Menu pricing calculator.
Enter the ingredient cost of a dish and the food cost percentage you want to hit. See the menu price (including VAT) that gets you there — plus contribution margin and what a 10% price bump would do.
Per dish
Defaults work for most small shops in the EU.
Menu price (incl. VAT)
Most cafes price from feel. Healthy menus price from target.
The "feel" approach: look at what others charge nearby, take a guess, round to a comfortable number. The result is often a menu where some dishes earn lots and others lose money — and nobody knows which.
The "target" approach: decide what food cost percentage you want to hit (28-32% is healthy for most cafes), then work backwards. The calculator above does exactly this.
The formula
Net price = ingredient cost ÷ target food cost %Menu price = net price × (1 + VAT)
Round up, not down
If the math gives you €3,37, round to €3,40 (not €3,35). Half-cent psychology aside, the higher number costs you nothing and earns more on every sale. The 3 extra cents on 50 cups/day is €4.50 a day, €1.350 a year. Per dish.
Why small price bumps are bigger wins than they look
A 10% price bump usually drops food cost percentage by 2-3 percentage points — that's the difference between a healthy 30% FC and a tight 27% FC, and it costs you basically zero in lost volume because customers won't notice a 30-cent change on a €3 coffee.