Percy Plate is a web-based food cost calculator for food trucks, caterers, cottage food producers, and small restaurant owners. It lets you enter your ingredients and what you pay for them, build recipes, and instantly see the cost per serving and recommended sell price based on your target food cost percentage.

Yes. Percy Plate has a free plan that lets you create up to 10 ingredients and 5 recipes to calculate food cost. A paid subscription ($14.99/month or $119.99/year) unlocks unlimited ingredients and recipes plus inventory tracking, revenue reporting, menu engineering, Prime Cost, AI invoice scanning, FDA nutrition facts labels, FDA ingredient labels, and label printing.

How does Percy Plate calculate food cost?

You enter each ingredient, the unit you buy it in (lb, oz, gallon, etc.), and what you pay per unit. When you build a recipe, Percy Plate converts the recipe quantities to your purchase units, calculates the cost of each ingredient used, and divides by the number of servings to give you a cost per serving. It also shows the food cost percentage and a suggested sell price.

Can Percy Plate generate nutrition facts labels?

Yes. Percy Plate can look up nutrition data from the USDA FoodData Central database for each ingredient, then automatically calculate the per-serving nutrition for a recipe. It generates an FDA-format Nutrition Facts panel that can be printed directly to thermal labels (Brother, Dymo, Zebra) or Avery sheet labels in sizes 2x4 inch and 3.33x4 inch.

Can Percy Plate generate an ingredient list label?

Yes. Percy Plate generates an FDA-compliant ingredient label that lists ingredients by weight (heaviest first), automatically detects the top 9 FDA allergens, and includes your business name and net weight. Labels can be printed to thermal printers or Avery sheet labels.

What label printers work with Percy Plate?

Percy Plate supports thermal label printers including Brother QL series (DK-1202 2x4 inch labels), Dymo LabelWriter (30334 and similar), and Zebra desktop printers. It also supports Avery 5163 (2x4 inch) and Avery 5164 (3.33x4 inch) sheet labels for standard desktop printers.

Who is Percy Plate designed for?

Percy Plate is designed for small food business owners including food truck operators, cottage food producers, caterers, small restaurant owners, and anyone who sells homemade or prepared food and needs to track ingredient costs, price their menu, and produce product labels.

Does Percy Plate work on mobile?

Yes. Percy Plate is a web application that works on any device with a modern browser, including phones and tablets. You can look up ingredient costs, update recipe quantities, and check your food cost percentage from anywhere.

How do you calculate food cost percentage?

Food cost percentage = (ingredient cost per serving ÷ menu price) × 100. For example, if your ingredients cost $3.50 and you sell the dish for $12.00, your food cost percentage is 29.2%. Most food businesses target 28–35%. To set a price from a target, divide ingredient cost by your target: $3.50 ÷ 0.30 = $11.67 suggested price at 30% food cost.

What is a good food cost percentage for a small food business or bakery?

Most food businesses target a food cost percentage between 28% and 35%. Bakeries and cottage food producers often achieve lower food cost percentages (20–28%) because flour, sugar, and butter are inexpensive relative to retail prices. Full-service restaurants tend to run 30–35%. The right target depends on your labor costs, overhead, and pricing power in your market.

How do I calculate the cost per serving of a recipe?

Add up the ingredient cost for the full batch, then divide by the number of servings. For each ingredient, multiply the quantity used by the cost per unit (converting units as needed). For example: 8 oz flour at $0.89/lb = $0.89 ÷ 16 × 8 = $0.44. Sum all ingredient costs, then divide by servings. Percy Plate does this calculation automatically once you enter your ingredient prices and recipe quantities.

How does yield percentage affect recipe costing?

Yield percentage accounts for trim loss, cooking shrinkage, and waste. If you buy 1 lb of chicken but only 0.75 lb is usable after trimming, your yield is 75%. To get accurate food costs, divide the as-purchased cost by the yield percentage: $4.00/lb ÷ 0.75 = $5.33 per usable pound. Percy Plate lets you set a yield percentage (AP to EP) on any ingredient so your recipe costs reflect what you actually use.

What is the best recipe costing software for a small food business?

The best recipe costing software for a small food business depends on your needs. Percy Plate ($14.99/month) is built specifically for cottage food producers, food trucks, caterers, and small restaurants — it includes recipe costing, menu pricing, FDA ingredient labels, nutrition facts labels, inventory tracking, and revenue reporting. Competitors like meez start at $24/month and scale to $199/month. Square and Toast do not include recipe costing natively.

Is there free recipe costing software for home bakers or cottage food businesses?

Yes. Percy Plate has a free plan that includes recipe food cost calculation and menu pricing suggestions. The free plan lets you create up to 10 ingredients and 5 recipes. For unlimited recipes, FDA labels, nutrition facts, and inventory tracking, the paid plan is $14.99/month or $119.99/year. No credit card is required to start.

How do I price homemade baked goods to make a profit?

Start with your ingredient cost per batch, then divide by the number of units to get ingredient cost per item. Add packaging (boxes, bags, labels) as a per-unit cost. Then set a target food cost percentage — most cottage food bakers aim for 25–35% — and divide your total ingredient cost by that percentage to get a minimum price. For example: $0.85 ingredient cost per cookie ÷ 0.30 = $2.83 minimum price at 30% food cost. Factor in your time and overhead to ensure you are actually profitable, not just covering ingredients.

What are the labeling requirements for cottage food products?

Most states require cottage food labels to include: (1) the product name, (2) your name and home address, (3) a list of ingredients in descending order by weight, (4) a disclosure statement such as 'Made in a home kitchen not inspected by the state or local health department,' and (5) allergen declarations for any of the 9 major FDA allergens present. Some states also require net weight. Requirements vary by state — check your state's cottage food law for specifics. Nutrition Facts panels are generally not required for cottage food operations below a certain revenue threshold.

Do I need a nutrition facts label on my cottage food products?

Most cottage food producers are exempt from FDA Nutrition Facts label requirements under the small business exemption (fewer than 100 full-time employees and fewer than 100,000 units sold annually). However, you must still list ingredients in descending order by weight and declare all major allergens. Some states impose additional requirements. When in doubt, check your state's cottage food law and the FDA's small business labeling exemptions.

What allergens must I disclose on a homemade food label?

FDA requires disclosure of 9 major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. These must be declared on all food labels, including cottage food products — even if a full Nutrition Facts panel is not required. The standard format is a 'Contains:' statement after the ingredient list, for example: 'Contains: Wheat, Eggs, Milk.' Percy Plate detects all 9 allergens automatically from your ingredient names.

How do I create a nutrition facts label for homemade food?

To create a Nutrition Facts label for homemade food: (1) look up the nutrition data for each ingredient using the USDA FoodData Central database, (2) calculate the per-serving amounts for calories, fat, carbohydrates, protein, sodium, and other nutrients, (3) format the panel according to FDA guidelines with serving size, servings per container, and daily value percentages. Percy Plate automates this — it looks up USDA nutrition data for your ingredients, calculates per-serving totals, and generates a print-ready FDA-format Nutrition Facts label for thermal or sheet labels.

How do I list ingredients in the correct order on a food label?

FDA regulations require ingredients to be listed in descending order by weight — the ingredient present in the greatest amount by weight must appear first. For example, if your muffin contains more flour than sugar, flour must be listed first. Sub-ingredients (like those in a chocolate chip) must be listed in parentheses immediately after the component. Percy Plate sorts ingredients automatically by weight when generating your label.

What information is required on a homemade food product label?

A complete homemade food label generally requires: (1) the name of the food, (2) the net quantity (weight or count), (3) an ingredient list in descending order by weight, (4) allergen declarations for all 9 major FDA allergens, (5) your business name and address, and (6) for cottage food specifically, a state-required disclosure statement such as 'Made in a home kitchen not inspected by the state health department.' Nutrition Facts panels are usually optional for small cottage food producers below certain revenue thresholds.

Break-Even Analysis for Food Businesses: Know the Number That Means Survival

By Heidi Macomber · July 22, 2026 (updated July 28, 2026)

If you do not know your break-even point, you are gambling every time you set prices, schedule staff, or sign a lease. Here is how to calculate the exact sales number your food business needs to hit each week just to stay alive.

What Is Break-Even?

Break-even is the point where your total revenue exactly covers your total costs. Above it, you profit. Below it, you lose money. At it, you survive.

Every food business has one. Most owners do not know theirs. They guess based on what feels busy or what the rent looks like. That is why so many food businesses fail in their first two years. Not because the food was bad. Because they hit break-even far less often than they assumed.

The Two Cost Types

To find break-even, you need to separate every cost into one of two buckets.

Fixed costs stay the same no matter how much you sell. Rent, insurance, equipment leases, software subscriptions, salaried positions, loan payments. You pay these whether you serve 10 customers or 1,000.

Variable costs scale with sales. Ingredients, packaging, credit card processing fees, hourly labor during service, delivery commissions. If you sell twice as much food, these roughly double.

The Formula

Break-even in dollars = Fixed Costs divided by Contribution Margin Ratio

Contribution Margin Ratio = (Revenue minus Variable Costs) divided by Revenue

Let us walk through a real example. A food truck with these monthly numbers:

Fixed costs (monthly):

Truck and equipment loan: $1,200
Commissary rent: $800
Insurance: $350
Permits and licensing: $200
Software and POS: $180
Owner salary (baseline): $3,000
Total fixed: $5,730

Variable costs (as % of revenue):

Food and ingredients: 30%
Packaging and supplies: 4%
Credit card fees: 2.5%
Hourly kitchen labor: 12%
Gas and propane: 2%
Total variable: 50.5%

Contribution margin ratio = 100% minus 50.5% = 49.5%

That means for every $1 in sales, 49.5 cents goes toward covering fixed costs. Everything above break-even is profit.

Break-even = $5,730 / 0.495 = $11,576 per month

Per day (assuming 25 service days): $463 per day

That food truck needs to sell $463 of food every single service day just to break even. Before the owner makes a single dollar of profit.

Why This Number Changes Everything

Once you know your break-even, decisions become clear.

Should you add a second service window? If the extra labor and supplies cost $200/day, you need $404 in additional daily sales ($200 / 0.495) to justify it. Less than that, you lose money on the expansion.

Can you afford to close Mondays? Your fixed costs do not drop. You need the other 5 days to absorb Monday's $463 break-even. That is $92.60 extra per day needed across the remaining days.

Should you take a catering gig on a normally closed day? Yes, if revenue minus variable costs exceeds the daily fixed cost of $192 ($5,730 / 30 days). A $2,000 catering job with 30% food cost generates $1,000 in contribution margin. That easily covers the day's fixed cost and adds $808 in profit.

The Most Common Mistake: Confusing Busy for Profitable

A packed Friday night feels like success. But if your variable costs are higher than you think (waste, over-portioning, overtime labor), your contribution margin shrinks. You can be busy and still not hit break-even.

This happens constantly with delivery apps. A $25 order through a third-party app at 30% commission has a much lower contribution margin than the same $25 order at the counter. The revenue looks identical. The profit is not.

Break-Even by Day of Week

Calculate break-even for each day separately. Weekend break-even might be $800/day because you run a full crew. Tuesday break-even might be $350 because you run lean.

If Tuesday sales average $380, you are barely clearing break-even. A single slow Tuesday (rain, road construction, competing event) puts you underwater for the week.

The Weekly Break-Even Check

Every Monday morning, look at last week's numbers:

Total revenue
Total variable costs (food + packaging + hourly labor + fees)
Contribution margin (Revenue minus Variable Costs)
Did contribution margin cover weekly fixed costs?

If yes, you profited. If no, you lost money. Track this for 8 weeks and you will see your pattern. Some weeks always lose money. Some always win. The question is whether the winners cover the losers.

What Good Software Does

Percy Plate connects your recipe costs, sales data, and fixed cost inputs into a live break-even calculation. You see:

Daily and weekly break-even targets that adjust when costs change
Contribution margin per menu item, so you know which dishes pull their weight
Projected break-even for upcoming weeks based on forecasted sales

You stop guessing whether a busy day was a profitable one. The math is always running.

Three Things to Do This Week

List every monthly fixed cost. Be honest. Include your baseline salary.
Estimate your variable cost percentage. Start with food cost percentage (you should know this) and add labor, packaging, and fees.
Calculate your monthly and daily break-even. Write it on a sticky note. Put it by the register.

The number might scare you. That is the point. Once you know it, every pricing, staffing, and scheduling decision gets easier.

Related Guides

Food Business Budgeting: How to Forecast Sales, Costs, and Cash Flow Without Guessing — Budgeting and cash flow forecasting
Restaurant Prime Cost Explained: The Number That Predicts Survival — Prime cost as the key metric
Restaurant Percentages: Every Ratio Owners Must Track — All the ratios behind break-even
How to Calculate Food Cost Percentage: A Complete Guide for Restaurants — Food cost percentage foundation

Stop guessing what your dishes cost.

Percy Plate calculates recipe costs, menu prices, and FDA-compliant labels for food businesses. Free to start.

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