Restaurant food cost software: Gross margin, site by site.
Enskel compares theoretical food cost, drawn from recipe cards and sales, with actual cost, drawn from purchases and stock counts. The gap can be read by site, by ingredient and by period.
Included in Operations, €35 excl. VAT. Per site per month.See pricing
Profitability
Confluence: food cost at 31%, 3 points above its theoretical percentage.
01 / IN BRIEF
What it does. Theoretical, actual, the gap.
Theoretical
Sales × cost per portion from the recipe cards: what the dishes sold should have cost.
Actual
Opening stock + purchases − closing stock: what was actually used.
The gap, to be explained
Portions, waste, purchase prices, stock counts: the causes to check, without assuming them.
02 / ONE SYSTEM
Connected to everything else.
What it receives, what it provides.
It receives
Sales from the POS, costs from Recipe costing, purchases and stock counts from Stock.
The module
Profitability
Gross margin, site by site.
It provides
For head office, each site’s gross margin; for each site, its own.
- Stock
What to order, calculated.
- Recipe costing
The food cost of every dish.
03 / THE METHOD
Method and limits. A gap is not a fault.
The right scope
Food cost covers raw ingredients: staff, rent and other costs are out of scope.
Investigate without assuming
A gap doesn’t prove waste: stock movements, staff meals or purchase prices often explain it.
Compare like with like
Each site is compared with its own theoretical cost: a different sales mix gives a different percentage.
The guide: calculating food cost, from stock count to the gap against theoretical
04 / SECTORS
In your sector.
Quick service, restaurants, bakeries.
Food cost : 28.6% of sales
Quick service
Each franchisee’s food cost, set against its theoretical cost.
Tartare : 74% gross margin
Restaurants
Each dish’s margin, to adjust the menu.
Croissant : 72% gross margin
Bakeries
What each item brings in, from bread to snacks.
Sample data for lines with figures
What is food cost?
Food cost, or ingredient cost, is the share of food revenue excl. VAT taken up by raw ingredients. It is calculated as follows: (opening stock + purchases − closing stock) ÷ food sales excl. VAT. It is expressed as a percentage and includes neither staff, nor rent, nor other costs.
Theoretical and actual food cost: what’s the difference?
Theoretical is what the dishes sold should have cost: sales multiplied by the cost per portion from the recipe cards. Actual is what was really used: opening stock, plus purchases, minus closing stock. Enskel compares the two and shows the gap by site, by ingredient and by period.
Food cost and food cost percentage: are they the same thing?
Most of the time, yes: both relate the cost of ingredients used to revenue excl. VAT. The difference lies in the scope chosen: food alone, drinks separately, or both together. What matters is keeping the same scope from one period to the next and from one site to another, so that the percentages stay comparable.
What food cost should you aim for?
The target depends on the concept, the menu and the selling prices: the same percentage doesn’t mean the same thing in quick service, in a restaurant or in a bakery. The most useful benchmark is each site’s theoretical cost, drawn from its recipe cards and its sales: the gap between actual and theoretical shows where to look.
Is a gap between actual and theoretical a loss?
Not necessarily. A gap doesn’t prove waste: stock movements, staff meals or purchase prices often explain it. Enskel shows the gap ingredient by ingredient; the causes to check – portions, waste, purchase prices or stock counts – are then investigated without being assumed.
What do you need to calculate food cost with Enskel?
Your sales, taken from the POS, your recipe cards, your purchases, and a stock count at the start and end of the period. Sales and costs per portion give the theoretical; purchases and stock counts give the actual. The step-by-step calculation is set out in the food cost calculation guide.
Who sees what in a group?
Each site sees its own gross margin; head office sees each site’s, and so the whole group. Each site is compared with its own theoretical cost, since a different sales mix gives a different percentage. Reading a group site by site is covered in the guide to managing multiple sites.