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.

By Heidi Macomber · July 11, 2026 (updated July 28, 2026)

Restaurant Food Cost Percentage Benchmarks for 2026

Restaurant food cost should run 28-35% of sales in 2026, but that number varies by concept, service style, and menu mix. Fine dining runs higher, quick-service runs lower, and the gap between the best and worst performers comes down to who tracks their numbers. Here are the benchmarks that matter this year.

2026 Restaurant Food Cost Benchmarks by Concept

Restaurant Type	Target Food Cost %	Typical Range	Notes
Fine Dining	30-35%	28-40%	Premium ingredients, smaller portions
Casual Dining	28-32%	25-36%	Balanced menu, mid-tier ingredients
Fast Casual	27-32%	25-34%	Efficient ordering, less waste
Quick Service (QSR)	25-30%	22-33%	High volume, low ingredient cost per item
Pizzeria	27-32%	25-35%	Flour and cheese driven
Cafe / Coffee Shop	22-28%	20-32%	High-margin beverages anchor the menu
Bakery	25-30%	22-35%	Commodity flour, specialty add-ins
Bar / Pub	20-28%	18-32%	Alcohol has very high margins

What Changed in 2026?

Several ingredient categories saw significant price movement that affects your benchmarks:

Eggs: After the 2025 spike (up 40%+ in Q1), prices have stabilized but remain 15% above 2024 averages. Bakeries and breakfast-heavy menus feel this most.

Beef: Wholesale beef prices are up 8-12% year over year. Steakhouses and burger concepts should expect 2-3% higher food cost percentages than historical norms.

Cooking oil: Canola and vegetable oil prices have softened from 2024 highs but remain volatile. Fry-heavy operations should lock in pricing where possible.

Produce: Regional and seasonal variation is wider than ever. Drought conditions in California growing regions pushed some categories up 15-20%.

Dairy: Cheese prices are stable. Butter is up 5-7%. Milk is flat.

The net effect: if your food cost target was 30% in 2024, you may need to accept 31-32% in 2026 or adjust menu pricing to hold the line.

How to Benchmark Your Restaurant

Your food cost percentage is only meaningful when compared to something. Here is the hierarchy of comparisons:

Compare to yourself over time. Track your food cost percentage weekly. A sudden jump means a problem -- price increase, waste, theft, or portion drift. This is the most useful comparison.
Compare to your concept. A fine dining restaurant at 33% food cost is healthy. A QSR at 33% is bleeding. Know your category benchmark.
Compare to your menu mix. If you sell more high-cost items than expected, your overall percentage rises even if nothing went wrong. Track menu mix alongside food cost.

Prime Cost: The Number That Matters More Than Food Cost

Food cost percentage alone does not tell you if your restaurant is profitable. The number successful operators watch is prime cost -- food cost plus labor cost as a percentage of sales.

Prime Cost = (Food Cost + Labor Cost) / Total Sales

The benchmark for full-service restaurants: prime cost should be 60% or below. For quick-service: 55% or below.

A restaurant with 32% food cost and 32% labor cost has a 64% prime cost -- too high. Fixing food cost (getting to 29%) drops prime cost to 61%, suddenly profitable.

This is why food cost matters: every point you save on food cost goes straight to your bottom line, or gives you room to invest in better staff.

The 3 Numbers Every Restaurant Should Track Weekly

Actual food cost percentage (based on inventory counts and purchases)
Theoretical food cost percentage (based on recipe costs x items sold)
Variance (actual minus theoretical)

A variance of 1-3% is normal and manageable. Above 3%, you are losing money to waste, over-portioning, or theft. Above 5%, you have a serious problem.

Most restaurants only track actual food cost. That is like driving with your eyes closed -- you know where you ended up but not where you went wrong. Tracking all three is how profitable restaurants find and fix problems fast.

How to Lower Your Food Cost in 2026

Re-cost your top 10 sellers. These items are 50-70% of your revenue. If the costs are wrong, your pricing is wrong.
Shop your suppliers. Get quotes from 2-3 distributors annually. Even a 3% savings on ingredients drops your food cost percentage by nearly a full point.
Track waste. A simple waste log (item, quantity, reason) costs nothing and reveals patterns in a week.
Portion control. Use scoops, ladles, and scales. A cook using a 6 oz ladle instead of a 4 oz one adds 50% more soup per bowl -- pure margin loss.
Menu engineering. Identify your stars (high profit, high popularity) and dogs (low profit, low popularity). Promote stars. Rethink or remove dogs.

Percy Plate tracks recipe costs, per-plate food cost, and theoretical vs actual variance automatically. Start free, no credit card required.

Related Guides

How to Calculate Food Cost Percentage: A Complete Guide for Restaurants — How to calculate your percentage
What's a Good Food Cost Percentage for My Business? — What counts as a good percentage
Food Truck Food Cost Percentage Benchmark: What Should Yours Be? — Food truck benchmarks
Restaurant Prime Cost Explained: The Number That Predicts Survival — Prime cost as the survival number

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