Anyone who knows their food cost percentage wants to know next whether the number is any good. The honest answer: the percentage alone does not answer that question. It is a ratio, and wages, rent and energy are paid in francs. This article gives the benchmark everyone is looking for, shows on two fully worked dishes why it says so little, and explains where reliable comparison figures actually come from in Switzerland. How to calculate the percentage correctly is in the article calculating the food cost percentage.
What is a good food cost percentage?
There is no single right number. As a rough guide, depending on the concept, around 28 to 35 percent for the kitchen; drinks are calculated separately and looked at by category.
That range is an orientation, not a target value. It comes from practice, not from a statistic that would apply to your own business. A fine-dining house with high service effort, a high-volume lunch service and a pizzeria have completely different cost structures, and all three can be profitable or loss-making at very different food cost figures.
Your own number has to meet two conditions, otherwise comparing it against any benchmark is worthless:
- Calculated net. The menu price is gross, the food cost is incurred net. Anyone who relates the food cost to the gross price ends up with a figure that is too low and flatters the margin.
- Food cost complete. Sides, sauce, garnish, oil and spices belong in it, and so do the sub-recipes. If half of that is missing, the percentage is never right.
Both are worked through in the food cost article.
Why does the food cost percentage alone say nothing about profit?
Because it is a ratio and the bills come in francs. What matters is what is left per plate after deducting the food cost, to cover staff, rent and energy: the contribution margin.
Two dishes from the same kitchen, both calculated net at 8.1% VAT:
| Rib-eye steak | Pasta dish | |
|---|---|---|
| Menu price (gross) | CHF 44.00 | CHF 24.00 |
| Net price | CHF 40.70 | CHF 22.20 |
| Food cost | CHF 12.30 | CHF 3.60 |
| Food cost percentage | 30.2% | 16.2% |
| Contribution margin per plate | CHF 28.40 | CHF 18.60 |
The percentage says clearly: the pasta is the better dish, 16.2 against 30.2 percent. The franc calculation says the opposite: the rib-eye leaves CHF 9.80 more per plate. Anyone who optimises the menu by percentage cuts, in this example, the dish that contributes most to covering the fixed costs. Our free food cost calculator shows the percentage and the contribution margin next to each other per dish, for exactly this reason.
That does not settle the question either, because one plate alone pays no rent. What counts is the contribution margin times the number of portions sold. On an evening with 52 main courses, 12 of them rib-eyes and 40 pasta dishes:
- Rib-eye: 12 × CHF 28.40 = CHF 340.80
- Pasta: 40 × CHF 18.60 = CHF 744.00
Now the pasta carries the evening, not because of its percentage but because of the volume. Those two quantities, francs per plate and number of plates, are exactly what gets lost in the percentage.
Which target value fits which concept?
The target value depends on how much contribution margin a concept needs per plate. The more work, floor space and service sit behind a dish, the lower the food cost has to be. High-volume, simple concepts get by with a higher food cost, because they take the margin from the volume.
From that follows the logic, which is more robust than any table:
- A lot of hands-on work, small guest numbers, a high share of service: lower food cost needed.
- Simple production, high throughput: higher food cost sustainable.
- Expensive proteins (meat, fish): the percentage will almost always look worse, and the franc amount per plate is good anyway. Decide these deliberately on the contribution margin.
And the target applies to the menu as a whole, not to each individual dish. This is often calculated wrongly: the menu ratio is a revenue-weighted average, not the average of the individual percentages. For the evening above, 12 rib-eyes and 40 pasta dishes:
Food cost: 12 × CHF 12.30 + 40 × CHF 3.60 = CHF 291.60 Net revenue: 12 × CHF 40.70 + 40 × CHF 22.20 = CHF 1,376.40 Total food cost percentage: 291.60 ÷ 1,376.40 = 21.2%
The average of the two percentages would be 23.2 percent. The actual value is 21.2, because the pasta sells more often. And the mix moves the number more than any recipe does: if the same evening sells 26 rib-eyes and 26 pasta dishes across the unchanged 52 main courses, the food cost rises to 25.3 percent, while the contribution margin rises from CHF 1,084.80 to CHF 1,222.00.
So the ratio gets worse and the business earns more. Anyone looking only at the percentage steers in the wrong direction on evenings like that.
Where do you get reliable benchmark figures for Switzerland?
From the industry’s operating comparisons, and those are not freely available. The solid Swiss cost-structure figures come from the Gastroconsult operating statistics on costs, results and liquidity, published in the annual Branchenspiegel of GastroSuisse. The PDF is free for members and subscribers, otherwise the printed edition is available through the GastroSuisse shop. Gastroconsult’s GastroAnalyse compares a business’s goods and gross profit margins per category anonymously against the industry, but is open only to its own client base.
That is the honest position: anyone who wants a real Swiss industry comparison goes through a membership or a fiduciary mandate. The percentages circulating freely online often carry no source, come from other markets or from old editions. They work as rough orientation, not as a yardstick to pin a pricing decision on.
The most practical yardstick is a different one anyway: your own business over time. The food cost of the last month against the previous month and against the same month last year, always calculated the same way, says more than any industry average. It compares the same concept, the same location and the same guests, and it shows movement instead of position.
What do you do if the food cost is too high?
In this order, and the price comes last.
- Check the calculation. Calculated net? Food cost complete, including sub-recipes? Staff meals, shrinkage and comps recorded? Very often the difference between per-dish costing and the operating ratio sits exactly here, and not in the recipe.
- Recipe and portioning. Check weights instead of estimating, review trimming and usage, put offcuts to work. Portion discipline is the lever with the fastest effect and no impact on the guest.
- Purchasing. Compare prices, bundle volumes, use the season, start with the few items that make up the bulk of the food cost.
- Menu mix. Place dishes with a high contribution margin more visibly and recommend them actively. As the example above shows, the mix moves the ratio a long way.
- Price. Only now, and with an eye on the market. How to recalculate the price cleanly is in the article pricing a dish.
One note on VAT, because it sits in every one of these calculations: food consumed on the premises is subject to the standard rate of 8.1% (as of 2026); for take-away and delivery other rates apply under conditions. The mechanics are in the article on price calculation. This is a general explanation of costing and not tax advice; what is authoritative is the Swiss VAT Act (Mehrwertsteuergesetz, SR 641.20) and guidance from the Federal Tax Administration (FTA). English is not an official Swiss language: the English text of the Act on fedlex is a translation for information only, the German, French and Italian versions are binding.
How do you keep the target value in view day to day?
Only if the costing follows the purchase prices, otherwise you are comparing an old figure against an old target. A target value is not a one-off exercise: suppliers change, seasonal prices turn, one sub-recipe sits in eight dishes. After a few months the actual food cost drifts away from the one the menu was calculated with, and nobody notices, because the prices on the menu have stayed the same.
For simply converting portion quantities our free recipe scaler is enough; it changes nothing about the percentage, because quantity and price grow together.
For the rest, that is exactly what we are building Trolevo for: recipes with nested sub-recipes whose food cost rolls up automatically into one amount per dish, along with the food cost at the price you have set. Change a purchase price and you see immediately which dishes fall out of the target corridor. This helps keep the costing current; the pricing and menu decisions stay with the business. Trolevo is in development – get early access.
Sources
- GastroSuisse – Branchenspiegel (annual industry key figures, contains the Gastroconsult operating statistics; page and publication in German)
- Gastroconsult – GastroAnalyse (operating comparison for client businesses; page in German)
- FTA – VAT rates (standard rate 8.1%, in force since 1.1.2024)
- VAT Act – Federal Act on Value Added Tax, SR 641.20, Art. 25 (German original; the English text is a translation for information only and has no legal force)
The figures in the examples are illustrative and not an industry statistic. This article explains costing and is not tax advice.