Recipe costing software for one truck, one portion at a time
Price your ingredients once, build recipes from them, and let GriddleMath handle the unit math — down to the exact cost of a single serving.
Unit conversions are where recipe costing breaks down
You buy sauce by the gallon and portion it by the ounce. You buy tortillas by the case and use them one at a time. Getting from a purchase price to a per-serving cost means converting units correctly, every time, for every ingredient in every recipe — the exact kind of repetitive math a spreadsheet quietly gets wrong.
GriddleMath converts standard units automatically. For custom packs, you enter the usable quantity once and reuse that conversion in every recipe the ingredient touches.
From ingredient to per-serving cost
Price your ingredients once
Add each ingredient with its cost and the unit you buy it in — by the case, the pound, or the gallon. GriddleMath is the single source of truth for what things cost.
Build recipes from those ingredients
Assemble a menu item from the ingredients and quantities that actually go into it. Change the recipe and the cost updates immediately.
Unit conversions handled for you
Buy by the pound and portion by the ounce? Standard units convert automatically. For a case, bag, or other custom pack, enter how many recipe units it contains.
Exact cost, every dish
The result is a precise per-serving cost for every recipe — the number every margin, price, and recommendation in GriddleMath is built on.
No 2,500-ingredient database to wade through
Some recipe costing tools ship a huge pre-built ingredient database aimed at large restaurant groups and culinary teams. A food truck menu is usually built from a much shorter, more specific ingredient list — so GriddleMath keeps setup fast: add what you actually buy, and you're costing recipes the same day.
Once your recipes are costed, see the whole-menu view on the menu costing software page.
Cost a three-taco chicken plate
Start with what you paid and what you can actually serve. In this illustrative example, a $24 batch of chicken yields 48 usable ounces after cooking. At four ounces per plate, the chicken costs $2.00 per serving. The batch cost already includes cooking loss; adding that same loss again would overstate food cost.
| Ingredient | Purchase and usable yield | Per plate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooked chicken | $24 batch / 48 usable oz | 4 oz | $2.00 |
| Tortillas | $12 pack / 60 tortillas | 3 each | $0.60 |
| Slaw | $8 batch / 40 oz | 2 oz | $0.40 |
| Sauce | $6 bottle / 24 fl oz | 1 fl oz | $0.25 |
| Total ingredient cost per serving | $3.25 | ||
Menu price
$13.00
Food cost
25.0%
Recipe gross margin
75.0%
At a 30% food-cost target, the ingredient-only price calculation is $3.25 ÷ 0.30 = $10.83 before menu rounding. That is a starting point: packaging, labor, fuel, event fees, and other overhead still need room in the selling price. Try your own numbers in the free menu pricing calculator.
Three checks before you trust a recipe cost
- Measure the portion you serve. Weigh the scoop, count the tortillas, and measure the sauce. A five-ounce scoop on a four-ounce recipe raises that ingredient's cost by 25%.
- Use usable yield. Record how much a purchased pack or cooked batch actually gives you. Do not mix raw purchase weight with cooked serving weight without accounting for the loss.
- Refresh prices when invoices change. If the chicken batch rises from $24 to $30 for the same yield, this plate costs $0.50 more. Update the ingredient so recipes using it reflect the change.
Then check what the booking really made
A recipe cost assumes a portion sells. After service, GriddleMath combines imported sales with recorded waste and comps to calculate food-cost margin per item per booking. Ten unsold portions thrown away still consumed ingredients. Ten usable portions saved for another service should not be recorded as waste.
Follow the waste-adjusted food cost example to see the difference, or review the shipped Square and CSV import workflows. Comparing tools? See GriddleMath vs meez for recipe organization and truck closeout needs.
Recipe costing FAQ
Can I cost different sizes and modifiers?
Create separate menu items and recipes to cost different sizes, such as a small bowl and a large bowl, and enter sold quantities for each manually. Automatic modifier costing and automatic costing of Square size variations are not yet supported end to end.
How do I calculate recipe cost per serving?
Divide each ingredient's purchase cost by the usable recipe units in that purchase. Multiply by the quantity in one serving, then add the ingredient costs. For a batch recipe, divide the batch ingredient cost by the number of portions it actually yields.
Does GriddleMath automatically know the yield of a case or cooked protein?
No. Standard conversions such as pounds to ounces are automatic, but you supply custom pack quantities. Measure usable yield after trimming or cooking and use that quantity when costing a prepared ingredient. Weight-to-volume conversions also need your own measurement; a fluid ounce is not an ounce of weight.
Is recipe margin the same as take-home profit?
No. Recipe margin subtracts food ingredients from the selling price. It does not include labor, fuel, pitch fees, payment processing, tax, or other overhead. Waste-adjusted margin also charges recorded wasted and comped portions against actual sales, but remains a food-cost margin.
Can I cost recipes without connecting Square?
Yes. Enter ingredients, portion quantities, and selling prices first. Square import is available when you want sales to flow into bookings; CSV sales import is another option. Neither is required to calculate a recipe's ingredient cost.