Cost a menu dish and set its menu price
A recipe cost card with yields, food cost percentage, and price options that hit my target margin.
The prompt
Help me cost a dish and set its menu price.
Dish and portion: [NAME, PLATED PORTION SIZES]
Recipe ingredients: [EACH INGREDIENT, QUANTITY PER PORTION, PURCHASE UNIT AND PRICE - e.g. "salmon fillet 180 g; case 10 lb at $98"]
Known yields or trim loss: [e.g. "whole salmon yields 60% usable", or "unknown"]
Garnish, sauce, bread, and sides served with it: [DETAILS]
Target food cost %: [e.g. 28-32%]
Comparable prices on my menu and nearby competitors: [PRICES]
Concept and price positioning: [e.g. neighborhood bistro, fine dining]
Steps:
1. Convert each ingredient from as-purchased (AP) cost to edible-portion (EP) cost using the yield; where I have not given a yield, use a clearly labeled typical estimate and mark it [VERIFY BY YIELD TEST].
2. Build a cost card: ingredient, portion qty, AP unit cost, yield %, EP cost per portion.
3. Add a "Q factor" allowance (2-5%) for seasonings, oil, and waste, and say what I chose.
4. Calculate total plate cost and the price needed for my target food cost %.
5. Give three price options (e.g. ending in .00, .50, or psychological pricing that fits my concept), with the food cost % and gross profit dollars for each.
6. Note the dollar contribution margin, not just the percentage, and whether a higher-cost dish might still earn more per plate.
Return the cost card as a table, the price options table, and 3 ways to lower the plate cost without hurting the dish (portion, substitution, cross-utilization). Use only the prices I give; do not invent supplier prices.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Finance & Accounting prompts
What to fill in
- NAME, PLATED PORTION SIZES
- e.g. "whole salmon yields 60% usable", or "unknown"
- DETAILS
- e.g. 28-32%
- PRICES
- e.g. neighborhood bistro, fine dining
- VERIFY BY YIELD TEST
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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