Free catering recipe-costing worksheet

Start with one repeatable recipe

Choose one dish you can describe and measure. Write down its ingredients, the quantities used and the number of portions you actually obtain from a trial batch. Keep the recipe version and supplier prices with your own business records so you can revisit the calculation when they change.

Cost a main and each side separately if you prepare them as separate recipes. When you combine them into a package, include each component once. If a sauce is already included in a dish's recipe cost, adding it again as a separate component would count the same cost twice.

Use the menu template to describe the offer to customers. Keep detailed ingredient costs in your own working file.

Enter the six ingredient inputs

Open Your recipe, enter your currency label and portions per batch, then complete one yellow row for each ingredient. White cells contain formulas. There is room for up to 20 ingredients per sheet. Duplicate a sheet for another recipe; inserting extra rows is outside this template's supported range.

Convert units before entering them: 1 kg is 1,000 g and 1 L is 1,000 ml. Do not enter a pack in kilograms and the batch quantity in grams on the same row. The workbook does not convert units or currencies.

The currency cell is a label. Changing CAD to USD does not convert any numbers. Use your chosen consistent purchase-cost basis throughout, and handle applicable sales tax separately in the job estimate.

Match the yield to the quantity you use

Suppose a fictional 1,000 g pack costs CAD2.40. After trimming, you measure 800 g usable. The usable yield is 800 ÷ 1,000 = 80%. Each usable gram therefore carries CAD2.40 ÷ 800 = CAD0.003 of ingredient cost. Using all 800 g in the batch costs CAD2.40.

In this worksheet, yield handles a measured loss at the stage you choose. For rice, for example, you can cost the dry quantity at 100% yield before adding water. Do not use the cooked rice weight as the quantity used against that dry basis. This template accepts yields above 0% and up to 100%; it is not a cooked-weight gain model.

BCcampus explains yield testing and its effect on ingredient costs. Measure your own ingredients and process rather than adopting the fictional yields below.

Follow the fictional costing example

Practice batch A is an invented ingredient ledger with 10 assumed portions. It demonstrates the workbook only. It provides no cooking method, serving-size recommendation, dietary claim or food-safety instruction.

The listed ingredient costs total CAD8.90 per batch. With the assumed 10 portions, the ingredient cost is CAD0.89 per portion. This is not a selling price or a complete menu, event cost or profit calculation.

The calculation on each row is:

Pack price ÷ (pack quantity × usable yield) × usable quantity used in the batch.

The workbook then adds the ingredient lines and divides that batch total by the entered portion count. Its calculations retain precision; displayed money totals use two decimal places. Do not round each usable-unit cost before calculating the line cost.

Changing the rice pack price from CAD6 to CAD8, with the other inputs unchanged, increases its line cost from CAD1.50 to CAD2.00. The batch becomes CAD9.40 and the cost per portion becomes CAD0.94. Review your supplier costs when you update a menu.

Carry recipe costs into your first menu

For a package with a main and two sides, use the amount of each recipe that the package actually includes. If one recipe makes 10 portions but the job requires 25 portions of that dish, a simple proportional starting calculation is 25 ÷ 10 = 2.5 batches. Review the resulting ingredient quantities and your production constraints yourself.

Changing Portions per batch alone changes the divisor. It does not scale any ingredient quantities, prove that the recipe produces that many portions or establish an appropriate serving size. When making a larger batch, review both the ingredient quantities and the portion count. Use the food-quantity calculator for a separate event-quantity plan based on your selected portions and allocations.

BCcampus describes the connection between recipes, yields and portion costs. Your own recipe and measurements supply the inputs here.

Add the rest of the job before choosing a price

An ingredient subtotal leaves other costs outside the calculation. Add your estimated labour, including your own time, packaging, delivery, rentals, other direct costs and an appropriate treatment of overhead when you price the booking. Decide which charges are already included so you do not charge for or count them twice. Labour requires its own estimate; BCcampus discusses matching labour with the work to be done.

Use the first-job pricing guide and calculator for that whole-job calculation. Carry the recipe ingredient costs into its food-cost input once. Do not add both the recipe total and the same individual ingredients as separate costs.

Keep markup and margin distinct when you review a selling price. A food-cost percentage is also not a net-profit margin. The existing pricing guide explains its planning calculation and exclusions. No target food-cost percentage or margin is recommended by this recipe worksheet.

Once you have chosen the offer and selling prices, transfer the customer-facing details into the menu template. Use the inquiry questionnaire to confirm the event requirements before preparing a customer quote.

Questions about the recipe-costing worksheet

Keep planning your first booking

Use the catering resources hub for the related manual tools, or follow the new-business guide to prepare your first booking in CaterScale.