Guides

The food cost percentage formula explained with worked examples, healthy target ranges by concept, and the mistakes that quietly break the math.

A practical walkthrough of recipe costing: unit conversions, yield adjustment, batch vs. portion cost, and a full worked example.

What yield percentage is, how trim loss silently inflates plate costs, and how to run a yield test in your own kitchen.

Approximate yield percentages for common produce and proteins, plus how to use them to find true ingredient cost per usable pound.

Three menu pricing methods compared — target food cost, gross profit, and market anchoring — with worked examples and when each one wins.

The classic popularity-vs-profit menu matrix explained, with what to actually do about each quadrant.

How to calculate beverage pour cost, healthy targets for beer, wine, and cocktails, and where bar profit quietly leaks.

What prime cost is, why the 60% rule matters more than food cost alone, and how the two numbers work together.

Pack sizes, catch weights, splits, and the line items that hide price increases — how to actually read a Sysco or US Foods invoice.

A faster, more accurate physical inventory: shelf-to-sheet counting, count units, cutoffs, and what to do with the number afterward.

Ten concrete food-cost reductions that don’t touch quality: specs, portioning, yield, waste, vendor discipline, and menu moves.

A lightweight waste-logging system that actually gets used, and how two weeks of data finds your most expensive habits.

Per-person catering pricing from plate cost up: food cost targets, what belongs outside the food price, minimums, and a full worked example.

Guaranteed counts, overage percentages, buffet vs. plated waste, and scaling recipes for events — where catering food cost hides its leaks.

Per-person portion guidelines for catering — proteins, sides, apps, desserts — with buffet multipliers and a 50-guest worked example.

Bottle sizes to ounces, cost per pour, keg and wine-bottle math — the conversion table that underlies every drink price.

Cocktail pricing from pour cost up: full build costing, tier targets, batching, and when the formula bends to the market.

Wine program pricing: the glass-pays-for-the-bottle rule, sliding bottle markups, and managing by-the-glass spoilage.

How to run a bar variance report — theoretical vs. actual usage — and what over-pouring, comps, and shrinkage each look like in the data.