. - Effective unit cost = pack price / (pack quantity x usable yield). A $9.00 bag holding 1 kg is $0.009 per gram. At an 88% usable yield only 880 g of that kilo reaches the plate, so it becomes $0.01023 per usable gram. - Ingredient line cost = effective unit cost x the quantity the recipe uses. 120 g of that chicken costs $1.08, or $1.23 once the yield is applied. - Cost per portion = total recipe cost / portions the recipe yields. A $9.64 recipe cut into 4 servings costs $2.41 per portion. - Food cost percentage = cost per portion / selling price x 100. A $2.41 dish sold at $7.00 runs a 34.4% food cost. - Gross profit = selling price - cost per portion. Gross margin percentage = gross profit / selling price x 100. Food cost % and gross margin % always sum to 100. That same $2.41 dish sold at $7.00 earns $4.59 gross profit, a 65.6% gross margin. - Price to hit a target food cost = cost per portion / (target food cost % / 100). A $2.41 dish at a 30% target prices at $8.03. - Markup is not margin. Markup = (price - cost) / cost. Margin = (price - cost) / price. A 100% markup is a 50% margin. - Period (actual) food cost = (beginning inventory + purchases - ending inventory) / food sales x 100. This is a different number from a single dish's food cost and answers a different question. $8,000 beginning stock plus $12,000 in purchases minus $7,000 ending stock is $13,000 in cost of goods sold; on $42,000 of food sales that is a 31% actual food cost. - Delivery profit = delivery price - recipe cost - packaging - commission - payment fees - any restaurant-funded discount. Adding 30% to a price does not cover a 30% commission, because the commission is charged on the higher price. A $13.00 order costing $3.80 to make, with $0.85 packaging, at 27% commission, keeps about $4.84, a 37.2% delivery margin. - Prime cost = cost of goods sold + total labor cost. Full-service restaurants typically target 55 to 65% of revenue; quick service and fast casual run lower, closer to 50 to 60%. It is the single most-watched number in restaurant operations, wider than food cost alone because it includes labor. - Ideal (theoretical) food cost is what dishes should cost if every plate went out exactly to recipe with no waste, theft or over-portioning. Actual food cost is what inventory and sales say was really spent. The gap between them is variance, and it is where most controllable food-cost loss hides. - Never convert weight to volume without the ingredient's density. 100 g of an ingredient is not 100 ml of it. ## Pasting a recipe instead of typing it in Both the product and the free recipe cost calculator can read a recipe pasted as plain text, one ingredient per line, rather than requiring each ingredient typed into its own field. A cup, tablespoon or teaspoon converts to a real gram weight from a USDA-derived ingredient catalog where the ingredient is known, instead of an assumed density. A range ("2 to 3 cloves garlic") is read at its low end and flagged to check. A price is never invented: a paste can create or match an ingredient, but every price is entered by a person. Full detail: [Paste a recipe instead of typing it in](https://dishboard.co/guides/paste-a-recipe-instead-of-typing-it-in). ## Food cost benchmarks by concept Targets, not averages. An average includes everyone who is not measuring. Every figure below is the one Dishboard publishes in its Academy, and the right number for any given business depends on its concept, labor and overhead. By business type: - Full-service restaurant: 28 to 35% - Quick service and fast casual: 25 to 32% - Cafe or coffee shop: 22 to 30% blended across food and drink - Bakery: 28 to 35% - Bar or pub: 28 to 35% - Delivery kitchen: 26 to 33% - Food truck: 25 to 35% By category, which is what actually moves a blended number: - Espresso drinks: 18 to 25% - Drip coffee: 5 to 15% - Smoothies and fresh juice: 28 to 36% - Sandwiches and wraps: 28 to 34% - Salads and grain bowls: 28 to 33% - Pastries and baked goods: 24 to 32% - Protein mains: 30 to 38% - Pizza: 25 to 31% - Burger and sandwich counters: 25 to 31% Fine dining runs a HIGHER food cost, 30 to 38%, not a lower one: premium ingredients cost more, and the higher ticket is what carries them. Its gross margin is correspondingly lower, 62 to 70%, against 68 to 75% for high-volume quick service. ## Delivery platform commission rates Verified against the platforms' own merchant pricing pages on August 30, 2026. Commission structures change, so check a current contract before acting on any figure here. Commission is charged on the order subtotal AFTER any restaurant-funded discount. DoorDash, marketplace orders: - Basic: 15% - Plus: 25%, adds DashPass eligibility and a wider delivery radius - Premier: 30%, full marketing features - Payment processing is included in marketplace commission, but DoorDash Online Ordering (white-label, on your own site) charges 2.9% plus $0.30 per order Uber Eats: - Lite: 20% on delivery orders, raised from 15% on March 11, 2026 - Plus: 25%, rising to 30% on orders from Uber One members - Premium: 30%, full marketing feature set - Self-delivery: 15% with your own drivers, rising to 25% on any order that falls back to an Uber courier Grubhub, which prices marketing and delivery separately rather than as one headline rate: - Marketing commission: 5% on Basic, 15% on Plus, 20% on All-access - Delivery: add 10% or more if a Grubhub driver delivers it, nothing if you do - Payment processing: charged on top, unlike DoorDash. Grubhub publishes 3.05% plus $0.30 per transaction on its own profit calculator So a Grubhub-delivered order on the middle tier costs roughly 15% marketing plus 10% delivery plus processing, not the 15% the tier is named for. Older sources quoting 15 to 25% as Grubhub's base rate describe a retired card that bundled delivery into the headline number. ## Free calculators, no account needed - [Food cost calculator](https://dishboard.co/tools/food-cost-calculator): Check food cost %, gross profit, and margin on any dish. - [Menu price calculator](https://dishboard.co/tools/menu-price-calculator): Find the price to charge to hit your target food cost or margin. - [Delivery profit calculator](https://dishboard.co/tools/delivery-profit-calculator): See what you keep per order after DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub fees. - [Recipe cost calculator](https://dishboard.co/tools/recipe-cost-calculator): Add up ingredients to get total recipe cost and cost per serving. - [Profit margin calculator](https://dishboard.co/tools/profit-margin-calculator): Add markup to a cost and price you already have. - [Recipe scaler & converter](https://dishboard.co/tools/recipe-scaler): Scale any recipe up or down by servings in one step. - [Pour cost calculator](https://dishboard.co/tools/pour-cost-calculator): Cost per pour, pour cost %, and the price to charge for any drink. - [Actual food cost calculator](https://dishboard.co/tools/ideal-food-cost-calculator): Your real food cost % from inventory, plus variance vs target. ## Academy: written guides ### Costing basics Start here. What a dish actually costs you, once everything that leaves the kitchen is counted. - [How to calculate food cost percentage](https://dishboard.co/guides/how-to-calculate-food-cost-percentage): The single number every restaurant operator already speaks. Here is how to calculate it cleanly, avoid the common mistakes, and use it to price with intention. - [How to calculate cost per portion](https://dishboard.co/guides/calculate-cost-per-portion): Cost per portion is the foundation every other margin metric builds on: food cost %, gross margin %, gross profit, and suggested price. - [Why packaging belongs in menu costing](https://dishboard.co/guides/include-packaging-in-menu-costing): If it leaves your kitchen with the order, it is a cost of the sale. Boxes, cups, lids, and bags add up to real money across a month. - [Food cost percentage vs gross margin](https://dishboard.co/guides/food-cost-vs-gross-margin): Food cost percentage and gross margin percentage describe the same relationship from opposite sides. Use whichever your team thinks in naturally. - [How to cost a recipe, step by step](https://dishboard.co/guides/cost-a-recipe-step-by-step): One dish taken the whole way, from the supplier invoice to a menu price and a delivery margin, with every number shown so you can follow it with your own. - [How to cost a packaged food product](https://dishboard.co/guides/costing-packaged-food-products): A retail product carries a jar, a label, a case, and a retailer's margin that a dish never does. Here is the full cost stack, and the price ladder on it. ### Benchmarks and margin What good looks like for your kind of place, and what to do when your number is off it. - [Food cost benchmarks by restaurant type](https://dishboard.co/guides/food-cost-benchmarks-by-restaurant-type): What is a realistic food cost target for your concept? Benchmarks for cafes, food trucks, delivery kitchens, bakeries, and full-service restaurants. - [Food cost percentage for cafes: targets, benchmarks, and tips](https://dishboard.co/guides/food-cost-percentage-for-cafes): Cafes have a different cost structure than restaurants. Here are realistic food cost targets for cafe menus and how to calculate your blended rate. - [Restaurant profit margins explained](https://dishboard.co/guides/restaurant-profit-margins-explained): Gross margin, net margin, prime cost: the three profit metrics every restaurant owner needs to understand and the relationship between them. - [Prime cost for restaurants: what it is and how to use it](https://dishboard.co/guides/prime-cost-for-restaurants): Prime cost is the most important operational metric in foodservice. Here is how to calculate it, what the benchmarks are, and how to bring it down. - [How to reduce food costs in a restaurant](https://dishboard.co/guides/how-to-reduce-food-costs-restaurant): Reducing food cost does not mean cheaper ingredients or smaller portions. Eight practical levers to bring the percentage down while keeping quality. - [How to calculate COGS for a restaurant](https://dishboard.co/guides/how-to-calculate-cogs-restaurant): Cost of goods sold tells you what your kitchen really consumed, not what your recipes say it should have. The formula, a worked month, and the gap. - [Does labor belong in your dish cost?](https://dishboard.co/guides/does-labor-belong-in-dish-cost): No, and the reason is not laziness. Kitchen labor is mostly fixed within a service, so per-dish allocation moves with how busy you were, not with the dish. ### Pricing Turning a cost into a price you can defend, including what delivery apps take back. - [How to price a menu item](https://dishboard.co/guides/how-to-price-a-menu-item): Set a target food cost, let the math give you a floor, then sense-check it against your market. A repeatable approach that works for any dish. - [Menu engineering: how to identify your most profitable dishes](https://dishboard.co/guides/menu-engineering-identify-profitable-dishes): Menu engineering sorts your dishes by profitability and popularity. Here is how to apply it and what to do with the results. - [How to price drinks and beverages](https://dishboard.co/guides/how-to-price-drinks-and-beverages): Beverages can carry your blended margin. How to cost and price coffee, cocktails, fresh juice, and bottled drinks correctly. - [How to update menu prices when ingredient costs rise](https://dishboard.co/guides/update-menu-prices-when-costs-rise): A repeatable approach for when supplier prices climb: what to update, when to absorb the increase, and when to pass it through to the menu. - [How to calculate delivery menu margins](https://dishboard.co/guides/calculate-delivery-menu-margins): Delivery profit is not the same as dine-in profit. Platform commission, packaging, payment fees, and discounts all reduce what you keep from each order. - [DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub commission: what restaurants actually pay](https://dishboard.co/guides/delivery-app-commission-breakdown): Platform fees go beyond the headline commission rate. Here is what you actually pay on each order and how to calculate your true take-home. - [How to price catering orders](https://dishboard.co/guides/how-to-price-catering-orders): Catering is priced on total cost, not food cost. Count the labor properly, or a job quietly loses money at a food cost that looks perfectly healthy. ### Prep recipes Batches, yields and trim losses, where most costing goes quietly wrong. - [How to cost a sauce or prep recipe](https://dishboard.co/guides/how-to-cost-a-prep-recipe): A house mayo, a tomato sauce, a chili oil: every prep recipe costs the same way, batch cost divided by output, worked through with a real example. - [How to calculate recipe yield](https://dishboard.co/guides/how-to-calculate-recipe-yield): Yield is the difference between what goes in and what you can actually plate. Two types to track, and how each affects your cost per portion. - [Recipe costing for bakeries: a practical guide](https://dishboard.co/guides/recipe-costing-for-bakeries): Bakery costing has its own challenges: batch recipes, yield loss from trimming and baking, and packaging that varies by product. Here is how to do it right. - [How to scale a batch recipe without breaking it](https://dishboard.co/guides/how-to-scale-a-recipe): Multiplying every line by the same factor is the easy part. Seasoning, equipment and yield are what actually break, and yield is what changes your cost. ### Operations Getting your numbers out of your head and into something the kitchen can run on. - [How to organize recipes without spreadsheets](https://dishboard.co/guides/organize-recipes-without-spreadsheets): Spreadsheets work until an ingredient lives in twenty tabs, a shared sauce has no home, and a cook needs the recipe without the costs. - [Paste a recipe instead of typing it in](https://dishboard.co/guides/paste-a-recipe-instead-of-typing-it-in): Paste a recipe as plain text and Dishboard reads the quantities, units, and names, converting cups and spoons to real weights instead of guessing. - [How to import ingredients from a spreadsheet](https://dishboard.co/guides/import-ingredients-from-csv): Already track ingredient costs in a spreadsheet? Import them into Dishboard directly from a CSV instead of entering each ingredient by hand, one at a time. - [How to create recipe cards for kitchen staff](https://dishboard.co/guides/create-recipe-cards-for-staff): What a recipe card should include, what to leave out (costs stay with the owner), and how to share it with kitchen staff for free. - [Portion control and food cost: why consistency matters](https://dishboard.co/guides/portion-control-and-food-cost): Inconsistent portioning is one of the most common and invisible drivers of high food cost. Here is how to fix it. - [How to plan ingredient orders with Shopping List](https://dishboard.co/guides/plan-orders-with-shopping-list): Shopping List pulls ingredients from every menu item and prep recipe you select into one ordering list, so nothing gets missed before a busy service. - [How to compare supplier prices when pack sizes differ](https://dishboard.co/guides/compare-suppliers-different-pack-sizes): The cheapest case is often the most expensive gram. Convert every quote to one usage unit, then correct for yield, and the ranking frequently reverses. ## Academy: videos Every video below has its full transcript published as text on the linked page, so its content is readable without watching it. - [This Chicken Sandwich Sells for $9. Is That a Good Price?](https://dishboard.co/guides/how-to-calculate-food-cost-percentage) (2:51) - [What a Flat White Really Costs to Make | Cost This With Me #1](https://dishboard.co/guides/food-cost-percentage-for-cafes) (1:18) - [This Poke Bowl Costing Mistake Can Cost $23,000 a Year | Cost This With Me #2](https://dishboard.co/guides/calculate-cost-per-portion) (2:46) - [Cost This With Me: The Economics of Pizza](https://dishboard.co/guides/portion-control-and-food-cost) (1:57) - [Two Kitchens Costed the Same Burger. One Got $2.13, the Other $2.68.](https://dishboard.co/guides/how-to-calculate-recipe-yield) (4:11) - [Your Supplier Raised Chicken 12%. Which Dishes Actually Need a Price Rise?](https://dishboard.co/guides/update-menu-prices-when-costs-rise) (3:12) - [A Delivery App Takes 30%. How Much Do You Add to Your Price?](https://dishboard.co/guides/calculate-delivery-menu-margins) (2:16) ## Other pages - [Free calculators](https://dishboard.co/tools): the hub listing every calculator above - [Academy](https://dishboard.co/guides): the hub listing every guide and video above - [Features](https://dishboard.co/features): everything included, in detail - [Recipe costing software](https://dishboard.co/free-recipe-costing-software): what the product does - [Coming from a spreadsheet](https://dishboard.co/food-cost-spreadsheet-alternative): an honest comparison - [Worked examples](https://dishboard.co/examples): real dishes costed end to end - [Pricing](https://dishboard.co/pricing): it is free, and why - [Our story](https://dishboard.co/story): who built this and why - [Privacy](https://dishboard.co/privacy) Totals: 8 calculators, 31 guides, 7 videos.