Restaurant raw material: how much did that plate really cost?

InventryBook team · 11 November 2026

Why the menu price is not the profit

A plate of veg momos sells for ₹80. The owner knows the rent, the cook's salary and the gas bill, but not what the momos, oil and chutney on that plate cost today. Prices of oil, paneer and vegetables move every week, so a menu set last year can quietly stop earning.

The fix is not a big accounting system. It is three habits: write the recipe once, cost it from what you last paid, and count only the ingredients that matter.

Step 1: Write each dish as a recipe

A recipe is the quantity of each raw material in one plate. Keep it in the unit you buy and count in: pieces, grams or millilitres.

Example. One plate of veg momos uses:

At ₹80 a plate, ₹62.60 is raw material. That leaves ₹17.40 for everything else: gas, salary, rent and profit. That is 22%. Most owners guess far more.

Step 2: Use the price you last paid

Cost each raw material at what you paid on the last bill, per unit. When the distributor raises frozen momos to ₹300 for 50, the plate cost becomes ₹72.60 and the margin falls to ₹7.40. You see it the day the bill arrives, not at the end of the month.

Step 3: Let every sale use up its raw material

When the plate is billed, its recipe's quantities should come out of stock: ten momos, 30 ml of oil, 40 g of chutney and one box. Then the stock of raw material is always "what we bought, less what the bills used".

Do not stop the bill if the stock says zero. If the kitchen cooked and served forty plates, the momos were used whether or not the packet was booked in. Note the shortfall and fix the stock entry later.

Step 4: Count the ten that matter, every week

Counting everything every day is how kitchens give up. Pick the ten raw materials that cost you the most, usually oil, paneer, meat, cheese, frozen items and packing. Count those once a week, and the rest once a month.

When the count is lower than the stock shown, the difference is waste, staff meals, over-portioning or theft. A difference of more than 2–3% on the same item every week is worth a conversation with the kitchen.

Step 5: Look at the margin by dish

With costs on every dish, sort the menu by margin. A dish that sells a lot at a thin margin is worth a small price change or a smaller portion. A dish that sells little at a thin margin is a candidate to drop.

Doing this in InventryBook

In InventryBook, a dish can be set as made from raw materials, with the quantity of each in one plate. Raw materials are bought in packs ("1 packet = 50 pcs") and counted in pieces, grams or millilitres. Every bill uses up the recipe from stock, never blocking the bill when stock runs short. The dish shows its recipe cost and margin from the last purchase price of each raw material, once every raw material has a price. A stock count shows the difference between what is on the shelf and what the app expected. See it for restaurants.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good food cost percentage for a small restaurant? Many small restaurants aim for raw material at 30–40% of the menu price. A dish far above that needs a look at its price, portion or supplier.

Should I cost a dish at the average price or the last price? The last price is simpler and shows a price rise at once. Over a month the two are close for items you buy often.

Do I need to weigh every portion? No. Weigh a few portions once to set the recipe, then check it again when the weekly count shows a difference on that item.