Menu Costing Spreadsheet: A Real 47-Column Excel Template for Restaurants

A köfte shop owner I know in Erdemli, Mersin had been using a paper notebook for three years to track costs. He guessed at prices on every menu update, shrugging "we're making money anyway." In February 2026 when ground beef hit 480 TL/kg, he realized he was losing money on his bestseller. We sat down and built a 47-column Excel template that day. This post is exactly that template.

The logic of 47 columns

The template splits into three blocks: ingredient inputs (columns 1-18), production parameters (19-32) and decision metrics (33-47). The ingredient side stores code, name, supplier, unit, purchase price, VAT, last updated, waste percentage, and storage type (dry/cold/frozen) per ingredient. Updating all 18 ingredients in the köfte shop takes about 6 minutes a week.

Production columns calculate net portion weight, gross weight (incl. waste), cook loss, garnish share, sauce share, and bread share. The decision block holds food-cost percentage, target percentage, gap, suggested selling price, current menu price, and monthly gross profit contribution. The target food-cost is 32% in the köfte shop, 28% in the kebab shop next door.

Critical formulas

Three formulas matter most:

• Gross unit cost: =net_qty/(1-waste_pct)*unit_price. For 120g beef with 12% waste: 120/(1-0.12)*0.48 = 65.45 TL.
• Total recipe cost: =SUMPRODUCT(ingredient_costs)+labor_min*minute_rate+overhead_share. Labor averages 2.4 min/portion at 12 TL per minute.
• Suggested selling price: =ROUND(total_cost/target_food_cost/0.95, 0). The 0.95 factor covers card commissions plus shrinkage buffer.

Frequently forgotten line items

From experience, the 8 most-forgotten items: napkins + wet wipes (1.20 TL/portion), single-use packaging (critical if takeaway-heavy), oil used in garnish prep, table bread, complimentary sauce, food coloring/spice (yearly average), electricity share (especially fryers), water + soap in dishwashing. These eight items added up to 7.8% of menu cost in the köfte shop.

To sync the template with a QR menu, thMenu Pro accepts CSV import for bulk price updates: run the price formulas in Excel, export the "selling_price" column to CSV, upload via admin panel — 18 ingredient updates reflect in the live menu in roughly 4 minutes.

FAQ

Does the template work in Google Sheets? Yes, SUMPRODUCT and ROUND behave identically. The only difference: conditional formatting is under "Format > Conditional" in Sheets, not "Data."

How do I measure waste percentage? Weigh raw vs. cooked for one full week: gross purchased minus net cooked equals waste. Ground beef usually runs 10-15%, vegetables 18-25%, fish 35-45%.

How does target food-cost vary by segment? Fast food 28-32%, casual dining 30-35%, fine dining 32-38%, cafe/pastry 22-28%. If rent is high, drop the target 2-3 points to compensate.

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