Food Cost & Waste
How to measure, control, and cut food cost and waste — guides, the math behind food cost percentage, and free calculators to run your own numbers.
Free Tools
Guides & Research
Best Food Cost Software for Restaurants
Compare the best food cost software for restaurants — recipe costing, actual-vs-theoretical food cost, invoice automation, and profitability tools.
How to Calculate Food Cost Percentage for a Restaurant
The food cost percentage formula, a worked example, healthy benchmarks, and practical ways to lower your food cost — plus a free calculator.
The 45-Minute Prep List: How Restaurants Lose Money Before Service Even Starts
A field note on how restaurants lose money before service begins — through guesswork, over-prepping, missed long-prep items, and weak inventory routines.
Why Restaurants Should Stop Counting Inventory Once a Month
The walk-in can look full while food cost keeps climbing. A field note on why monthly counts arrive too late, and how a short weekly count of the items that move margin fastest changes the math.