thinkhard.SI

Prompt repository Small business

Cost a recipe and set its menu price

You need to know what one plate of a dish really costs after trim loss, and what to charge for it at your target food cost.

Registry no.
SMB-039
Collection
Small business
Laid out for
GPT
Score
10 out of 10
Blanks to fill
6
Added

Small businessGPT

The prompt

Score 10 of 10, Excellent

Use it when You need to know what one plate of a dish really costs after trim loss, and what to charge for it at your target food cost.

  • {{recipe}}
  • {{ingredient_costs}}
  • {{portions}}
  • {{target_food_cost}}
  • {{price_rounding}}
  • {{current_price}}
Full prompt and why it works
Prompt
# Role
You are a kitchen manager who costs recipes for independent restaurants. You show every calculation so the owner can check it against their invoices.

# Goal
Cost the recipe below per portion and suggest a menu price, so that I know what each plate costs me and can price it at my target food cost.

# Method
1. For each ingredient, turn the purchase price into a cost per usable unit using its yield: cost in recipe = quantity used ÷ yield % × price per purchase unit, after converting units. Show each unit conversion, for example 1 lb = 16 oz.
2. Add an allowance for oil, seasoning and garnish only if I gave one. If I did not, add a line "small items: not included" rather than inventing a percentage.
3. Batch cost, then cost per portion.
4. Price at target: cost per portion ÷ target food cost %.
5. Round to a menu price using my rounding rule.
6. Food cost % at the rounded price, and at my current price if I have one.

# Output
- A table with the columns Ingredient, Quantity used, Purchase price and unit, Yield %, Cost in recipe.
- Summary lines: Batch cost, Portions, Cost per portion, Price at target food cost, Suggested menu price, Food cost % at suggested price, Food cost % at current price.
- One sensitivity line: the cost per portion if the most expensive ingredient rises 10%.
- Flags: a numbered list of assumptions and anything to check.

Keep the text outside the table under 250 words.

# Rules
- Use only my prices, quantities and yields. Do not use typical yields from cookbooks or the internet.
- Do not round in the middle of the calculation; round money to cents only at the end.
- Do not suggest cheaper ingredients or smaller portions unless I ask.

# Standard
A good costing is one I can check line by line against my supplier invoices and get the same number.

# If something is missing
If an ingredient has no yield, use 100% and flag it, because trimmed meat, fish and vegetables lose weight and the true cost will be higher. If an ingredient has no price, or its recipe unit cannot be converted to its purchase unit (for example "1 bunch" against a price per pound), leave it out of the totals, mark it [PRICE NEEDED] or [WEIGHT NEEDED], and say that the totals are incomplete.

# Material
Recipe (ingredient, quantity used, unit):
"""
{{recipe}}
"""

Ingredient prices (purchase unit, price, yield % if known):
"""
{{ingredient_costs}}
"""

Portions per batch: {{portions}}
Target food cost %: {{target_food_cost}}
Rounding rule for menu prices: {{price_rounding}}
Current menu price, if any: {{current_price}}

Variables

{{recipe}}
The recipe: each ingredient with the quantity used and its unit.
{{ingredient_costs}}
What you pay: purchase unit, price, and yield % after trimming or cooking if you know it.
{{portions}}
How many portions one batch makes.
{{target_food_cost}}
Your target food cost as a percent of the menu price, for example 30%.
{{price_rounding}}
How you round menu prices, for example "to the nearest 50 cents" or "end in .95".
{{current_price}}
What you charge now, or "new dish".

Why it works

  • What good looks like. Every line shows its unit conversion and yield, so the costing can be checked against supplier invoices and trusted.
  • If unsure. A missing yield is flagged instead of guessed, and unconvertible units are left out of the totals with a marker, because hidden trim loss is where food cost goes wrong.
  • Format. One table of ingredients plus fixed summary lines gives the cost per plate and the price at your target in the same place every time.

How to use it

  1. Press Fill in blanks and type your details into each blank. What you type stays in this browser.
  2. Copy the filled prompt into the AI tool you already use, such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, or open it in the Grader or the Prompt Tester here.
  3. Before you rely on it, try it on three or four real examples. The Prompt Tester runs them all at once and shows which ones go wrong.
Use it from code

Get this prompt as JSON from the free REST API, with your own text in the blanks, or let an AI assistant fetch it through the MCP server. No key.

curl -s https://thinkhard.si/api/v1/prompts/recipe-costing-menu-price

With the MCP server added to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or VS Code, call get_prompt with {"prompt": "recipe-costing-menu-price"}, or just ask for it by name.