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.

Percy Plate vs MarginEdge

MarginEdge costs $350/month. Percy Plate costs $14.99.

MarginEdge is powerful software built for multi-location restaurant groups with high invoice volume. Percy Plate is built for food trucks, cottage food producers, caterers, and small restaurants that need accurate food costs and FDA labels — without enterprise pricing.

Percy Plate

$14.99

per month

Recipe costing · Inventory · AI invoice scanning · Revenue reporting · FDA labels

MarginEdge

$350

per location, per month

Deep invoice/AP processing · POS integration · No FDA labels

Feature comparison

✓ Included~ Partial / depends on setup✗ Not available

Feature	Percy Plate $14.99/mo	MarginEdge $350/mo per location
Monthly price¹	$14.99/mo	$350/mo
Recipe costing	✓	✓
Food cost % tracking	✓	✓
Ingredient cost tracking	✓	✓
Actual vs. theoretical food cost	✓	✓
AI invoice scanning²	✓	✓
POS integration³	✗	✓
FDA ingredient label generator	✓	✗
Nutrition facts label generator	✓	✗
Cottage food / home kitchen support	✓	✗
Inventory tracking	✓	✓
Revenue & tax reporting	✓	✓
Batch scaling with shopping list⁴	✓	~
Built for single-location operators⁵	✓	~
Works without a POS system⁶	✓	~

Not ready to decide? Email yourself this comparison.

¹MarginEdge charges $350/month per location. With their Freepour bar management add-on the price rises to $500/month per location.

²Percy Plate includes AI invoice scanning at no extra cost — snap a photo of a supplier invoice and it auto-fills your purchase log and matches ingredients. MarginEdge's invoice/AP processing is deeper for high-volume, multi-location operators but is part of its $350/month price.

³MarginEdge integrates with major restaurant POS systems to pull sales data automatically. Percy Plate requires manual daily revenue entry.

⁴MarginEdge supports recipe scaling but shopping list generation depends on your POS and supplier integrations.

⁵MarginEdge is priced and designed for multi-location restaurant groups. Single-location operators and cottage food producers are not their target market.

⁶MarginEdge is designed to integrate with a POS. Without one, core automation features (auto invoice processing, sales data) don't apply.

Honest take: which one should you use?

Choose Percy Plate if:

You're a food truck, cottage food producer, caterer, or single-location café
You need FDA ingredient labels or nutrition facts panels
You don't process a high volume of supplier invoices each week
You don't have a POS system — or don't need it integrated
Spending $350/month on software isn't in your budget

MarginEdge may be worth it if:

You operate multiple restaurant locations
You process a high volume of invoices and need deep multi-location AP automation
You have a POS system and want real-time food cost data without manual entry
Your revenue justifies $350+/month per location in software spend

Common questions

What is MarginEdge?

MarginEdge is a restaurant management platform designed for multi-location restaurant operators. Its core feature is automated invoice processing — it scans supplier invoices and updates ingredient costs in real time, then compares those costs against POS sales data to calculate actual food cost percentage. It's priced at $350/month per location.

Who is MarginEdge designed for?

MarginEdge is built for full-service restaurant operators, particularly those with multiple locations and high invoice volume. It integrates with major POS systems like Toast, Square, Clover, and Lightspeed. It is not designed for cottage food producers, home bakers, food trucks without a POS, or small single-product operations.

What does Percy Plate do that MarginEdge doesn't?

Percy Plate generates FDA-compliant ingredient labels with automatic allergen detection, Nutrition Facts panels ready to print to thermal or Avery labels, and cottage food disclosure statements — none of which MarginEdge offers. Percy Plate is also $340/month less expensive per location.

What does MarginEdge do that Percy Plate doesn't?

MarginEdge integrates directly with restaurant POS systems to pull daily sales data automatically, and its invoice/AP processing is built for high-volume, multi-location workflows. Percy Plate now includes AI invoice scanning too — it auto-fills your purchase log from a photo of a supplier invoice — but does not offer POS integration for automatic sales import. For a high-volume multi-location restaurant group processing hundreds of invoices a month, MarginEdge's deeper AP automation may justify the cost difference.

Is Percy Plate a good MarginEdge alternative for small food businesses?

Yes. If you're a food truck, cottage food producer, catering company, single-location café, or small restaurant that doesn't process a high volume of supplier invoices, Percy Plate covers recipe costing, food cost percentage, inventory tracking, revenue reporting, and FDA label generation at $14.99/month — about 97% less than MarginEdge.

The right tool for most small food businesses

Recipe costing, inventory tracking, revenue reporting, and FDA labels — for less than most operators spend on a single ingredient delivery.

$14.99/month · See full pricing →