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Recipe Calculator

You’ve priced a dish on a guess before. You picked a number that felt about right, and only found out later, once GST and the real cost of every ingredient were factored in, that the margin barely existed. A menu price built on instinct is hard to walk back once customers are used to paying it. Our recipe calculator works out your true food cost, your GST-inclusive cost, and your profit margin before the dish goes anywhere near a menu.

Classic Sweet Apple Pie

Method

Image shows all the raw ingredients for the apple pie

Step 1:

Grease each side of the pie dish with Meadow Lea Spread. Roll out the Pampas Shortcrust Pastry and slice a size that is just a bit wider than the pie dish. Stretch the pastry over the tin, push it gently into the edges and slice off the overhang. Place the lined tray in the fridge so the pastry can firm.

Discover our range quality pastry from Goodman Fielder Food Service, your trusted wholesale pastry supplier.

The chef is seen using margarine to coat the pie dish

The chef is seen stretching the Pampas Shortcrust Pastry over the dish

The chef is then pictured cutting off the pastry excess.

Step 2:

Peel and slice the apples and place them into a medium-sized pot with cinnamon, caster sugar and water. Cover the pot with foil and place on a medium to high heat on the stovetop for four to five minutes. Bring to a boil and allow the apples to simmer, then drain and put them aside. Once they have cooled down, add them to the pastry-lined pie tin.

The picture shows the chef peeling and cutting the apples

The chef is then seen adding sugar and cinnamon to the apples in the pot

The chef then is pictured boiling the apples on the stovetop

The chef is pictured adding the apples to the pie base

Step 3:

Roll out the Pampas Shortcrust Pastry and slice another large size. Stretch it over the filled pie tin to form the lid. Cut around the edges of the pie with a knife and press the layers together. Slice three small holes in the pastry, so it can release some steam during baking.

The chef is seen making a pastry lid for the pie

The photo shows the chef cutting around the edges of the lid

Step 4:

In a bowl, whisk together the egg, butter and milk. Brush the lid of the pie with the egg mixture.

The chef is seen creating the egg wash

The chef brushes the lid of the pie with the egg wash

Step 5:

Place the pie in the oven at 165 degrees Celsius for approximately 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

The chef is putting the apple pie into the oven

The chef is seen slicing the apple pie

Ingredients

Ingredient Name Qty Purchased Cost of Goods Qty Used in Recipe Total Cost
each $ each $ 0.00
g $ g $ 0.00
each $ each $ 0.00
g $ g $ 0.00
g $ g $ 0.00
mL $ mL $ 0.00
each $ each $ 0.00
mL $ mL $ 0.00
g $ g $ 0.00

WHAT IS A RECIPE CALCULATOR?

A recipe calculator works out what a dish costs to make and what it needs to sell for to turn a profit. Some tools under that name are really a recipe converter, turning ounces and teaspoons into metric, or a recipe multiplier that scales quantities up or down, or a nutrition calculator returning the energy and carbohydrate count per serve. Ours is a recipe cost calculator. Enter your ingredient costs and servings, and you get a total cost, a cost per serve, and the margin behind your selling price.

HOW TO USE OUR RECIPE CALCULATOR

Enter your recipe name, method and serving size, and the number of servings the recipe makes.
Select “+ Add Ingredient” to build your ingredient list, then enter the quantity purchased and cost of goods for each item.
Enter the quantity your recipe actually uses for each ingredient, in grams, millilitres or each.
Select Calculate to see your total cost across the batch, plus the same figure with GST added and your cost per serve. This is where the calculator divides your total batch cost by your number of servings, converting it into a cost per portion.
Enter a Selling Price per serve to see your Food Gross Profit, Food Markup percentage and Total Generated Profit.

WHY FOODSERVICE BUSINESSES USE OUR RECIPE CALCULATOR

Cafes and quick service kitchens change their menus often, and costing a new dish properly before it launches matters more than costing it quickly. Catering and events businesses price the same recipe at different scales throughout the year, a function for ten one week and an event for two hundred the next. Enter the servings for each job, and the calculator handles that recipe scaling without you reworking your ingredient list from scratch.

Bakeries producing large batches need to know the per-unit cost still holds as bakery ingredient prices shift. Contract caterers working to a fixed per-meal budget, such as aged care or education providers, can check a recipe against that budget before it goes into a wider meal planner or seasonal menu.

Across all of these, the value is the same. You get a cost per serve and a margin you can trust, built from your actual supplier pricing rather than an estimate.

Browse our recipes for menu inspiration, then cost them here before you commit to a price.

WHAT MAKES OUR RECIPE CALCULATOR DIFFERENT

Most recipe cost calculators are standalone software with no link to where you actually buy. Ours sits within Goodman Fielder Food Service, a foodservice supplier. Once you’ve priced a recipe and know your numbers, you’re already talking to the team that supplies the ingredients themselves. If a margin looks tighter than expected, that’s a conversation about ingredient pricing you can have straight away.

If you want to work through pricing on a specific dish or menu, our team can help. Get in touch today.

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