Pizza food cost and margin calculator
Food cost is what the ingredients and the box cost you; the ratio is that figure against the ex-VAT selling price. Comparing it against the menu price instead — which includes 20% VAT you do not keep — flatters every margin on your menu by about a fifth.
Meat, vegetables, egg…
Box, paper, label.
Including VAT, as printed.
Food cost
£1.94
Food cost ratio
21.1%
Against the ex-VAT price
Gross margin
£7.23
78.9% of ex-VAT
Multiplier
× 5.7
Menu price ÷ food cost
- Flour
- £0.13
- Sauce
- £0.16
- Cheese
- £0.65
- Toppings
- £0.70
- Packaging
- £0.30
- Total food cost
- £1.94
- Menu price, ex-VATVAT 20%
- £9.17
The other way round: what should I charge?
Suggested menu price
£8.31
Including VAT
Why it has to be the ex-VAT price
This is the commonest and most expensive mistake. You buy ingredients without VAT; your menu shows a price with VAT in it. Comparing the two directly credits you with the VAT as though it were margin — it is not yours, you hand it to HMRC.
On an £11 pizza at 20%, the ex-VAT price is £9.17. A £2.60 food cost is 28% of that, not 24%. Four points does not sound like much until it is applied across every line on the menu for a year.
What a sensible ratio looks like
| Ratio | Multiplier | |
|---|---|---|
| Margherita and simple classics | 20 – 25% | × 4 – 5 |
| Loaded and meat pizzas | 28 – 33% | × 3 – 3.5 |
| Premium or seasonal specials | 33 – 38% | × 2.6 – 3 |
| Soft drinks | 10 – 20% | × 5 – 10 |
Working ranges, not rules. A single high-ratio dish is fine if it sells the rest of the menu.
Chase the blended ratio across what actually sells, not the ratio of each dish in isolation. The margherita subsidising a generous special is a normal and healthy arrangement; the special subsidising nothing is not.
What this deliberately leaves out
Labour, rent, energy, waste and the commission on a delivered order. Food cost is one line, not profitability — a pizza with a beautiful 24% food cost sold through a platform at 30% commission is a different business entirely.