Food Cost Benchmarks
What food cost percentage should a restaurant target?
Direct answer
Most full-service restaurants target 28% to 35% food cost. Quick-service and pizza concepts may target lower percentages, while steakhouse, seafood, and premium protein concepts may run higher if contribution margin is still strong.
Key points
- A low food cost percentage is not automatically good if it comes from under-sized portions or weak perceived value.
- A high food cost percentage can be acceptable on premium items when dollar contribution margin is strong.
- Targets should be set by concept, sales mix, labor model, and guest expectations.
What to do next
- 1Choose a concept-specific food cost target instead of copying a generic benchmark.
- 2Compare each high-volume dish against the target.
- 3Use contribution margin to decide whether to reprice, resize, rework, or feature the item.