Free tools for chefs and cooks
Cost it, price it, prep it: the kitchen maths without the spreadsheet.
A kitchen runs on small calculations: what a dish really costs, what to charge for it, how much of a product you lose to trim, how much to prep for tonight, and how to make a recipe for forty instead of four. Done by hand in the middle of service they are easy to get wrong, and a mistake costs money. These tools do the arithmetic and show the working.
They are written for cooks and chefs who are new to costing, and they work in any currency and in metric or US and UK measures. You bring your own prices, weights and portions. The tools give estimates and general information, and they never tell you what a food cost percentage should be or how much waste a product has, because that depends on your kitchen, your suppliers and your menu.
Made for chefs and cooks
Money & Pay
Recipe Cost Calculator
What a recipe costs line by line and per portion, with trim counted, and the food cost against your price.
Money & Pay
Menu Price Calculator
What to charge for a dish from its cost and the food cost percentage you want.
Quantities & Measurement
Yield and Trim Calculator
The yield of a product after trim, what the usable part really costs, and the waste cost.
Quantities & Measurement
Recipe Scaler
Scale a recipe up or down by portions, or to the amount of one ingredient you have.
Quantities & Measurement
Kitchen Unit Converter
Cups, spoons, grams, ounces and oven temperatures with gas marks, including US and UK measures.
Quantities & Measurement
Prep Quantity Calculator
How much of each dish to prepare for a service from the covers, the share ordering and the portion.
Starting out, and what you really earn
Made for chefs and cooks
Start-Up Cost Calculator
What it costs to start a small business or trade, what it costs to run, and when it pays back. Pick your kind of work.
Works for any job
Savings Runway Calculator
How many months your savings last after start-up costs, with no income and with some.
Works for any job
What Should I Charge? First Rate Calculator
The lowest hourly and day rate that covers your pay, costs, tax, time off and unbilled hours.
Works for any job
Jobs Needed to Break Even
How many jobs, orders or sales a month cover your costs and the pay you want.
Made for chefs and cooks
Real Hourly Earnings Calculator
What you really earn per hour after platform fees, costs and every hour spent, including waiting.
How these fit the working year
Costing a dish
Work out what a recipe really costs per portion, then what to charge so the food cost comes out where you want it.
Buying and prep
See what the part of a product you can use really costs, and how much to prepare for a service.
At the stove
Scale a recipe to any number of portions, and convert cups, grams, ounces and oven temperatures.
Your pay
Check what extra hours are worth, and convert hourly, weekly and yearly pay.
More tools chefs and cooks use
Money & Pay
Percentage Calculator
Percentage increase, decrease, change and difference, plus X% of a number, discounts, tips, marks, weight loss, pay rises and win rate.
Money & Pay
Salary Converter
Convert any salary between hourly, daily, weekly, and annual rates.
Money & Pay
Overtime Pay Calculator
Calculate total pay with overtime hours. Supports time-and-a-half, double time, and custom multipliers.
Time & Dates
Decimal to Time Converter
Convert decimal hours to hours and minutes, or the other way around. Built for timesheets.
Time & Dates
Date Calculator
Add or subtract days from any date, or count the days between two dates.
Time & Dates
Countdown Timer
Live countdown to any date or event, with a shareable link to send to your team.
Questions
How do I work out what a dish costs?
Add up the cost of every ingredient you use, scaled up for what you lose to trim, and divide by the number of portions. The recipe cost calculator does it line by line and shows the cost per portion.
What food cost percentage should I aim for?
It depends on your labour, rent and style of food, so there is no single right answer. Work out what you need from your own costs, and use the menu price calculator to set prices that hit it.
What is yield percentage?
The share of a product you can actually use after trim, bones and peel. A product with a 75 percent yield costs a third more per usable kilo than the invoice price suggests. The yield and trim calculator works it out from a weighing.
Do these tools give me prices or target percentages?
No. The numbers in the boxes are only examples. Use your own prices, weights and portions, and your own targets.
Is anything stored or sent?
The calculators run in your browser, so what you type stays on your device. Your currency choice is remembered in this browser.
These are estimates and general information, not financial, tax or food safety advice. Prices, yields, portion sizes and target percentages depend on your kitchen, suppliers and menu, so use your own figures, and follow your local food safety rules.