Restaurant recipe costing: how to build the recipe card, calculate COGS and make every sale deduct inventory
A restaurant recipe card lists each ingredient in the dish with its quantity, correction factor and cost. The sum is the plate cost. Linked to sales from every channel, it deducts inventory and shows theoretical COGS (cost of goods sold). The count shows the actual figure, and the difference is what was lost.
What goes on a restaurant recipe card?
The recipe card holds the dish's ingredients, quantity, prep loss, yield, preparation method and cost. With it, the dish comes out the same on any shift, and the cost stops being an estimate.
The fields that make the recipe card work:
- Ingredient and unit. Gram, milliliter or unit, always the same one for the same ingredient.
- Net weight. What goes on the plate, after cleaning and portioning.
- Correction factor. How much extra you buy to reach the net weight.
- Purchase price. The one on the latest invoice, in the same unit as the recipe card.
- Yield. How many portions the recipe makes, for sauces and base preparations.
- Preparation method and photo. This is what holds the standard when the team changes.
- Packaging per channel. Dine-in has no packaging; delivery does.
Base preparations, such as sauce, caramelized onion and dough, become sub-recipes. Each one has its own recipe card, and the dish uses the sub-recipe as if it were an ingredient.
How do I calculate plate cost with the correction factor?
Multiply the net weight by the correction factor to get the gross weight. Then multiply the gross weight by the purchase price. The sum of the ingredients is the plate cost.
The correction factor is the gross weight divided by the net weight. If 1 kg of onion yields 870 g cleaned, the factor is 1.15. Without this factor, the recipe card prices the cleaned onion at the price of unpeeled onion.
Example with a smash burger. The prices are illustrative:
| Ingredient | Net weight | Correction factor | Gross weight | Purchase price | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brioche bun | 1 unit | 1.00 | 1 unit | R$ 1.80/unit | R$ 1.80 |
| Beef blend | 160 g | 1.00 | 160 g | R$ 45.00/kg | R$ 7.20 |
| Cheddar | 2 slices | 1.00 | 2 slices | R$ 0.70/slice | R$ 1.40 |
| Onion | 30 g | 1.15 | 34.5 g | R$ 6.00/kg | R$ 0.21 |
| House sauce (sub-recipe) | 20 g | 1.00 | 20 g | R$ 25.00/kg | R$ 0.50 |
| Plate cost | R$ 11.11 |
Sold at R$ 38 for dine-in, ingredients are 29.2% of the price. For delivery, with R$ 1.20 of packaging, the cost goes to R$ 12.31, or 32.4%.
That per-channel number goes into the margin calculation. On the app, the commission and payment fee also come out, as we show in how much is left from each iFood order.
How do I calculate a restaurant's COGS?
The month's COGS is beginning inventory plus purchases, minus ending inventory. Divided by revenue, it becomes a percentage. That is the formula Stone published in February 2026.
The same Stone article says COGS usually falls between 25% and 35% of gross revenue. Above 40% in ingredient costs, net profit is compromised. The range changes with the type of business: pizzerias, burger joints and pay-by-weight restaurants have different costs.
The point that changes the analysis: there are two COGS figures.
- Theoretical COGS. What the recipe cards say sales should have consumed.
- Actual COGS. What the inventory count shows actually left.
Saipos, on a page updated in August 2026, describes actual COGS as the effective cost, including waste and operational errors. The numbers below are an example of one month:
| Month's figures (example) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Beginning inventory | R$ 8,000 |
| Purchases | R$ 14,000 |
| Ending inventory (count) | R$ 7,500 |
| Actual COGS | R$ 14,500 |
| Revenue | R$ 48,000 |
| Actual COGS as a share of revenue | 30.2% |
| Theoretical COGS (recipe cards × sales) | R$ 13,200, or 27.5% |
| Difference | R$ 1,300, or 2.7 points |
The R$ 1,300 is what left inventory without becoming a sale. Over twelve months, it exceeds R$ 15,000 in this example.
Why is actual COGS higher than theoretical?
Because part of the ingredients leaves without going through a recorded sale. The most common causes are loss, portions larger than the recipe card, outdated recipe cards and sales that did not deduct inventory.
Waste is routine in the industry. In a survey by Ticket with Comida Invisível, published in October 2022, 61.5% of 175 establishments generated leftovers every day.
The causes, with what to do about each:
| Cause | How it shows up | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Unrecorded loss | Expired ingredients go in the trash with no record | Record the loss the same day, with a reason |
| Portion larger than the recipe card | The blend goes out at 180 g instead of 160 g | A scale on the prep line and a photo on the recipe card |
| Outdated recipe card | The supplier changed and the price went up | Update the price from the latest invoice |
| Add-on without a recipe card | Extra bacon and a bread swap deduct nothing | A recipe card for every add-on and option |
| Mixed-up unit | The purchase is by the box and the recipe card is in grams | A fixed conversion per ingredient |
| Sale outside the system | An app or WhatsApp order written down separately | All channels in the same system |
The last cause is the quietest. According to Abrasel, in a survey published in March 2025, marketplaces account for 54% of delivery revenue. If those orders sit on a separate tablet, more than half of delivery does not deduct inventory.
How do I make every sale deduct inventory?
Link each menu item to its recipe card in the same system that receives sales from every channel. The sale then deducts the ingredients right away, with no spreadsheet at the end of the day.
On the system side, four pieces need to be right:
- Product linked to the recipe card. Each menu item points to a recipe card, and each recipe card to its ingredients and sub-recipes.
- Options and add-ons with their own recipe card. "No onion" stops deducting onion; "extra bacon" deducts bacon.
- Combos linked to products. The combo deducts the burger, the fries and the drink, each by its own recipe card.
- Sales from every channel in one place. Dine-in, counter, apps, WhatsApp and your own online store go into the same queue. Every sale deducts the same inventory.
With that in place, minimum stock starts to work. An ingredient that crosses the minimum goes on the shopping list, and the weekly count shows the difference between theoretical and actual.
Start with your 10 best-selling dishes. Because they sell the most, they account for a large share of consumption, and their recipe cards already show where cost is leaking.
How CERNE solves it
In CERNE, the recipe card deducts inventory with every sale, and an ingredient below the minimum goes on the shopping list.
- Complete recipe cards. Product, options, add-ons and linked products, each with its own ingredients.
- Every channel in the same inventory. Orders from dine-in, the counter, your own store, Uber Eats, Rappi and Keeta go into the same queue and deduct the same recipe card.
- Shopping list ready. Ask the AI assistant "what's missing for the weekend?". It cross-checks sales and inventory and builds the list with quantity and cost, ready to copy or export.
- Cost per channel on the dashboard. The plate cost from the recipe card sits next to each channel's commission.
The package was born in the operation of Ammo Burger, in Brasília. There, sales from the website, the table and the counter already deduct inventory by recipe card. See the "Every sale updates inventory" workflow on the food service page and the inventory and cash register cards.
Start with an assessment
The difference between theoretical and actual COGS is one of the first numbers we measure in an operation. Start with an assessment of your operation: our team builds the recipe cards for your best-selling dishes and measures that difference with you. Schedule the assessment.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a restaurant recipe card?
- It is the record of each dish with its ingredients, the quantity of each, the loss in prep, the yield and the cost. It standardizes preparation and is the basis for plate cost and inventory control.
- How do I calculate an ingredient's correction factor?
- Divide the gross weight, as the ingredient was bought, by the net weight, after cleaning. If 1 kg of onion yields 870 g cleaned, the factor is 1.15. To use 30 g cleaned, buy 34.5 g.
- What is the ideal COGS for a restaurant?
- There is no single official number. Stone, in February 2026, states that COGS usually falls between 25% and 35% of gross revenue. Above 40%, the margin is compromised, according to the same article.
- What is the difference between theoretical and actual COGS?
- Theoretical is what the recipe cards say sales should have consumed. Actual comes from the inventory count: beginning inventory plus purchases minus ending inventory. The difference is loss, waste, portioning errors or sales that did not deduct inventory.
- How do I make inventory deduct automatically with every sale?
- Link each menu item to its recipe card in the system, including add-ons and combos, and have every channel post the sale in the same system. An app order that stays outside the system does not deduct inventory.
- Do add-ons and options need a recipe card?
- Yes. Extra bacon and a bread swap consume ingredients. Without their own recipe card, they drop out of the calculation and actual COGS ends up above theoretical with no explanation.
Sources
- Stone, O que é CMV e como calcular no restaurante, February 24, 2026
- Saipos, CMV real, updated August 31, 2026
- Ticket and Comida Invisível, survey of 175 establishments, via Mercado & Consumo, October 3, 2022
- Abrasel, delivery channels, via Mercado & Consumo, March 16, 2025