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.

Labor Cost Percentage: How to Schedule Staff Without Wrecking Your Margins

By Heidi Macomber · July 24, 2026 (updated August 15, 2026)

Labor is the one cost you control in real time. Every hour you schedule is a decision. Here is how to calculate your labor cost percentage, set targets, and build a schedule that protects profit without understaffing.

Why Labor Cost Is Harder Than Food Cost

Food cost is predictable. You know what a pound of chicken costs. You know how many servings it yields. The math is stable.

Labor is different. You schedule staff based on a forecast that might be wrong. A slow Tuesday with a full crew destroys margin. A busy Saturday with a skeleton crew costs you customers and reviews. The lever moves every single day.

Most food business owners handle labor by feel. They schedule the same people for the same shifts and hope the sales show up. Then they look at payroll at the end of the week and panic.

There is a better way.

What Is Labor Cost Percentage?

Labor cost percentage = Total Labor Cost / Total Sales

Labor cost includes:

Gross wages for all hourly and salaried staff
Payroll taxes (FICA, FUTA, SUTA) -- typically 7-10% of wages
Workers compensation insurance
Health insurance contributions
Paid time off accrued

Many owners calculate labor cost using only gross wages. That understates true labor cost by 15-20%. Always include the fully loaded cost.

What Should Your Labor Cost Be?

By concept type:

Concept	Labor Cost % Target
Quick service / food truck	20-25%
Fast casual	25-30%
Full service restaurant	28-33%
Bakery / production kitchen	30-35%
Bar / nightlife	20-28%

These are guidelines, not laws. A highly automated food truck with minimal staff can run at 18%. A from-scratch bakery with skilled bakers may legitimately sit at 35%.

The number that matters more than any target: prime cost. Prime cost is food cost plus labor cost. If prime cost is under 60% of sales, you are healthy. Above 65%, you are in trouble regardless of what each individual percentage looks like.

The Weekly Scheduling Method

Stop scheduling week by week from scratch. Use this system:

Step 1: Know your sales pattern

Pull 8-12 weeks of daily sales data. Calculate average sales by day of week and by shift (breakfast, lunch, dinner). You are looking for patterns:

Monday: $900 average
Tuesday: $1,100
Wednesday: $1,050
Thursday: $1,400
Friday: $2,200
Saturday: $2,800
Sunday: $1,600

Step 2: Calculate labor needed per shift

Based on your sales pattern, determine how many labor hours each shift needs. A common benchmark: 1 labor hour per $150-200 in sales for quick service, 1 hour per $100-130 for full service. For planning purposes, use the midpoint of the range: $175 per labor hour for quick service ($150 + $200 / 2 = $175). This gives you a single number to divide your sales by.

For our example food truck doing $1,100 on a Tuesday:

Target labor hours: $1,100 / $175 = 6.3 hours
At $16/hr fully loaded: $101 in labor
Labor cost %: $101 / $1,100 = 9.2% (excellent)

For Saturday at $2,800:

Target labor hours: $2,800 / $175 = 16 hours
At $16/hr fully loaded: $256 in labor
Labor cost %: $256 / $2,800 = 9.1%

These numbers look low because this is a one-truck operation. A full-service restaurant with servers, hosts, and dishwashers will run 3-4x higher.

Step 3: Build the schedule to the forecast

Write the schedule based on forecasted sales, not last week's schedule. If next Tuesday is forecasted at $800 (slow day, maybe rain), cut a shift. If Saturday is forecasted at $3,200 (local festival), add a body.

The schedule is a financial document. Every name on it is a cost decision.

The 4 Labor Mistakes That Kill Margins

1. Over-scheduling slow days

Monday morning feels productive with a full crew prepping for the week. But if Monday sales are $600 and you have 3 people on at $18/hr for 6 hours, that is $324 in labor against $600 in sales. Labor cost: 54%. You are losing money before noon.

Fix: Schedule prep during peak shifts. Cross-train so that the lunch rush crew also handles prep during lulls.

2. Not tracking labor in real time

Your POS system tracks sales in real time. Does it track labor? Most modern POS systems can show you a live labor cost percentage throughout the day. If labor is at 40% at 2 PM and sales are tracking below forecast, you can cut someone early instead of discovering it on Friday's payroll report.

3. Ignoring overtime

Overtime is 1.5x base pay. An employee earning $16/hr gets paid $24/hr during overtime ($16 x 1.5 = $24). That means each overtime hour costs you an extra $8 compared to what that same hour costs at regular pay ($24 - $16 = $8 premium per hour).

One employee working 5 overtime hours per week adds $40 in extra cost beyond their normal wages ($8 premium x 5 hours = $40). The total pay for those 5 hours is $120 ($24 x 5), but only $40 of that is the overtime penalty. Five employees doing the same thing adds $200/week in OT premium, or $10,400/year. That is a vacation, a new piece of equipment, or two months of rent.

Schedule to avoid overtime unless a specific shift demands it. Track overtime as a line item, not buried in total wages.

4. Treating all shifts as equal

A server who works Friday dinner generates different value than one who works Tuesday lunch. Same hourly cost, very different revenue impact. Evaluate staffing by shift, not by week.

If Tuesday lunch consistently runs 35% labor and Friday dinner runs 22%, your Tuesday model is wrong. Either sales need to grow or staffing needs to shrink.

The Daily Labor Check

At the end of each service day, check three numbers:

Sales today vs forecast
Labor hours today vs scheduled
Labor cost % today (labor dollars / sales)

If sales were 15%+ below forecast, ask why. If labor was above target, adjust tomorrow's schedule before it happens.

This daily check takes 5 minutes. It saves thousands of dollars per quarter.

Where Software Helps

Managing labor cost percentage by hand works until your business grows past a few employees. At that point, you need your numbers in one place.

What Percy Plate does today:

Calculate recipe-level food costs so you know your COGS down to the penny
Track prime cost (food + labor) using the Prime Cost Calculator
Monitor inventory usage and purchases against sales
Get margin alerts when recipe costs exceed your target

What's on the roadmap:

Projected labor cost percentage for upcoming schedules
Actual vs. forecasted labor tracking by shift
Live prime cost dashboards that update throughout the day

The foundation -- accurate food costs and prime cost tracking -- is available now. Labor scheduling tools are the next layer.

That is when you stop scheduling from habit and start scheduling from data.

The Bottom Line

Labor is the largest controllable expense in most food businesses. A 3% improvement in labor cost percentage -- from 32% to 29% -- on $500,000 in annual sales puts $15,000 back in your pocket. That is the difference between surviving and thriving.

Schedule to the forecast. Track daily. Cut slow shifts ruthlessly and staff peak shifts generously. The math is simple. The discipline is what separates profitable food businesses from the ones that close in year two.

Related Guides

Restaurant Prime Cost Explained: The Number That Predicts Survival — Prime cost and why it predicts survival
Restaurant Percentages: Every Ratio Owners Must Track — Every restaurant ratio to track
Food Cost vs. Total Cost: What's the Difference? — Understanding total cost structure
Tip Credit by State: The Complete Owner's Math — Tipped cash wages, the make-up rule, and the overtime trap, state by state

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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