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PlateCostr overview, features, pricing, and FAQ/Author
About Julien Jimenez, the founder behind PlateCostr/author/Blog
Guides on menu costing and margin/blog/How do you cost a recipe accurately down to the true plate cost?
Build a plate cost that reflects real ingredient prices and yields./blog/cost-a-recipe-accurately/What is food cost percentage and why does it matter for a menu?
Understand the number every operator watches and what it really tells you./blog/food-cost-percentage-explained/How should you price a menu using both plate cost and target margin?
Set prices grounded in real costs instead of matching the place next door./blog/price-menu-cost-margin/How do you protect margins when ingredient prices keep rising fast?
React to vendor price hikes before they quietly sink a dish./blog/handle-rising-ingredient-prices/Why do sub-recipes make food costing more accurate across a whole menu?
Cost shared components once so every plate that uses them is right./blog/sub-recipes-costing-accuracy/How do you find the menu items quietly dragging your margin down?
Spot the dishes that sell well but earn little before they hurt you./blog/find-menu-margin-losers/How does portion control affect food cost and plate consistency over time?
See why the scoop and the scale protect both margin and the guest./blog/portion-control-food-cost/Why does recipe costing in a spreadsheet break down as a menu grows?
Understand where manual costing fails and what a real tool changes./blog/recipe-costing-vs-spreadsheet/How do you manage blended food cost across an entire menu each month?
Steer the whole-menu number, not just one dish at a time./blog/blended-food-cost-control/How much does trim waste really add to plate cost when you skip yield tests?
As-purchased price is not what your plate actually costs. Here is how yield testing turns a case price into the real cost of the portion that reaches the guest./blog/yield-trim-waste-plate-cost/Which menu items should you promote, reprice, or cut after a menu engineering review?
Menu engineering sorts every dish by popularity and contribution margin. The useful part is what you do with each quadrant afterward./blog/menu-engineering-matrix-decisions/What is the best way to quote a catering job without losing your margin?
Catering quotes fail when they are built from restaurant menu prices instead of event-specific costs. Here is a costing approach that holds up when the guest count changes./blog/catering-quote-plate-cost/How should a chef cost a daily special before it goes on the board?
Specials are where creativity and margin collide. A ten-minute costing habit keeps them from becoming the most expensive item you sell./blog/cost-daily-specials-fast/How do you cost cocktails and bar pours the same way you cost plates?
A cocktail is a recipe like any plate, and pour cost is its food cost percentage. Here is how to bring the bar into the same costing discipline as the kitchen./blog/cocktail-pour-cost-basics/How much margin does third-party delivery commission take from each plate you sell?
The plate cost does not change when an order comes through a delivery app, but the price you keep does. Here is how to cost delivery orders honestly./blog/delivery-commission-plate-margin/Why does actual food cost drift away from theoretical food cost every month?
Your recipes say one number, your inventory count says another. The gap between them is the most useful report in the kitchen if you know how to read it./blog/theoretical-vs-actual-food-cost/Why does prime cost matter more than food cost alone for a small restaurant?
Food cost tells you how well you buy and portion. Prime cost tells you whether the restaurant can survive. Here is how the two fit together./blog/prime-cost-vs-food-cost/How do you cost a prix fixe or tasting menu as one priced experience?
When guests pay one price for several courses, plate cost has to be understood across the whole sequence. Here is how to cost, price, and protect a set menu./blog/prix-fixe-menu-costing/What should a kitchen do when a supplier changes pack size and quietly breaks every recipe cost?
A pack size change rarely announces itself on the invoice, but it moves the unit cost behind every recipe that uses the item. Here is how to catch it at receiving and fix it in one place instead of fifty./blog/supplier-pack-size-changes/When should you redesign a dish instead of raising its price to fix a bad margin?
Sometimes the price your target margin calls for is more than guests in your neighborhood will pay. This is how to measure that gap and choose between repricing, reworking the spec, or letting the dish go./blog/redesign-dish-or-raise-price/Complete guide
Everything a restaurant, cafe, food truck, or ghost kitchen needs to know about costing recipes, pricing plates, and keeping margin intact when ingredient prices move./guide/Compare options
From a rule-of-thumb markup to a full inventory-integrated back office, here is how the common approaches to recipe costing hold up once the menu is live and prices start moving./compare/Glossary and FAQ
Plain-English definitions for the terms that show up in recipe costing, menu pricing, and margin control, plus straight answers to the questions operators ask most./glossary/Free tools
Free calculators and planners/tools/Recipe Plate Cost and Menu Price Calculator
Turns a batch recipe's ingredient cost into a true per-plate cost, then shows the menu price that hits your target food cost percentage, for chefs, owners and menu planners./tools/plate-cost-menu-price/Portion Drift Cost Calculator
Estimates how much over-portioning a single ingredient costs per plate and per year, and how many food cost points it adds, for kitchens trying to hold plate consistency./tools/portion-drift-cost/Ingredient Price Increase Menu Price Calculator
Shows what a supplier price increase does to a menu item's plate cost, food cost percentage and monthly gross profit, and the new menu price needed to protect margin, for owners and chefs repricing under inflation./tools/ingredient-price-increase/Which menu costing method is right for you?
Seven quick questions about your menu, your suppliers and your time, then an honest read on whether a free calculator, a spreadsheet, dedicated software or a full monthly control loop fits your kitchen./quiz/Recipe Card Costing Checklist
A step-by-step checklist for building or auditing a recipe card so the plate cost reflects what you actually pay, what the batch actually yields, and what actually goes out on the plate./templates/recipe-card-costing-checklist/Menu Item Margin Review Worksheet
A one-page comparison sheet that lines up plate cost, menu price, food cost percentage, gross profit per plate, and sales volume for every item so the winners and the quiet losers stand out./templates/menu-margin-review-worksheet/Disclosure
How this site is funded/disclosure/Legal notice
Publisher and hosting information/legal/Privacy policy
How your data is collected and protected/privacy/Terms of service
The terms that govern use of the service/terms/
PlateCostr overview, features, pricing, and FAQ/Author
About Julien Jimenez, the founder behind PlateCostr/author/Blog
Guides on menu costing and margin/blog/How do you cost a recipe accurately down to the true plate cost?
Build a plate cost that reflects real ingredient prices and yields./blog/cost-a-recipe-accurately/What is food cost percentage and why does it matter for a menu?
Understand the number every operator watches and what it really tells you./blog/food-cost-percentage-explained/How should you price a menu using both plate cost and target margin?
Set prices grounded in real costs instead of matching the place next door./blog/price-menu-cost-margin/How do you protect margins when ingredient prices keep rising fast?
React to vendor price hikes before they quietly sink a dish./blog/handle-rising-ingredient-prices/Why do sub-recipes make food costing more accurate across a whole menu?
Cost shared components once so every plate that uses them is right./blog/sub-recipes-costing-accuracy/How do you find the menu items quietly dragging your margin down?
Spot the dishes that sell well but earn little before they hurt you./blog/find-menu-margin-losers/How does portion control affect food cost and plate consistency over time?
See why the scoop and the scale protect both margin and the guest./blog/portion-control-food-cost/Why does recipe costing in a spreadsheet break down as a menu grows?
Understand where manual costing fails and what a real tool changes./blog/recipe-costing-vs-spreadsheet/How do you manage blended food cost across an entire menu each month?
Steer the whole-menu number, not just one dish at a time./blog/blended-food-cost-control/How much does trim waste really add to plate cost when you skip yield tests?
As-purchased price is not what your plate actually costs. Here is how yield testing turns a case price into the real cost of the portion that reaches the guest./blog/yield-trim-waste-plate-cost/Which menu items should you promote, reprice, or cut after a menu engineering review?
Menu engineering sorts every dish by popularity and contribution margin. The useful part is what you do with each quadrant afterward./blog/menu-engineering-matrix-decisions/What is the best way to quote a catering job without losing your margin?
Catering quotes fail when they are built from restaurant menu prices instead of event-specific costs. Here is a costing approach that holds up when the guest count changes./blog/catering-quote-plate-cost/How should a chef cost a daily special before it goes on the board?
Specials are where creativity and margin collide. A ten-minute costing habit keeps them from becoming the most expensive item you sell./blog/cost-daily-specials-fast/How do you cost cocktails and bar pours the same way you cost plates?
A cocktail is a recipe like any plate, and pour cost is its food cost percentage. Here is how to bring the bar into the same costing discipline as the kitchen./blog/cocktail-pour-cost-basics/How much margin does third-party delivery commission take from each plate you sell?
The plate cost does not change when an order comes through a delivery app, but the price you keep does. Here is how to cost delivery orders honestly./blog/delivery-commission-plate-margin/Why does actual food cost drift away from theoretical food cost every month?
Your recipes say one number, your inventory count says another. The gap between them is the most useful report in the kitchen if you know how to read it./blog/theoretical-vs-actual-food-cost/Why does prime cost matter more than food cost alone for a small restaurant?
Food cost tells you how well you buy and portion. Prime cost tells you whether the restaurant can survive. Here is how the two fit together./blog/prime-cost-vs-food-cost/How do you cost a prix fixe or tasting menu as one priced experience?
When guests pay one price for several courses, plate cost has to be understood across the whole sequence. Here is how to cost, price, and protect a set menu./blog/prix-fixe-menu-costing/What should a kitchen do when a supplier changes pack size and quietly breaks every recipe cost?
A pack size change rarely announces itself on the invoice, but it moves the unit cost behind every recipe that uses the item. Here is how to catch it at receiving and fix it in one place instead of fifty./blog/supplier-pack-size-changes/When should you redesign a dish instead of raising its price to fix a bad margin?
Sometimes the price your target margin calls for is more than guests in your neighborhood will pay. This is how to measure that gap and choose between repricing, reworking the spec, or letting the dish go./blog/redesign-dish-or-raise-price/Complete guide
Everything a restaurant, cafe, food truck, or ghost kitchen needs to know about costing recipes, pricing plates, and keeping margin intact when ingredient prices move./guide/Compare options
From a rule-of-thumb markup to a full inventory-integrated back office, here is how the common approaches to recipe costing hold up once the menu is live and prices start moving./compare/Glossary and FAQ
Plain-English definitions for the terms that show up in recipe costing, menu pricing, and margin control, plus straight answers to the questions operators ask most./glossary/Free tools
Free calculators and planners/tools/Recipe Plate Cost and Menu Price Calculator
Turns a batch recipe's ingredient cost into a true per-plate cost, then shows the menu price that hits your target food cost percentage, for chefs, owners and menu planners./tools/plate-cost-menu-price/Portion Drift Cost Calculator
Estimates how much over-portioning a single ingredient costs per plate and per year, and how many food cost points it adds, for kitchens trying to hold plate consistency./tools/portion-drift-cost/Ingredient Price Increase Menu Price Calculator
Shows what a supplier price increase does to a menu item's plate cost, food cost percentage and monthly gross profit, and the new menu price needed to protect margin, for owners and chefs repricing under inflation./tools/ingredient-price-increase/Which menu costing method is right for you?
Seven quick questions about your menu, your suppliers and your time, then an honest read on whether a free calculator, a spreadsheet, dedicated software or a full monthly control loop fits your kitchen./quiz/Recipe Card Costing Checklist
A step-by-step checklist for building or auditing a recipe card so the plate cost reflects what you actually pay, what the batch actually yields, and what actually goes out on the plate./templates/recipe-card-costing-checklist/Menu Item Margin Review Worksheet
A one-page comparison sheet that lines up plate cost, menu price, food cost percentage, gross profit per plate, and sales volume for every item so the winners and the quiet losers stand out./templates/menu-margin-review-worksheet/Disclosure
How this site is funded/disclosure/Legal notice
Publisher and hosting information/legal/Privacy policy
How your data is collected and protected/privacy/Terms of service
The terms that govern use of the service/terms/
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