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Costing a recipe means working out what every ingredient on the plate costs you, then adding them up. Most mistakes come from two places: guessing a price, and forgetting trim loss.
1. Start from the pack
For each ingredient, write down what you pay and what you get: $15.40 for 1 kg of ground chuck, $6.24 for a pack of 12 buns.
2. Work out the cost per unit
Divide the pack price by the pack size. A pack of 12 buns at $6.24 is $0.52 a bun. Ground chuck at $15.40 a kilogram is $0.0154 a gram.
3. Allow for yield
Yield is the share you can use after trimming, peeling or cooking off. Divide the cost per unit by the yield.
Onions at $1.40 a kilogram with an 85% yield really cost $1.40 ÷ 0.85 = $1.65 per usable kilogram.
4. Multiply by what goes on the plate
180 g of chuck at $0.0154 a gram is $2.77. 34 g of onion at $0.00165 a gram is about $0.06. Do this for every line, sauces too.
5. Cost your prep items once
A house sauce made in batches is its own little recipe. Cost the batch, divide by how much it makes, then use that cost per millilitre in every dish that uses it.
6. Add it up, and keep it current
The total is your plate cost. Compare it with the menu price to get the food cost percentage. Then re-cost when a supplier changes a price, because one price change can move every dish that uses that ingredient.
The food cost calculator does steps 2 to 6 for one dish. Skillet does it for the whole menu and re-costs automatically.