Cost every dish — sauces, prep, and plate
RecipeMate is a recipe cost calculator built for restaurant menus. Cost multi-component dishes with their sauces, garnishes, and prep batches, and track your food cost percentage against target.
Real dishes are built from prep — your costing should be too
A pasta dish isn't one recipe: it's house marinara (a batch), fresh pasta (a batch), and a plated dish that uses portions of both. RecipeMate models this the way your kitchen works — prep recipes have batch yields, plated dishes pull portions from them, and costs cascade automatically. Change the price of canned tomatoes and your marinara, and every dish using it, updates instantly.
- Prep recipes with batch yields (sauces, stocks, doughs)
- Plated dishes built from ingredients plus prep portions
- Costs cascade through every layer automatically
- Unit conversions between purchase and recipe units
Track food cost percentage against your target
Most full-service restaurants target 28–35% food cost. RecipeMate calculates food cost percentage per dish and across your whole menu, flags items above target, and shows which dishes are dragging the blended number down. When supplier prices move, you see exactly which menu prices need attention — before the P&L tells you.
Update costs from supplier invoices, not data entry
Upload or paste invoices from your broadline distributor. RecipeMate's AI extracts line items, matches them to your ingredient list, and proposes price updates for your review. Your plate costs stay current without a weekly spreadsheet session.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate recipe cost for a restaurant?
Sum the cost of every ingredient portion in the dish, including portions of house-made prep (sauces, stocks) costed from their batch cost divided by yield. RecipeMate automates this, including unit conversions from purchase units to recipe units.
What food cost percentage should a restaurant target?
Full-service restaurants typically target 28–35%; quick service often runs lower. RecipeMate lets you set your target and flags dishes above it.
Can it handle sub-recipes like sauces and stocks?
Yes — that's the core of the product. Prep recipes have batch yields, and their per-unit cost flows into every dish that uses them.
Is this better than a spreadsheet?
Spreadsheets break at unit conversions, sub-recipe cost cascading, and price updates. RecipeMate handles all three, plus AI invoice imports and a dashboard that flags problems.
Cost your menu in an afternoon
Free to start. Import your ingredients and build your first dishes today.
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