Food cost percentage explained

FCP = ingredient cost ÷ selling price × 100. Restaurants aim for 28-35%. Below 25% = healthy margin, above 40% = bleeding cash.

The restaurant standard

Pro kitchens live and die on food cost percentage:

28-30%: tight ship, healthy margin
30-35%: typical, sustainable
35-40%: under pressure, cuts coming
40%+: financial bleed

Why home cooks should care

If you cook a $4 meal but the equivalent delivery is $14, your "implicit menu price" is $14. Your "FCP" is 4/14 = 29% — restaurant-tier efficient.

If you spend $12 on artisanal ingredients for a meal that delivery would cost $13: FCP = 92%. You're running a charity.

CostMyMeal verdict mapping

Our verdict labels roughly correspond to this:

"saveBig": ~30-50% effective FCP — restaurant-tier
"meh": ~85-110% — break-even
"disaster": >150% — pay the delivery fee, save your time

Calculating your real food cost

For your weekly groceries:

Sum total grocery spend
Sum total meals "produced"
Divide
Compare against your local delivery average per dish

If your monthly grocery cost / monthly meals > average delivery price, you're over-spending on ingredients vs your service alternative.

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