Food cost & menu profitability

Know what every plate really costs.

PlateCost reads your supplier invoices, recalculates every recipe as prices move, and tells you which dishes to reprice, how much to prep and what to order. Built for restaurants, hotel F&B and food service chains.

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  • Works with your POS
  • Approve on mobile
  • Encrypted, role-based
Recipe · Dinner mains
Pan-roasted salmon, beurre blanc
Sample data
IngredientLine cost
  • Atlantic salmon fillet$4.96
    200 g · $24.80/kg +8% this week
  • Fingerling potatoes$0.54
    150 g · $3.60/kg
  • Haricots verts$0.60
    80 g · $7.50/kg
  • White wine, dry$0.44
    40 ml · $11.00/L
  • Butter, unsalted$0.28
    30 g · $9.20/kg
  • Shallot$0.08
    20 g · $4.10/kg
  • Herbs, oil, garnish$0.26
    — · batch
Plate cost
$7.16
Menu price
$29.00
Margin
$21.84
Food cost 24.7%target 24%

Suggestion: salmon rose 8% on Monday's invoice. Repricing to $30.00 brings this dish to 23.9%, back under target.

What pilot kitchens saw in their first two months.

costed in the first week, median pilot kitchen
46recipes

costed in the first week, median pilot kitchen

food cost % after eight weeks, pilot sample
−1.6pts

food cost % after eight weeks, pilot sample

saved building supplier orders, self-reported
~3hrs/wk

saved building supplier orders, self-reported

Illustrative sample metrics from pilot kitchens — not audited results. Your numbers will differ.

The problem

Invoice prices change weekly. Menu prices change yearly.

The gap between the two is where margin disappears. PlateCost closes it by keeping recipe costs in step with what you actually pay.

Today, in most kitchens

  • Supplier prices change every delivery; recipe cards get updated once a year.
  • Food cost % arrives with the month-end P&L, too late to act on.
  • Prep is based on habit, so the walk-in fills up on slow nights.
  • Orders are built by hand from three supplier portals before cutoff.

With PlateCost

  • Invoice lines flow into recipe costs automatically.
  • Plate cost and food cost % update daily, per dish and per outlet.
  • Prep sheets follow forecast covers, weather and events.
  • Draft orders compare suppliers line by line, ready to approve.
Four modules, one kitchen

From the invoice to the pass.

Platform details

Every invoice line updates every plate.

PlateCost imports supplier invoices, maps each line to the ingredients in your recipes and recalculates plate cost the moment a price changes. Compare actual against theoretical food cost to spot portioning, waste or shrinkage.

  • Cost per recipe, category and outlet
  • Actual vs. theoretical food cost
  • Custom cost alerts on the ingredients you watch
Price changes from this week's invoicesSample data
  • Atlantic salmon, fillet
    Sysco · inv 88213 · affects 3 dishes
    $24.80/kg
    +8.0% from $22.96/kg
  • Chicken thigh, boneless
    US Foods · inv 40177 · affects 5 dishes
    $7.74/kg
    +9.0% from $7.10/kg
  • Heavy cream 36%
    Local dairy · inv 1290 · affects 7 dishes
    $5.05/L
    −2.9% from $5.20/L
  • Romaine hearts
    PFG · inv 66501 · affects 2 dishes
    $2.85/ea
    0.0% from $2.85/ea
How it works

Set up once. Then it keeps up with your suppliers.

  1. 1

    Connect POS and suppliers

    Link your point-of-sale system, supplier accounts and inventory tools. We help map your first recipes during onboarding.

  2. 2

    Costs map to every plate

    Ingredients are matched to recipes and menu items, so each dish has a live plate cost and margin.

  3. 3

    Tune the menu

    Review menu engineering scores and price suggestions, and see the margin effect before you reprint.

  4. 4

    Prep and order with less waste

    Use daily prep sheets and drafted supplier orders, and track waste by station and shift.

Who it's for

One kitchen or a hundred.

The same costing engine runs a single bistro or a portfolio of hotel outlets. Each location gets its own view; head office sees all of them.

Independent restaurants

Recipe costing and menu pricing for a single location, without hiring an analyst.

Hotel F&B

One view across outlets, banquets and room service, with food cost compared per outlet.

Food service chains

Standard recipes and pricing across locations, consolidated purchasing and benchmarking.

Pricing

Priced per location.

Start with one kitchen. Add locations, automated ordering and benchmarking when you need them.

Kitchen

For independent restaurants and single locations

$89 /mo per location
  • 1 location
  • Real-time food cost tracking
  • Menu engineering scores
  • Basic waste prediction
Request access

Chain

Most chosen

For multi-unit operators and growing chains

$199 /mo per location
  • Unlimited locations
  • Advanced waste prediction & prep optimization
  • Automated supplier ordering
  • Unlimited POS & supplier integrations
Request access

Enterprise

For hotel groups, franchises, and large food service operations

Custom
  • Unlimited users & locations
  • Custom AI model training on your data
  • SSO & SAML authentication
  • Dedicated success manager
Talk to us

Compare every feature · annual billing gets two months free

Bring three recipes and last week's invoices.

We'll cost them with you on the onboarding call, so the first plate cost you see in PlateCost is one of yours.

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