Templates

How to make a dish costing sheet (escandallo) step by step, with a template

Learn to work out what each dish costs you: ingredients, cost per portion and selling price. With a worked example and an Excel template that already has the sums built in.

By Equipo de Weko · Reviewed on · 5 min read

Tomatoes and fresh herbs in a bowl on a kitchen scale, with a calculator and a notebook beside it

A costing sheet (escandallo) is the record card of a dish where you write down what goes in it, how much of each thing and what each one costs, so you know what each portion costs you and what price it makes sense to sell it at. Without that sum, the menu price tends to be set by eye, and by eye it is easy to sell dishes that leave little or nothing.

Qué incluye

  • Una hoja de Excel con las fórmulas ya puestas: rellenas las celdas amarillas y el resto se calcula solo.
  • Un plato de ejemplo ya rellenado, para ver cómo se hace antes de poner el tuyo.
  • El cálculo de la merma, del coste por ración, del precio recomendado con y sin IVA y del food cost con tu precio actual.
  • Un PDF con la misma plantilla, para imprimirla y llevarla a la cocina.

¿Prefieres no tocar fórmulas? Usa la calculadora de escandallo.

This guide takes you through it step by step, with a worked example, and at the end explains how to use the Excel template, which comes with the sums already in place so you only have to change your own figures.

What you need before you start

To cost a dish, all you need to have to hand is:

  • The recipe, with the quantity of each ingredient for a specific number of portions.
  • The price you pay for each ingredient, looking at your latest invoices or delivery notes.
  • The number of portions that recipe makes.

Step 1: list all the ingredients with their quantity

Write down everything that goes into the dish, including what seems unimportant, such as oil, salt or the bread that comes with it. Small things add up. Always use the same unit for each product: kilos, litres or units.

Step 2: put the price of each ingredient

Write down how much a kilo, a litre or a unit costs you according to your latest invoice. If you buy the product in boxes or packs, divide the amount by what the pack contains to get the price per unit.

Step 3: work out the cost of each line

Multiply the quantity by the price. For a potato omelette (tortilla de patatas) for 4 portions it would look like this:

  • Potatoes: 0.8 kg × €1.40 a kilo = €1.12
  • Eggs: 8 units × €0.28 = €2.24
  • Onion: 0.2 kg × €1.20 a kilo = €0.24
  • Oil: 0.2 litres × €4.00 a litre = €0.80

Step 4: add up and divide by the portions

The sum of the four lines gives a total cost of €4.40. If that omelette makes 4 portions, each one costs you €4.40 ÷ 4 = €1.10.

Step 5: decide what percentage of the price you want to go on ingredients

That percentage is the food cost: the part of the selling price, before VAT, that is spent on ingredients. In this example we choose 30%, but each venue has its own figure depending on the type of business; in the article on food cost you will see how to choose it.

The sum for the price before VAT is: portion cost ÷ food cost. That is, €1.10 ÷ 0.30 = €3.67 (rounded to the cent).

Step 6: add VAT to get the menu price

The price the customer sees includes VAT. Food served in hospitality is taxed at 10% under article 91 of the Ley 37/1992, so €3.67 × 1.10 = €4.04 per portion.

If you want to check what margin you are left with at that price: €3.67 minus €1.10 of cost is €2.57 per portion, which is roughly 70% of the price before VAT.

Step 7: review it when prices change

A costing sheet is not a snapshot. If oil or eggs go up, the portion costs more and the same menu price leaves you less. Look at your costing sheets every time an invoice arrives with a big change.

How to use the Excel template

The Excel template comes with the formulas in place and an example already filled in (a carbonara pasta with five ingredients) so you can see how it works. To use it:

  1. Change the name of the dish and the number of portions.
  2. Replace the example ingredients with your own, with their quantity and price.
  3. Set the VAT and the food cost you are aiming for.
  4. Read the result: total cost, cost per portion, recommended price before and after VAT, and the food cost you would have at the price you charge today.

One thing to bear in mind about waste (mermas), meaning what you lose when you peel, clean or cook a product: in the Excel template you type the net quantity, the amount that ends up on the plate, and the template works out the quantity you have to buy. We explain it with an example in the article on waste and yield.

If you prefer to do it without Excel

You can also work out the costing sheet of a dish right here, without downloading anything: you enter the ingredients and it gives you back the cost of the portion. In that calculator the quantity you type is the one you buy, before peeling or cleaning.

Start with an example dish

It's already calculated. Change anything you like or get it as a PDF.

Calculating…

We'll email you the full recipe costing as a PDF.

The dish

Enter how much the recipe uses and the format you buy it in. We do the conversion.

Ingredients

Example: the recipe uses 20 ml of oil and the jug is 5 l for €42. That oil costs you €0.17 in the dish.

Recipe uses
You buy it in
Waste (%)

Optional. The quantity above is what you buy, before cleaning or peeling: the cost is worked out from it. The waste is only noted down.

Recipe uses
You buy it in
Waste (%)

Optional. The quantity above is what you buy, before cleaning or peeling: the cost is worked out from it. The waste is only noted down.

Recipe uses
You buy it in
How much 1 pc weighs

You buy by weight or volume and cook by pieces (or the other way round): tell us how much 1 pc weighs, or how many ml it takes up, so we can convert it.

Waste (%)

Optional. The quantity above is what you buy, before cleaning or peeling: the cost is worked out from it. The waste is only noted down.

Recipe uses
You buy it in
Waste (%)

Optional. The quantity above is what you buy, before cleaning or peeling: the cost is worked out from it. The waste is only noted down.

Recipe uses
You buy it in
How much 1 pc weighs

You buy by weight or volume and cook by pieces (or the other way round): tell us how much 1 pc weighs, or how many ml it takes up, so we can convert it.

Waste (%)

Optional. The quantity above is what you buy, before cleaning or peeling: the cost is worked out from it. The waste is only noted down.

Recipe uses
You buy it in
Waste (%)

Optional. The quantity above is what you buy, before cleaning or peeling: the cost is worked out from it. The waste is only noted down.

Recipe uses
You buy it in
Waste (%)

Optional. The quantity above is what you buy, before cleaning or peeling: the cost is worked out from it. The waste is only noted down.

Recipe uses
You buy it in
Waste (%)

Optional. The quantity above is what you buy, before cleaning or peeling: the cost is worked out from it. The waste is only noted down.

Recipe uses
You buy it in
Waste (%)

Optional. The quantity above is what you buy, before cleaning or peeling: the cost is worked out from it. The waste is only noted down.

Recipe uses
You buy it in
Waste (%)

Optional. The quantity above is what you buy, before cleaning or peeling: the cost is worked out from it. The waste is only noted down.

Recipe uses
You buy it in
Waste (%)

Optional. The quantity above is what you buy, before cleaning or peeling: the cost is worked out from it. The waste is only noted down.

Recipe uses
You buy it in
Waste (%)

Optional. The quantity above is what you buy, before cleaning or peeling: the cost is worked out from it. The waste is only noted down.

Common mistakes

  • Forgetting the small ingredients. Oil, salt, spices and the bread on the table cost money too.
  • Calculating with the price on an old invoice. Prices move; use the ones from your latest purchases.
  • Mixing prices with and without VAT. Calculate costs and margin before VAT, and add VAT only at the end.
  • Not counting waste. If you peel, clean or cook a product, you buy more than reaches the plate.
  • Doing it once and forgetting it. Review the dishes you sell the most fairly often.

Do it yourself, for free

Recipe costing calculatorTell us what goes into the dish and what you pay for each item. We'll tell you what it costs you.Plantilla de escandallo en Excel y PDFUna hoja con las fórmulas ya puestas: rellenas los ingredientes y te sale el coste, el precio y el margen del plato.

And if you want this to run by itself

Weko keeps up to date what you have just read, so you do not have to repeat it or remember every change: you take care of your business and Weko takes care of the rest.

See how Weko handles it day to dayCreate your Weko account

Frequently asked questions

What is a costing sheet (escandallo)?

It is the record card of a dish where you write down each ingredient, its quantity and its price to find out how much it costs you to make. With that cost you decide what price to sell it at.

Do I have to cost the whole menu at once?

No. Start with the five dishes you sell the most: they weigh the most on your margin. You can add the rest little by little.

How often should I review it?

Whenever the price of an important ingredient changes noticeably, and at least a couple of times a year. If a product goes up and your price does not, your margin shrinks without you noticing.

Is it calculated with VAT included or without it?

Ingredient costs and margin are always calculated before VAT. You add VAT at the end, only to know the price the customer will see on the menu.

Keep reading

Weko Blog. Every article shows the date of its last review and the sources it relies on.