Pricing a menu without knowing your food costs is like driving blindfolded. Learn how to calculate plate costs, set target food cost percentages, and price every dish for sustainable profitability.
Pricing your menu without knowing your food costs is guessing with your business — here is how to build the calculations that turn knowledge into profit.
Food cost percentage tells you how efficiently you are converting food purchases into revenue. Contribution margin tells you how much cash each dish actually puts in your pocket. You need both — and you need to know when to use each one.
Your menu prices do more than cover costs — they shape how customers perceive value and decide what to order. Learn 9 evidence-based pricing psychology tactics, from dropping the dollar sign to strategic bundling, that can raise your average check without raising eyebrows.
Food and labor costs have each risen 35% since 2020, pushing roughly 90,000 restaurants to permanent closure — here is how the survivors are adapting.
The most expensive pricing errors restaurant operators make — from guesswork markup to ignoring contribution margin — and the systems that fix them.
How to build and use a recipe costing spreadsheet that calculates accurate per-dish costs, tracks yield losses, and feeds directly into profitable menu pricing.
When Wendy's announced digital menu boards in 2024, the public assumed surge pricing was coming — and the backlash revealed exactly why variable pricing is uniquely dangerous territory for restaurants.
Why customers pay more or less than ingredient costs justify — and the pricing frameworks that align your menu with what they are actually willing to spend.