Energy is climbing, ingredients are getting pricier, and your profit margin narrows dish by dish. Dish costing is the tool that shows you, in clear numbers, what every recipe truly costs. Wholesale electricity in Greece rose by 52 percent in just two months in autumn 2025. Without accurate food cost, you price blindly and profit leaks away quietly.
Your hesitation is reasonable. Restaurant turnover in Greece fell by 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2026, so every euro counts. The good news? Costing needs no accountant, just a method. Here are 7 simple steps, from the food cost formula to the price on your menu.
1. Start dish costing from the food cost formula
Food cost is the cost of a dish's ingredients against its selling price, written as a percentage. The formula is simple: food cost percent equals ingredient cost divided by selling price, times one hundred. A dish with 3 euros of ingredients that you sell for 10 euros has a 30 percent food cost.
This percentage is your compass. The lower it is, the wider your margin. The higher it climbs, the more your profit gets squeezed. Keep the formula handy and calculate it for each dish separately, not just for the whole menu.
Many owners look only at the average of the whole menu. That way they miss the dishes that quietly eat their profit. One balances the other on paper, while in practice you sell more of the unprofitable one.
2. Record the real cost of every ingredient
Costing starts in the storeroom. Note what you pay for each ingredient per kilo or per unit. Do not rely on memory, because supplier prices change every month. Update your list with every new invoice.
Pay special attention to waste. A kilo of meat does not yield a kilo of portions, since you lose weight in trimming and cooking. Calculate the cost on the net weight that reaches the plate, not the gross. Otherwise every dish costs you more than you think.
Keep a record of prices by supplier too. That way you quickly see who got pricier and where it pays to switch. A little order in the numbers saves you real money through the season.
3. Calculate the food cost of each dish separately
Dish costing is always done per recipe. Build a simple card for each dish with all its ingredients and quantities. Add up their cost and you have the total ingredient cost of the portion.
Do not forget the small things. Oil, salt, spices and garnish seem trivial, yet they add up. Include a small percentage for these consumables. That way your number comes out realistic rather than optimistic.
Let us look at an example. A pasta dish with 120 grams of pasta, sauce, cheese and oil costs around 1.80 euros. Add 5 percent for consumables and you reach 1.90. That is the ingredient cost that goes into the formula.
4. Set a target percentage based on your venue
There is no single correct food cost for everyone, as it depends on the type of venue. According to a costing guide for the Greek market, healthy percentages run as follows:
- Full service restaurants: food cost around 28 to 35 percent.
- Cafes and snack bars: food cost around 22 to 28 percent.
- Fast food and delivery: food cost around 25 to 30 percent.
Set your own target within these ranges. If a dish exceeds the target, something has to change: the portion, the ingredient or the price. Track the percentage at least once a month, not once a year. A 2 or 3 percent drift looks trivial, yet over a year it translates into thousands of euros.
5. Price backwards, from cost to price
Once you know your cost and your target, the price almost sets itself. Divide the ingredient cost by the target percentage. Ingredients of 3 euros with a 30 percent food cost target give you a selling price of 10 euros.
Then round with restraint and glance at the competition too. If the logical price comes out well above the market, rework the recipe, not just the price. For how to raise a price smoothly, read our guide on raising menu prices.
Remember that food cost is not your entire cost. Wages, energy and rent sit on top. That is why the target stays low, so it leaves room for everything else and for profit.
6. Separate profitable dishes from unprofitable ones
Dish costing does not stop at the number. It shows you which dishes carry you and which weigh you down. A dish with low food cost that sells a lot is your treasure. An expensive dish that barely sells simply ties up storage.
If your menu is digital, menu analytics show you which dishes people view and which they skip. Combine them with food cost. Promote the profitable ones and rework or cut the unprofitable ones.
This work is called menu engineering and needs no complex tools. You only need two numbers per dish: what it costs and how much it sells. With those two, you know which dish deserves the best spot on your menu.
7. Push new costs to the menu instantly, with no reprinting
Costing only has value when it reaches the price the guest sees. With a printed menu, every correction means a new print run, cost and days of waiting. So the correct prices stay in the drawer while costs keep running.
With a digital menu you change a price in seconds, from your phone. When an ingredient gets pricier, you update immediately and the guest always sees the correct price. Tie it into the refresh of your winter menu and head into the season with confidence.
Protect your margin with numbers, not guesswork
Dish costing is not a bookkeeping chore, it is a daily profit tool. You know what each dish costs, you set the right price and you change it whenever your cost changes. Loudlink gives you unlimited real time price changes from 9 euros per month on annual billing. Take a look at the plans and pricing and keep your margin tight all year round.
