Menu price and GP calculator
Work out what to charge for a dish from what it costs you and the gross profit you need, with UK VAT handled properly. Or type in a price you already charge and see the GP you are really making.
20% for food and drink served on the premises.
Checks the real GP of an existing menu price.
Result
- Menu price inc VAT
- £14.00
- Net price ex VAT
- £11.67
- Cash GP per dish
- £8.17
- Food cost
- 30.0%
- Markup on cost
- 233.3%
Results are estimates for planning, based only on the figures you enter. They are not financial, tax or legal advice. The calculation runs in your browser and TablePort does not save the figures you enter.
How the calculator works
UK hospitality measures gross profit (GP) on the price after VAT is taken off. VAT is the government's money, not yours, so a dish sold for £14.00 including 20% VAT earns you £11.67.
- Net selling price = dish cost ÷ (1 − target GP %)
- Menu price including VAT = net selling price × (1 + VAT rate)
- Food cost % = dish cost ÷ net selling price × 100
- GP % = (net selling price − dish cost) ÷ net selling price × 100
Food cost % and GP % always add up to 100%. A 70% GP means a 30% food cost.
Worked example
A plate of pasta costs £3.50 in ingredients and you want a 70% GP.
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Net price | £3.50 ÷ 0.30 | £11.67 |
| Add 20% VAT | £11.67 × 1.20 | £14.00 |
| Cash GP per plate | £11.67 − £3.50 | £8.17 |
If you had priced the dish at £11.67 on the menu and forgotten VAT, you would collect only £9.72 after VAT and your real GP would fall to 64%.
Margin is not markup
A 70% GP is a markup of 233% on cost. Mixing the two up is the most common pricing mistake in kitchens: adding "70% on top" of a £3.50 cost gives £5.95, which is a GP of just 41% before VAT is even considered.
What GP should a restaurant target?
There is no legal or official figure. A commonly quoted rule of thumb puts food GP at roughly 65% to 72% and drinks higher. Low-cost, high-volume dishes (pasta, rice, soups) carry the margin that lets you price premium proteins at a lower percentage. Look at cash GP per cover as well as the percentage: a steak at 60% GP can still put more pounds in the till than a salad at 80%.
Getting the dish cost right
The answer is only as good as the cost you enter. Include every component on the plate (garnish, sauce, oil, bread and butter), use the current supplier price rather than last quarter's, and allow for yield: a whole salmon that loses 40% to trimming costs far more per usable kilo than its invoice price per kilo.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I calculate GP on a menu item?
- Take the selling price, remove VAT (divide by 1.2 for 20% VAT), subtract the ingredient cost, then divide the result by the net price and multiply by 100. A £14.00 dish costing £3.50 has a net price of £11.67 and a GP of 70%.
- Is restaurant GP calculated before or after VAT?
- After. GP is always measured on the net selling price because VAT is collected for HMRC and never belongs to the business.
- What VAT rate applies to restaurant food in the UK?
- Food and drink served for consumption on the premises is standard-rated at 20%. Hot takeaway food is also standard-rated. Some cold takeaway food can be zero-rated, so check HMRC's VAT Notice 709/1 for your menu.
- What is a good GP percentage for a restaurant?
- A commonly quoted rule of thumb puts food GP at roughly 65% to 72% and drinks higher, though there is no official benchmark. The right target depends on your rent, labour cost and service style, so compare it with your full profit and loss rather than a general benchmark.
- What is the difference between margin and markup?
- Margin (GP) is profit as a share of the selling price. Markup is profit as a share of cost. A dish costing £3 sold for £10 net has a 70% margin but a 233% markup.
Let the till do the maths.
TablePort reports sales, covers and tips from every order, and the stock module costs recipes against supplier prices, so these numbers stay current.