chapter 5
Recipe Costing
Class Name
Instructor Name
Date, Semester
Foundations of Cost Control
Daniel Traster
The Costing Sheet
The goal of the costing sheet is to determine the
total recipe cost and cost per portion.
To complete, it requires:
• A recipe with a list of ingredients and their
quantities
• Y% for each ingredient as it is to be prepped
• AP$ for each ingredient
• EP$ for any item requiring a butcher’s test
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Costing Sheet: Heading
The costing sheet heading includes the following:
• Recipe Name
• Number of Portions (Yield) for the recipe
• Cost per Portion (calculated in the costing sheet)
• Spice Factor and Q Factor
• FC% and Selling Price (covered in next chapter)
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Sample Costing Sheet before Calculations
Recipe: Cous Cous with Carrots and Raisins
Spice Factor:
Portions: 8
Cost per portion:
FC%
Ingredient
Quantity
Y%
AP$
Cous Cous
2 cups
100%
$4.20/Qt
Carrot,
diced
4 oz
77%
$0.68/#
Raisins
4 oz
100%
$4.37/#
Chicken
Stock
16 oz
100%
$0.84/Qt
Parsley,
chopped
2 Tbsp
1 bun =
8 Tbsp
$0.72/bun
To taste
Spice
Factor
Salt/Pepper To taste
Q Factor:
Selling Price:
AP$
converted
EP$
Extended $
4
Converting Units in Costing Sheet
Units in “price per unit” must match the units in the
ingredient list.
Invoice units and ingredient units don’t often
match.
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Common Invoice Pricing
Invoices often list prices per case size, which may be
broken down as number of units in a case and size per
unit.
• Examples:
―
―
―
―
―
12/1Qt
40#
8/5#
6/#10 cans
80 count
Written as “number/number with unit” the first number is
the number of containers in a case. The second is the
size of each container.
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Making Invoice Pricing Useable
1) Calculate total weight or volume as:
Total wt. = number of units X weight per unit
2) For volume, substitute volume for weight.
3) Next, calculate AP$ (per unit) as:
AP$ = total cost ÷ total weight (or vol.)
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Example 5a
Diced tomato costs $16.54 for a case of 6/#10
cans. Kitchen tests show a #10 can contains 6# 6oz
of product. What is the cost per oz?
6# 6oz = 102 oz
Total wt. = units X wt/unit =
6 X 102oz = 612oz
Cost/unit = cost ÷ total wt. =
$16.54 ÷ 612oz
= $0.027/oz
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Example 5b
Vinegar costs $31.80 for 4/1Gal. What is the cost
per cup?
1 Gal = 16 cups
Total vol. = 4 units X 16 c/unit = 64 cups
Cost/unit = cost ($31.80) ÷ vol. (64c)
=$0.497/c
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Possible Complications in Unit Conversion
1. Weight listed on can is not the same as product’s
drained weight.
•
Solution: test a can and use the drained weight for the
calculation.
2. Container measures contents in weight but recipe
measures in volume or vice-versa.
•
Solution: Open container to measure volume (or weight)
and use this figure for calculations.
Note: In both cases, Y% is accounted for by test, so Y%
becomes 100% on costing sheet.
See Figure 5.1b
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Calculating EP$ for Costing Sheet
EP$ = AP$ ÷ Y%
• Y% in decimal form.
• Only use AP$ with units that match the ingredient’s
units.
• For items from a butcher’s yield test, just enter the EP$
from the test and convert to units that match the
ingredient’s units.
• For items with Y% = 100%, AP$ = EP$
See Figure 5.1c
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Calculating Extended Costs or “Extension”
Extended cost or extension is the total amount of
money that each ingredient contributes to the
total cost of the recipe.
Extension = Ingredient Quantity x EP$/unit
See Figure 5.1d
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Total Recipe Cost
Total
Recipe
Cost
Sum of all
ingredient
extended costs
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Cous Cous Recipe: Part II
Recipe: Cous Cous with Carrots and Raisins
Spice Factor:
Portions: 8
Cost per portion:
Q Factor:
Selling Price:
FC%
Ingredient
Quantity
Y%
AP$
AP$
converted
EP$
Extended
Cost
Cous Cous
2 cups
100%
$4.20/Qt
$1.05/c
$1.05/c
$2.10
Carrot,
diced
4 oz
77%
$0.68/#
$0.043/oz
$0.056/oz
$0.224
Raisins
4 oz
100%
$4.37/#
$0.273/oz
$0.273/oz
$1.092
Chicken
Stock
16 oz
100%
$0.84/Qt
$0.026/oz
$0.026/oz
$0.416
Parsley,
chopped
2 Tbsp
1 bun = 8
Tbsp
$0.72/bun
$0.09/Tbs
$0.09/Tbs
$0.18
Salt/Pepper
To taste
To taste
Spice
Factor
S.F
S.F.
N/A
TOTAL
$4.012
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Spice Factor (S.F.)
• Adjusts recipe cost for ingredients like spices, herbs,
and seasonings.
• Each operation decides what ingredients are
included in Spice Factor.
• Saves time on costing each spice or herb separately
in a recipe.
• Allows for seasoning “to taste.”
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Spice Factor S.F.)
• Divides cost of spices and seasoning across all dishes
rather than making heavily spices ones extremely
expensive.
• Can be used to account for garnishes and “reject”
dishes returned by customer
• Can be applied either to recipe’s total cost or to cost
per portion
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Determining the Spice Factor
1. Decide which items will be included in spice factor.
Calculate cost spent on those items over a period of
time.
2. If desired, include value of “reject” or ruined dishes
over the same period.
S.F. = value of S.F. items ÷ value of total food purchases
(over the same period)
3. Convert S.F. to % form.
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Example 5c
Restaurant purchases $120,000 in food over 3
months. Spice factor items over that period are
valued at $2,600. What is the restaurant’s spice
factor?
SF = Value of SF items ÷ total food purchases
= $2,600 ÷ $120,000 =
0.0216 or 2.2%
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Adjusting Recipe’s Cost Using S.F.
SF-adjusted recipe cost =
Recipe Cost x (1+S.F. in decimal form)
• Use this equation on all recipes regardless of spice or
herb use
• If dish contains multiple components, adjust each
recipe for SF.
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Example 5d
A recipe’s total cost is $27.72. SF = 2.2%. What is
the SF-adjusted cost for the recipe?
SF-adjusted cost = recipe cost X (1+SF)
= $27.72 X (1 + 0.022) =
$27.72 X 1.022
= $28.33
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Q Factor
• Applies only to entrées
• Accounts for add-ons, side dishes, or other “freebies”
that come with an entrée
• Added (not multiplied) to the entrée price
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Process to determine Q Factor
1. Complete costing sheet for all possible add-ons
(soup, salad, bread, butter, dessert, etc.), if any, that
come with the purchase of an entrée.
2. Select the most expensive cost per portion among
each set of choices the customer gets.
Q
Factor
Sum of all of
the most
expensive
options for
each choice
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Why Q Factor?
• If guest orders the most expensive add-ons with
his/her dish, the cost is covered in the entrée’s cost
(and thus, sales price).
• If guest chooses cheaper add-ons, the restaurant
realizes extra profit.
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Example 5e
Restaurant includes choice of soup or salad and
bread and butter with each entrée. What is
restaurant’s Q Factor if:
Chicken Noodle Soup = $0.58
Cream of Broccoli Soup = $0.53
House Salad = $0.85
Spinach Salad = $0.97
Bread = $0.12
Butter = $0.08
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Example 5e (cont.)
• Most expensive choice for soup or salad is Spinach
Salad at $0.97.
• Bread is $0.12 and butter is $0.08
Q Factor = total of most expensive choices
= $0.97 + $0.12 + $0.08
= $1.17
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Calculating True Cost Per Portion
For an entrée, the true cost per portion is
the dish’s cost per portion + Q Factor
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Example 5f
Restaurant’s Q Factor is $1.17. If a particular entrée
costs $6.22 per portion (S.F. adjusted), what is the
true cost per portion?
True cost per portion =
Cost per portion (S.F. adjusted) + Q Factor
= $6.22 + $1.17
= $7.39
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To Calculate True Cost Per Portion from a
Costing Sheet
1. Divide total recipe cost by the recipe’s yield
Cost per portion =
total recipe cost ÷ number of portions
2. Multiply cost per portion X (1+SF) to get spice factor
adjusted cost per portion. (This is true cost per
portion for non-entrées).
3. If applicable, add Q Factor to get the true cost per
portion for an entrée.
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Example 5g
Entrée recipe serves 36 portions and costs $138.96
total. Spice factor is 2.6% and Q Factor is $2.78.
What is true cost per portion for this dish?
Cost per portion
= recipe cost ÷ yield
=$138.96 ÷ 36
= $3.86
SF adjusted cost per portion = cost per portion x (1 + SF)
=$3.86 X 1.026
= $3.96
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Example 5g (cont.)
True cost per portion
= SF adjust cost per portion + Q Factor
= $3.96 + $2.78
= $6.74
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Cous Cous True Cost Per Portion
Recipe: Cous Cous with Carrots and Raisins
Spice Factor: 3.1%
Portions: 8
True Cost per portion: $0.52
FC%
Q Factor: N/A
Selling Price:
Total – sum of ingredient extensions (from earlier slide)
$4.012
Cost per portion (total ÷ 8 portions)
$0.502
SF adjusted cost per portion ($0.502 X (1+0.031))
$0.518
Q Factor – would be added to an entrée, but not relevant for
a side dish, so True Cost per portion = SF adjusted cost per
portion
$0.518
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Summarized Costing Process
1. Enter into costing sheet: recipe name and portion
yield, ingredient list with quantities, Y% for each
ingredient, AP$ for each ingredient from invoice.
2. Convert AP$ from invoice to AP$ with units that match
the ingredient units.
3. Calculate EP$ = AP$ (converted) ÷ Y% for each
ingredient.
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Summarized Costing Process
4. Calculate Extended Cost = Ingredient Quantity X
EP$ for each ingredient.
5. Calculate total recipe cost = sum of all extended
costs.
6. Calculate Cost per portion = total recipe cost ÷
recipe yield.
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Summarized Costing Process (cont.)
7. Calculate Spice Factor adjusted cost per portion
= cost per portion X (1 + Spice factor).
(Note: this calculation may be applied to the total
recipe cost and performed before step 6 instead).
8. Calculate Q Factor and add it to the entrée’s SFadjusted cost per portion, if applicable.
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Standardized Recipes
Standardized (or standard) recipe is a recipe written in
sufficient detail that a range of cooks could prepare it as
written and the results would be identical. It is the recipe that
all cooks in the kitchen must follow when preparing a given
dish.
Often includes
• grades and brands of ingredients
• type of pan
• cooking method
• portion size
• storage and prep information
• plating instructions
• diagram/photo of finished dish
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Why Use Standardized Recipes?
• Critical to maintaining consistency for guests.
• A must if costing sheets are to be relevant to the dish’s
actual cost in the kitchen.
• They are the source for the ingredient quantities used
on the costing sheets.
• They are a control tool – chefs may:
― post them prominently
― distribute computerized
― yield-adjusted versions daily
― and/or oversee production closely to confirm compliance
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Portion and Quality Control
• Critical to meet guest expectations, which prevents
customer and revenue loss.
• Keeps recipe costing accurate, which prevents
excessive food cost and thus, profit loss.
• Often monitored by expediter or sous chef per the
chef’s standards.
• Portion control often allows a very small variance
(+/- ¼ oz) to account for the real world.
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Tools to Monitor Portion Size
Weight:
Spring, beam, or digital scales
Volume:
Measuring cups, ladles, portion scoops, ramekins,
kitchen or slotted spoons (somewhat imprecise), or
serving containers (like a coffee cup or beer mug)
Count:
The human eye to count by hand. No variance is
acceptable for portion by count.
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Quality Control
The expediter should catch and correct errors
before they reach the customers
Examples of quality errors:
• undercooked food
• incorrect garnish
• wilted or unattractive components
• sloppy plate presentation
• error on guest’s special request
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