Recipe costing calculator
| Ingredient | Scaled Qty | Unit | Unit Price | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ingredients subtotal | $23.40 | |||
Total batch cost: $29.40 for 12 units
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How it works & common questions
Why accurate batch costing matters
In food service and batch manufacturing, small ingredient cost errors multiply rapidly. If each portion costs $0.25 more than estimated, a commercial kitchen serving 400 meals a day loses $36,500 every year to unmodeled food cost. Accurate batch costing isolates direct ingredient expenses and allocated packaging or labor so you can set profitable menu and retail prices.
Scaling batches up or down
When catering an event or stepping up production, recipes rarely multiply by whole numbers. Scaling linearly adjusts every ingredient proportionally by the scale factor: Target Yield / Base Yield. This tool scales all other batch costs by the same multiplier. Adjust those costs yourself if setup costs stay fixed. Each ingredient cost is rounded to cents before the subtotal is added.
A worked example
Suppose you bake a standard batch of 12 artisan sourdough loaves:
- Flour: 6,000 grams at $0.0025 per gram = $15.00
- Water: 4,200 grams at $0.0001 per gram = $0.42
- Sourdough starter: 1,200 grams at $0.005 per gram = $6.00
- Sea salt: 120 grams at $0.0165 per gram = $1.98
- Ingredients subtotal: $23.40
- Packaging & oven energy: $6.00 ($0.50 per bag and baking cost)
- Total batch cost: $29.40 → Cost per loaf: $2.45 ($29.40 / 12)
- If you scale the batch to 36 loaves (3x scale factor), each ingredient multiplies by 3 (18,000 g flour, 360 g salt) and total batch cost becomes $88.20, while unit cost remains $2.45.
Common mistakes
Match each quantity to its price unit: grams need a price per gram, pounds a price per pound. Weight ounces and fluid ounces are different measurements. Include packaging and labor, and adjust fixed costs before scaling.