Menu cost calculator
A small system that turns purchase prices into plate costs, stamps every costing with the date and prices it used, and reports dish profitability in a way that does not lead straight to the classic mistake of removing the dish that sells everything else. Seven posts on the same system, one diagram at a time, with a cost breakdown and an engineering reference at the end.
- 01
A menu cost calculator on AWS for a few dollars a month
The whole system on one page — yield, price, portion — and the three adjustments between a purchase price and what a dish actually costs.
- 02
How yield turns purchase price into plate cost
How to measure yield properly, why published figures mislead, how cooking loss compounds with trim loss, and how to treat trim that has value.
- 03
Why prices need a date stamped on them
Why every costing stores the prices it used, how a change is attributed to price or recipe, why recipes are versioned, and how staleness is surfaced.
- 04
Why portion size moves more than price does
How portion drift happens, its size relative to price movement, why the theoretical against actual usage comparison is the only way to see it, and what to do about it.
- 05
How to read a dish profitability report without getting it wrong
Why percentage and cash margin must appear together, how popularity interacts with margin, the dishes that exist for other reasons, and what to actually change.
- 06
What the menu cost calculator costs
About $49 a month. One Bedrock read per dish is the only line that grows; the queue, the table, the mail and the storage are rounding errors. Plus the three ways the bill could surprise you.
- 07
Engineering reference: the menu cost calculator architecture
Same system, drawn purely for engineers. Service names, region, Lambda inventory, IAM scopes, the schemas and the exact model id.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a menu cost calculator?
- A small serverless system that converts ingredient purchase prices into cost per portion using measured yields, tracks price changes over time, and reports dish-level profitability.
- What is yield and why does it matter?
- The proportion of what you buy that reaches the plate. Buying ten kilos of beef and serving six point eight means the plate cost is nearly fifty per cent higher than the purchase price suggests.
- Why do costings need a date?
- Because ingredient prices change weekly. A costing without the date and prices it used cannot be checked, reproduced, or compared to a later one.
- What moves food cost more, prices or portions?
- Portions, in most kitchens, and by a wide margin. The post on this shows why a twelve per cent portion drift outweighs a normal year of price movement.
- What does it cost to run?
- A couple of dollars a month. See part six.