Menu & Dish Profit Calculator

Who this is for

Cafés, pubs, food trucks, caterers and bakers who price dishes by feel rather than by checking the numbers. If you've never worked out the GP% on your best-seller, there's a decent chance it isn't your most profitable item.

What GP% should a café run at?

65–75% food gross profit is typical for cafés and casual dining in the UK. Below 60% is worth a closer look — either the cost has crept up, the price hasn't kept pace, or the portion needs a rethink. The GP% badges in this tool are colour-coded to that benchmark: green from 70%, amber from 60%, red below.

Why divide by 1.2?

If you're VAT-registered, the price on your menu is what the customer pays including VAT — but VAT isn't yours to keep, it goes to HMRC. Dividing by 1.2 (the standard 20% rate) strips the VAT out so you're calculating profit against what you actually keep, not the gross ticket price. Turn the VAT toggle off and the tool calculates against the raw menu price instead.

Should I just cut portion sizes?

That's one lever, but menu engineering usually works better: push your high-GP dishes higher up the menu and in staff recommendations, re-price the dishes sitting below benchmark, and rework or drop the ones that are quietly losing money regardless of how popular they are.

What about cold takeaway food?

Some cold takeaway food is zero-rated for VAT, which changes the maths for that portion of your menu. This tool keeps things simple with a single on/off VAT toggle — if a meaningful chunk of your sales is zero-rated cold takeaway, ask your accountant how to treat it separately.