From a supplier invoice to recipe cost: a worked example
By MenuLedger5 min read
Follow a $72 sample invoice through package checks, ingredient costs and a $3 plate. Includes a sample PDF and a free recipe-costing spreadsheet.
One purchase, five ingredients, four plates
An invoice tells you what you bought. A recipe tells you how much of it goes onto a plate. Connecting the two lets you calculate a dish’s ingredient cost without charging the whole purchase to one meal.
This is a synthetic example in USD. Sample Kitchen Supplies, the invoice and all prices are invented for teaching. The chicken and vegetables are ready to use; quantities are measured before cooking, with no trimming loss assumed. There are no tax or delivery charges in this sample.
Download the sample supplier invoice (PDF) and recipe-costing spreadsheet (Excel) to follow the same numbers yourself. No account is needed for either download.
1. Read the purchase before using its price
The sample invoice totals $72. Each row represents one package, so the package price and the line total are the same. In MenuLedger, upload the document from Invoices and check the supplier, invoice number, purchase date and currency against the source.
| Ingredient | Package | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken, ready to use | 5 kg | $40.00 |
| Dry rice | 3 kg | $6.00 |
| Vegetables, ready to use | 2 kg | $8.00 |
| Oil | 1 L | $8.00 |
| Prepared sauce | 1 kg | $10.00 |
| Invoice total | $72.00 | |
Real invoices can mix cases, individual packs and weight-based quantities. A purchased quantity of two cases, each containing six 1 kg bags, means 12 kg in total. Check that the purchased quantity has been counted once, and that the amount is a line total rather than a price for one case. The case price calculator does this arithmetic from the notation on the invoice, quantity included.
2. Review the package and ingredient match
The chicken row means 5,000 g for $40. That gives $40 ÷ 5,000 g = $0.008 per gram, or $8 per kg. The oil row uses volume: 1,000 ml for $8. Keep weight and volume separate.
Check every extracted line, correct mistakes and match it to the ingredient you use in recipes. Create a new ingredient only when the right one is not already there. Review non-food lines separately; a delivery charge is not a quantity of chicken.
Use Confirm invoice only after the details are correct. Extraction alone does not update your ingredient prices. Confirmation records the reviewed purchases and updates the recipes connected to those ingredients.
This example starts with one purchase per ingredient. When an ingredient has more purchase history, MenuLedger uses a quantity-weighted average of purchases within 90 days of the newest purchase. Your current ingredient cost can therefore differ from the latest invoice’s individual price.
3. Enter the amount used in one dish
Our chicken-and-rice batch makes four equal servings. It uses 1,000 g chicken, 300 g dry rice, 500 g vegetables, 50 ml oil and 100 g prepared sauce. Divide each amount by four before entering a single dish in MenuLedger’s recipe screen.
| Ingredient | Used | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken, ready to use | 250 g | $2.00 |
| Dry rice | 75 g | $0.15 |
| Vegetables, ready to use | 125 g | $0.50 |
| Oil | 12.5 ml | $0.10 |
| Prepared sauce | 25 g | $0.25 |
| Ingredient cost per plate | $3.00 | |
The whole batch costs $12, and $12 ÷ 4 servings = $3 per plate. Include the oil, sauce, sides and garnishes you actually serve. If a line has no price, finish costing it before treating the total as complete.
4. Compare ingredient cost with the menu price
At a $10 selling price, the calculation is $3 ÷ $10 × 100 = 30% food cost. In other words, $3 of each $10 sale goes to ingredients. The remaining $7 still has to cover labour, rent and other expenses; it is not net profit.
For an illustrative 30% food-cost goal, the suggested selling price is $3 ÷ 0.30 = $10.00. If ingredient costs rise, a higher selling price would reduce the share spent on ingredients. You can also review the recipe or portion; choose the final price using your costs and what customers will pay.
In MenuLedger, set the shared food-cost goal and warning tolerance in Settings. The tolerance controls when a warning appears; the suggested price uses the goal itself.
Try it with your own recipe
The free spreadsheet starts with this four-serving batch. Replace the sample purchases and recipe quantities, keeping both amounts in the same unit for each row. Set your servings and selling price, then check that every ingredient is priced.
The spreadsheet is a manual cost sheet: it does not import invoices or blend purchase history. For more on portions and usable yield, read how to calculate recipe cost per serving. For a quick price check, use the food cost calculator.