A better handle on
your selling price.
Know your costs. Check your margin. Price with confidence.
Let’s do the numbers
Live calculationHelp me work out the portion cost +
Turn a batch cost into the cost of one sellable portion.
Wastage reduces the number of portions you can sell. Packaging is added per sold portion. Use costs on the same VAT basis as above.
Including 20% VAT
Gross profit is before remaining business expenses. It isn’t your take-home profit.
What if I charge…?
Compare three customer prices using your current cost and VAT.
“Per 100 sold” holds sales volume constant. It does not predict demand or net profit.
Clear numbers.
Better decisions.
Start with accurate costs and a target that suits your business. The calculator handles the arithmetic.
What’s the difference between margin and markup?
Margin measures gross profit as a share of the selling price before VAT. Markup measures it as a share of cost. At £5 cost and £10 before VAT, margin is 50% and markup is 100%.
How does the selling-price calculation work?
Price before VAT = cost ÷ (1 − target GP ÷ 100). With a £5 cost and 70% target, that is £16.666… before VAT. With 20% VAT entered, the customer price is £20. Displayed prices round to pennies; comparison cards and saved items use the actual penny price.
Which VAT rate should I use?
Use the rate applicable to your sale; the tool does not classify food or decide whether you should charge VAT. If you are not VAT registered, use 0 for VAT added and include non-recoverable purchase VAT in your costs. If you recover purchase VAT, exclude that recoverable amount from your costs.
Read HMRC’s catering and takeaway guidance ↗Does this tell me my actual business profit?
No. It shows gross profit against the cost figure you enter. Rent, staff costs and other expenses not included in that figure still need to be paid. A target margin does not guarantee that customers will accept the resulting price.
How is wastage calculated?
A £40 batch making 10 portions with 20% wasted leaves 8 sellable portions. That is £5 per portion before packaging. This is an allowance for unsold portions, not cooking yield loss. Don’t add the same wastage twice.
Where are my figures stored?
Calculations run in your browser. Only items you choose to save are written to local browser storage. They are not uploaded by this calculator. This website contains no advertising or analytics scripts; IOZoom may keep routine access logs. Google Fonts receives standard connection information when fonts load. The AdSense verification tag identifies our publisher account but does not display ads. Export a backup to move your menu to another device.