How to cost a sauce or prep recipe
A house mayo, a tomato sauce, a chili oil: every prep recipe costs the same way, batch cost divided by output, worked through with a real example.
List every input ingredient with its quantity, multiply each by its cost per usage unit, and sum them to get the total batch cost. Then divide by what the batch actually yields.
Cost per output unit = total batch cost divided by actual finished output
Example: house mayo
- 2 eggs: $0.50
- 250 ml sunflower oil: $1.05
- 10 g dijon: $0.12
- 15 ml lemon juice: $0.15
Batch cost = $1.82. Output = 280 g. Cost per gram = $1.82 divided by 280 = $0.0065
A menu item using 30 g of mayo carries about $0.20 of mayo cost.
Divide by the finished output, not the raw inputs
The mayo above emulsifies, so its inputs and its output weigh roughly the same and the distinction does not bite. On anything that cooks down, it bites hard.
A tomato sauce takes 3.0 kg of inputs costing $8.40 and reduces to 2.1 kg. Divide by the inputs and you get $0.0028/g. Divide by what actually comes out of the pan and you get $0.0040/g, which is 43% higher and is the true figure.
Cost per gram = $8.40 divided by 2,100 g = $0.0040
Weigh the finished batch once and store the number. Every dish drawing on that sauce is wrong by the same 43% until you do.
Prep recipes can nest
A sauce can go into a marinade that goes into a dish. Each layer divides its own batch cost by its own output before the next one draws from it, so the reduction loss above is captured once at the level it happens and carries through everything above it automatically.
Frequently asked questions
- How often should I recost a prep recipe?
- Whenever one of its input ingredients changes price. A stored prep recipe recosts itself when the ingredient underneath it moves, which is the main reason to store one rather than recalculate it by hand each time.
- What if my batch yield varies between cooks?
- Use the yield you get on a normal day, not the best one. A sauce that is supposed to make 2.1 kg and usually makes 1.9 kg costs more per gram than the recipe claims, and the optimistic figure flatters every dish above it.
- Should labor for the prep go into the batch cost?
- No. Keep the prep recipe a food cost figure so it stays comparable with every other ingredient. Labor is measured across a period, as part of prime cost.
Cost the whole batch, then divide by what comes out of it, not what went in.
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