Two numbers run every kitchen’s economics: food cost percentage and gross profit. They’re the same fact seen from opposite ends, and they’re only as trustworthy as the invoice data underneath them. Here’s how to calculate both properly, what “good” looks like in the UK, and where the numbers go wrong.
Why your GP target keeps slipping (updated July 2026)
A GP target is only as honest as the prices under it. In 2026 those move fast. The BRC put fresh food inflation at 3.1% in July, and rising. Beef sat 9.7% above last year in AHDB’s read for the 12 weeks to 14 June 2026. A dish costed carefully in January can shed a point or two of real GP by August, menu unchanged. The calculation below is the easy half. Keeping those prices current is the hard half.
The definitions, without the fog
Food cost % = (cost of food sold ÷ food revenue) × 100. If the ingredients behind £10,000 of food sales cost you £3,000, food cost is 30%.
Gross profit (GP) % is the mirror: (food revenue − cost of food sold) ÷ food revenue × 100. Same example: 70% GP. One subtlety catches people constantly: revenue in these formulas is net of VAT. Compute GP on VAT-inclusive sales and you’ll flatter yourself by several points.
Cost of food sold isn’t “what you bought this month”: it’s opening stock + purchases − closing stock. Skip the stock counts and a big delivery on the 30th makes a good month look terrible (and vice versa).
What good looks like
- Most UK restaurants land between 25–35% food cost (65–75% GP)
- Wet-led venues typically run better GP on drink than food
- The trend matters more than the level: two points of drift is a fire alarm
- Theoretical GP (menu spec) vs actual GP: the gap is waste, portioning or theft
Benchmarks are a starting point, not a target: a quality-led bistro and a wet-led pub shouldn’t chase the same number. The discipline that matters is knowing your number, weekly or at worst monthly, and interrogating movement.
Why GP drifts, and where invoices come in
When GP slips two points, the cause is almost always one of four things: supplier prices rose, portions crept, waste went up, or the menu mix shifted towards low-margin dishes. The first one is the silent majority, and it’s invisible unless something tracks unit prices line by line. This is the direct link between paperwork and profit: if invoices are captured with line detail (as Meezly does, flagging every price rise on arrival), “why did GP move?” starts with evidence instead of a stock-take argument.
A practical routine
Weekly: purchases by venue from your invoice data against that week’s food sales: a rough “flash GP” that catches problems inside the month. Monthly: proper stock-counted GP, per venue, compared with your theoretical GP from menu costings. When actual and theoretical diverge, walk the fridge line: the answer is usually in the bins, the portions or line 14 of a produce invoice.