A worked example of food cost for a Kenyan plate of beef stew, ugali and sukuma, the 28 to 35 percent rule, and the costs most menus forget.
The short answer: cost per plate is what the ingredients on one plate cost you, including what is lost in trimming and cooking. Divide it by the menu price to get your food cost percentage. Most restaurants aim for about 28 to 35 percent. Below is a worked example for a plate of beef stew, ugali and sukuma.
Why it matters
Market prices move every week. Tomatoes and onions can double in a bad month, and cooking oil rarely comes down. If your menu prices were set a year ago, some dishes may be making you almost nothing. You only find out by costing the plate.
Worked example: beef stew, ugali and sukuma
Cost a dish the way you cook it: by the batch. Here is one sufuria of beef stew that serves 20 plates. The prices are examples. Use the numbers on your own receipts.
| Stew ingredient (one batch) | Amount | Cost (KSh) |
|---|---|---|
| Beef | 3 kg at 700 a kg | 2,100 |
| Onions | 1 kg | 120 |
| Tomatoes | 1.5 kg at 100 a kg | 150 |
| Cooking oil | 300 ml | 105 |
| Garlic, ginger, dhania and spices | 80 | |
| Gas for cooking | 120 | |
| Batch total | 20 plates | 2,675 |
That is about KSh 134 of stew per plate. Now the sides:
- Ugali: about 150 g of maize flour at KSh 90 a kg, plus fuel. About KSh 19.
- Sukuma wiki: a third of a KSh 30 bunch, plus onion and oil. About KSh 15.
Cost per plate: about KSh 168. For a takeaway, add the container and bag, often another KSh 15 to 25.
Now compare it with the price on your menu:
| Menu price | Food cost | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| KSh 400 | 42% | Too high. Little is left for rent, staff and profit. |
| KSh 450 | 37% | On the high side. Check the portion size. |
| KSh 500 | 34% | Inside the usual range. |
If KSh 500 is too much for your customers, change the plate instead of the price. Serving 130 g of beef instead of 150 g brings the plate to about KSh 154, which is 34 percent at KSh 450.
The costs most menus forget
- Trimming and bone. 3 kg of beef on the bone is not 3 kg of stew. Weigh it once before and after trimming to know your real yield.
- Oil and gas. Small on one plate, large over a month.
- The free extras. Kachumbari, chilli, soup and the second helping of ugali all cost something.
- Waste. Food thrown away at closing is part of the cost of what you sold.
- Staff meals. Count them, or they quietly come out of your margin.
Cost any dish in six steps
- Write the recipe for one batch, the way your cook really makes it.
- Price each ingredient from your last receipt, not from memory.
- Weigh what you lose in trimming and cooking.
- Divide the batch cost by the number of plates it serves.
- Add the sides, the free extras and, for takeaway, the packaging.
- Divide by the menu price. Check again whenever market prices move.
How I do this for you
My recipe book keeps every dish as a recipe card, with batch cooking, prep loss and recipes inside recipes, like your stew base or your chapati dough. I work out the cost per plate from what you actually paid on your last purchases. Before you have recorded any purchases, I use typical ingredient prices for your county and mark the cost as an estimate. When a dish sells, its ingredients come off your stock. You can also just ask me: "What does a plate of beef stew cost me?"
Recipes and plate cost come with Orderly Plus. See pricing.
Related reading
- How to spot staff theft in your POS reports
- How to get your customers to come back
- Starting a restaurant in Kenya: the licence checklist
Want me to handle this for you?
I am Orderly: the restaurant POS with M-Pesa, kitchen screen, stock and riders, built in Kenya. From KSh 5,000 a month per branch, no commission, and it is free to start.
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