Food cost percentage: how to calculate it (Kenya)

The food cost percentage formula

Food cost percentage = (cost of ingredients used ÷ sales) × 100.

You can calculate it two ways: per dish, using the plate cost and selling price; or for the whole business over a period, using your total ingredient spend against total sales. Both matter — the per-dish number tells you what to fix, the overall number tells you how the business is doing.

A worked example in shillings

Say a plate of pilau costs you KES 120 in ingredients and you sell it for KES 400. Food cost % = (120 ÷ 400) × 100 = 30%. That's healthy. Now say chips cost you KES 90 (potatoes, oil, gas, salt, packaging) and you sell them at KES 200. That's 45% — too high, and a sign you're either under-pricing or over-portioning.

Across the whole business: if you spent KES 300,000 on ingredients last month and did KES 1,000,000 in sales, your overall food cost is 30%. If sales were the same but ingredients cost KES 420,000, you're at 42% — and that 12-point gap is profit that vanished into price hikes, waste or theft.

What's a good food cost percentage in Kenya?

There's no single right number — it depends on your concept — but useful benchmarks are:

• Full-service restaurants: roughly 30–35%.
• Cafés and coffee shops: often 25–32% (drinks carry low cost).
• Bars: liquor commonly 18–25%, which is why drinks subsidise food.
• Fast food / takeaway: around 30–38% depending on portion sizes.

Why your real percentage is higher than your recipe says

Your recipe might say 30%, but your actual food cost is almost always higher. The difference is everything that leaves the kitchen without being sold: trim and spoilage, over-portioning, staff meals, comps, and theft. Your recipe shows the ideal; your stock count shows reality. The gap between them is your real opportunity.

This is why a one-time paper calculation isn't enough. To know your true percentage you need to track ingredients used against ingredients sold continuously — not just price recipes once.

How to lower your food cost percentage

Once you can see the number, these levers move it:

• Reprice or resize dishes running above target.
• Renegotiate with suppliers or switch — and catch price hikes the day they happen.
• Tighten portion control with standard recipes so every plate is consistent.
• Cut waste from over-prep and spoilage (see our food waste guide).
• Close the theft gap with staff accountability and daily stock counts.