Menu Engineering: Margin, Mix, and Cost Checks

Use standardized recipe cost and net selling price to calculate gross contribution, then examine sales mix over a consistent period. A high margin item can still be weak if demand, labor, waste, or capacity is unfavorable.

Keep the boundary visible

Food cost percentage is ingredient cost divided by net selling price. It is not net profit: labor, occupancy, fees, packaging, waste, and taxes may change the decision.

Open the price and margin calculator · View the ingredient-to-portion diagram