Free interactive framework

The Food Costing Framework

A short, practical framework for costing at the recipe level — not just the whole menu. Food cost percentage, trim yield, and recipe cost percentage, each with a worked example you can edit with your own numbers, right on this page.

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No signup to use it. Want to keep it? The tool emails you the framework plus a ready-to-use costing worksheet.

that’s the whole framework
01Food cost percentagethe whole-menu baseline — and why it isn’t enough
02Trim yieldwhat an ingredient really costs after prep
03Recipe cost percentagethe margin of every item on the menu
Use the framework free
no.1The framework

Work the framework with your own recipe

It opens pre-filled with a worked example — a wild mushroom risotto, costed per serving. Every cell is editable: swap in one of your own recipes and watch recipe cost, recipe cost percentage, and the cost hidden in trim recalculate live.

no.2The method

Three numbers, in order

Start with food cost percentage

Starting inventory + purchases − ending inventory, divided by food sales. It tells you that margin moved — never which recipe moved it. That’s why the framework goes one level deeper.

Price what you serve, not what you buy

Stems, peels, and prep loss never reach the plate, but they’re on the invoice. Divide the as-purchased cost by the trim yield to get the true, edible-portion cost — skipping it understates most produce and protein costs by 5–15%.

Cost the recipe, then take the percentage

Sum the yield-adjusted cost of every ingredient, divide by the menu price. Now you can see which items earn their place — and re-engineer recipes and menu mix deliberately instead of guessing.

no.3At scale

The framework is manual. The Galley platform keeps it live.

On paper, the framework works for a handful of recipes. Across a full menu it depends on vendor prices staying current, unit conversions staying straight, and yields being applied everywhere — every week, forever. That upkeep is exactly what the Galley culinary resource planning (CRP) platform automates by connecting recipes to live vendor pricing.

  • Recipe costs update automatically when vendor prices change
  • Trim yields and unit conversions applied everywhere, once
  • Margins visible per recipe, menu, and location — live
Recipes & Food CostsNutritionMenusProductionInventoryProcurement
5+ hrs
saved per chef, per week
1M+
meals planned & produced every month
6,000+
kitchens running on the Galley platform
no.4Questions

Food Costing Framework FAQ

What is the Food Costing Framework?
A short, practical method for costing food at the recipe level instead of only the whole menu. It covers three numbers: food cost percentage (the menu-level baseline), trim yield (what an ingredient really costs after prep), and recipe cost percentage (the margin of each menu item) — each with a worked example you can edit with your own numbers.
Is it really free? Do I have to sign up?
Yes, and no signup. The interactive framework on this page is free to use with your own recipes. If you want to keep it, enter your email inside the tool and we'll send the framework plus a ready-to-use costing worksheet.
What is trim yield and why does it matter?
Trim yield is the share of an ingredient that survives prep — the mushrooms left after cleaning, the usable weight after peeling. Divide the as-purchased cost per unit by the yield percentage to get the true cost of what you serve. A 90% yield means every usable ounce costs about 11% more than the invoice suggests, on every recipe that skips the adjustment.
How is this different from food costing software?
The framework is the method — you can run it on paper or a spreadsheet. The hard part at scale is keeping vendor prices, unit conversions, and yields current across a whole menu. That is what the Galley platform automates: recipes connected to live vendor pricing, so costs and margins update themselves as prices move.

Ready to see your real recipe costs?

Run the framework above with your own numbers, keep the worksheet — and when you’re ready to stop maintaining spreadsheets, see how the Galley platform keeps every recipe costed automatically.

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