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.

How to Dispute an Invoice Charge: Email Templates for Six Supplier Errors

By Heidi Macomber · October 5, 2026

Every quarter you audit your supplier invoices, and every quarter you find something. A delivery fee on an order that should have been free. A restocking charge on product the supplier got wrong. A rebate you earned and never saw. Finding the money is the first half. The second half is an email, and most operators never send it, because confrontation feels like rocking the boat with the person who controls your chicken supply.

Here is the reframe that helps: you are not accusing anyone of anything. Charges layer onto invoices by system default, not by villainy. Your rep credits this stuff off invoices all day long, for the operators who ask. These templates are how you ask.

The five rules that make these emails work

One: Put it in writing. A credit promised in a phone call does not exist. Every template below ends with a written confirmation request for exactly this reason.

Two: Be boringly specific. Invoice number, date, line item, what the charge should have been, what it was, the dollar difference. A rep who can verify your claim in thirty seconds processes it in thirty seconds.

Three: Ask for the credit on the next invoice. Not "please look into this." Name the exact credit: the dollar amount, the invoice number, and the line it should appear on.

Four: Consolidate. If one invoice has three problems, send one email with three numbered items, not three emails. Suppliers take organized customers more seriously, and one consolidated thread is easier to escalate later if you need to.

Five: No anger, no threats. You are correcting a billing error. The tone that works is the tone you would use to return a wrong order at a hardware store: pleasant, specific, and expecting it to be fixed.

Each template below covers one of the six error categories from our supplier charge audit guide. Fill in the brackets, delete whatever does not apply, and send it to your rep.

Template 1: Freight charged on an order that should have shipped free

Use it when: an invoice shows a delivery fee on an order at or above your minimum, or your minimum quietly went up and nobody told you.

Check first: your last rep quote or agreement showing the minimum you signed. If the minimum genuinely rose, your ask shifts from "remove this fee" to "consolidate my drops and re-quote the minimum," which is Template 1B.

Subject: Invoice [NUMBER], dated [DATE]: delivery fee on order above minimum

Hi [NAME],

Invoice [NUMBER] shows a delivery fee of [$AMOUNT]. The order subtotal was [$SUBTOTAL], which is above the [$MINIMUM] minimum for free delivery we have on file from [DATE OF QUOTE/AGREEMENT].

Could you remove the [$AMOUNT] fee and credit it on our next invoice? If the minimum has changed, could you send me the current freight policy in writing so I can plan order sizes around it?

Thanks, [YOU], [BUSINESS NAME]

If the reply reveals the minimum rose from $250 to $400, the follow-up is not a fight, it is arithmetic: at four drops a week, a $35 fee is more than $1,600 a year, which is bigger than most price increases you would loudly protest. Consolidate to two drops, or negotiate the minimum back down, or both.

Template 2: A fuel surcharge that outlived the fuel price

Use it when: the invoice still carries a fuel surcharge and diesel benchmarks have fallen back below the threshold in the supplier's own policy.

Check first: the U.S. Energy Information Administration publishes national diesel prices weekly, and most fuel surcharge policies name a threshold price. Compare today's benchmark to the policy threshold before you send anything. If the policy document does not exist, that fact goes in the email, because a charge with no written policy is a discretionary charge.

Subject: Invoice [NUMBER]: fuel surcharge question

Hi [NAME],

I see a fuel surcharge of [$AMOUNT] on invoice [NUMBER]. When we last reviewed the surcharge policy, it applied when diesel was above [$THRESHOLD] a gallon. This week's EIA national average is about [$CURRENT PRICE].

Could you confirm whether the surcharge should still be active, and either credit this one or send me the current policy with the threshold and formula? If there is no written policy on file, I would like to request that the surcharge come off while we establish one.

Thanks, [YOU], [BUSINESS NAME]

Template 3: A restocking fee on a supplier error

Use it when: you were charged 15 to 25 percent to "restock" short-dated, damaged, or wrong product, the supplier's mistake and not yours.

Check first: your rejection log or delivery receipts showing what was refused and why. The key phrase is "supplier error." Restocking fees exist to cover the cost of your change of mind. They do not apply to product you never should have received.

Subject: Invoice [NUMBER]: restocking fee on returned product (supplier error)

Hi [NAME],

Invoice [NUMBER] includes a restocking fee of [$AMOUNT] on [ITEM, QUANTITY] returned on [DATE]. The return reason was [short-dated product / wrong pack size / damaged on arrival], which we noted at delivery.

Since this was a supplier error rather than a change of order, could you waive the restocking fee and credit the full value, [$TOTAL], on the next invoice? I have the delivery documentation if it would help.

Thanks, [YOU], [BUSINESS NAME]

Template 4: A rebate or allowance you earned and never received

Use it when: you hit a volume threshold or ran a promotion the supplier agreed to support, and the credit never appeared.

Check first: the eligibility terms, in writing, and your purchase totals for the period. The awkward part of rebates is that you must ask, every time, because suppliers do not apply them automatically.

Subject: [QUARTER/YEAR] volume rebate: requesting the credit

Hi [NAME],

Per the rebate program you confirmed on [DATE], we qualify for a [PERCENT]% rebate on [$TOTAL] in purchases for [PERIOD], which is [$AMOUNT]. I do not see the credit on the latest invoice.

Could you apply the [$AMOUNT] credit to our next invoice, and confirm the eligibility window for the next period so we can track against it?

Thanks, [YOU], [BUSINESS NAME]

On $150,000 of annual purchases, a one percent rebate is $1,500. It is a prep table. It is worth one email a quarter.

Template 5: A billed price that quietly overrides the contract

Use it when: the invoice unit price matches your agreement, but a "market adjustment" or "commodity surcharge" line below it raises your real cost above the contracted number.

Check first: the contract itself, and the invoice's bottom third, where these lines live. This is the most consequential template in the set, because it is the difference between the price you negotiated and the price you pay.

Subject: Invoice [NUMBER]: charge not in our pricing agreement

Hi [NAME],

Invoice [NUMBER] shows the contracted price of [$PRICE] per [UNIT] on [ITEM], which matches our agreement dated [DATE]. Below the line items there is a [MARKET ADJUSTMENT / SURCHARGE NAME] of [$AMOUNT PER UNIT], which is not part of that agreement. Our effective cost on this order is [$REAL COST], above the contract price.

Our pricing agreement runs through [END DATE]. Could you either credit this charge on the next invoice, or open a formal contract amendment so we can price against the real number going forward? Happy to get on a call if that is faster.

Thanks, [YOU], [BUSINESS NAME]

A signed pricing agreement is enforceable. If the supplier wants a different price, the supplier needs to renegotiate the contract. A new line item on an invoice does not change the contract.

Template 6: Sales tax charged on items bought for resale

Use it when: the tax line on an invoice includes items that should be exempt because they become food you sell.

Check first: that your resale exemption certificate is on file with this supplier. If it is not, that gets fixed first, and the credits usually follow easily, because taxing exempt sales is a paperwork error on someone's side, not a judgment call.

Subject: Invoice [NUMBER]: tax on resale-exempt items

Hi [NAME],

Invoice [NUMBER] includes [$AMOUNT] in sales tax on [ITEMS], which are purchased for resale. Our exemption certificate is on file as of [DATE], or I can resend it today.

Could you apply the tax as a credit on the next invoice and confirm the certificate is attached to our account so it does not recur?

Thanks, [YOU], [BUSINESS NAME]

When the rep stalls: the escalation email

Give the rep one full business week. If the thread goes quiet or the answer is a shrug, forward the same thread to the branch manager or the credit department. Do not rewrite anything. The escalation is one paragraph stapled to the top of your own paper trail.

Subject: Following up: invoice credits from [DATE] thread below

Hi [MANAGER NAME],

I have been working with [REP NAME] on the billing items in the thread below ([NUMBER] items, [$TOTAL] in credits) since [DATE]. I know quarter-end gets busy. Could you help me get these applied to the next invoice? Everything needed to verify each one is in the emails below.

Thanks, [YOU], [BUSINESS NAME]

Escalation is not a declaration of war. Branch managers resolve these daily, and companies keep written policies at the branch level that front-line reps sometimes do not know cold. The further up you go, the more likely someone can simply say yes.

The log that makes next quarter easier

Every dispute email you send this quarter becomes evidence next quarter. Keep one row per finding: date, supplier, invoice, issue, amount requested, amount credited. Three columns of outcomes tell you which suppliers correct cleanly and which ones make you fight for your own money, and that list is worth real leverage the next time a rep asks about a contract renewal or a volume commitment.

The free quarterly charge audit spreadsheet on our site has the audit log and per-supplier rollup tabs built for exactly this: percyplate.com/downloads/quarterly-charge-audit.xlsx

How Percy Plate Helps

Percy Plate tracks the real landed cost of what you buy, charges layer included, so the discrepancy you are disputing shows up in your numbers before it compounds across a quarter of invoices. Start free at percyplate.com.

Related Guides

How to Audit Supplier Charges: Catch the Hidden Fees Eating Your Food Margin - The full audit method behind these six templates
How to Track Receipts in a Food Business Before They Disappear - The paper trail that makes disputes winnable
Food Cost Benchmarking: How to Compare Your Numbers and Find the Leaks - Putting your recovered credits in context

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