What is Plate or Pour Cost?
Plate (or pour) cost is the ratio of a dish’s ingredient cost to its menu price. It tells you exactly how much of each dollar you bring in is spent on food or beverage ingredients.
Keeping plate costs in the right range is critical:
They are the largest driver of your overall Food Cost (when weighted by your menu mix).
The other big drivers are recipes not followed to spec and losses from waste, theft, or spoilage.
The best way to get started is simple:
Build recipes so you can calculate plate costs accurately.
Set up alerts so you’re notified when plate costs rise or fall unexpectedly.
By tracking and controlling plate costs, you put the single biggest piece of your food cost puzzle under control.
Creating Plate Cost Alerts
- Go to Recipes > Menu Items or Bar Items
- Select the recipes you want to include. (Pro tip: Use filters to narrow down the recipes you’d like to monitor. For example, filter by Recipe Type: Dessert to select all your desserts.)
- Click to Create Plate Cost Alerts.
- Enter your desired range. Example: 20–30% for Avocado Roll. (You'll be alerted when your plate cost is outside of that range.)
- Choose whether to apply alerts to all locations or to specific ones.
- Click Save.
Once created, alerts immediately display any recipes out of compliance. For example, if a dessert is at 39% plate cost while your alert is set at 30%, it will trigger an alert.
Managing Existing Alerts
From the recipe list or recipe detail view, you can:
- Edit an alert (e.g., raise tolerance from 30% to 45%)
- Delete an alert if no longer needed
- Pause an alert to stop notifications without deleting it (paused alerts can be reactivated anytime)
Notifications
You will also receive email alerts if costs remain out of compliance.
- To adjust these, go to Setup > Notifications > Cost Monitoring Alerts and configure your email preferences.
When Alerts fire...
When Plate Costs on dishes are high, you should consider:
- Raising your menu price
- Reducing your portion size
- Deemphasizing them on your menu
- Switching ingredients for more affordable options
When Plate Costs on dishes are low, you should consider:
- Running a server contest on the dish
- Emphasizing on your menu
- Increasing your portion size
- Lowering your menu price
Read more here: Restaurant Plate and Menu Costing 101