Anyone who runs a pizzeria knows exactly how much cheese goes on a Margherita. What it costs, and what is left of its price, is on no invoice. The answer lies in three base recipes, one of them a cheese you pay for with its liquid, and in two VAT rates. This article works through both on one Margherita, in francs.
How do you cost a pizza?
As a chain of three base recipes. Dough, tomato sauce and cheese are each costed once per batch and then shared out per pizza: the dough per dough ball (the weighed ball of dough for one pizza), the sauce and the cheese by weight. Add whatever goes straight onto the pizza. In the worked example, a Margherita comes to a food cost of CHF 1.79.
The purchase prices are example prices excluding VAT, and the example applies to a VAT-registered business that uses the effective method and separates dine-in and take-away with receipts; businesses that work it out differently come further down.
| Item | Quantity | CHF |
|---|---|---|
| Dough ball (base recipe 1) | 1 dough ball of 250 g | 0.22 |
| Tomato sauce (base recipe 2) | 80 g | 0.16 |
| Fior di latte, prepared (base recipe 3) | 100 g | 1.29 |
| Olive oil | 5 ml, example price CHF 12.00/l | 0.06 |
| Basil | 2 g, example price CHF 30.00/kg | 0.06 |
| Food cost | 1.79 |
The detour through base recipes pays off because each batch is costed once instead of again for every pizza, which is exactly where the errors creep in otherwise (base recipes as a reference, not a copy).
Food cost is what is on the pizza; the pizza box comes in as a separate line, in the example for take-away only, so that the pizza’s food cost percentage stays comparable with the rest of the menu (formula and method).
What do the dough and the sauce cost per pizza?
In the example, 22 centimes for the dough ball and 16 centimes for the sauce. In both cases you take the whole batch and divide it by what it yields: for the dough, the dough balls weighed out; for the raw sauce, the weight of the batch. First the dough, base recipe 1:
| Ingredient | Quantity | Example price | CHF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pizza flour (white flour) | 5.000 kg | CHF 1.40/kg | 7.00 |
| Water | 3.250 kg | not costed in the example | 0.00 |
| Salt | 0.150 kg | CHF 1.20/kg | 0.18 |
| Fresh yeast | 0.010 kg | CHF 8.00/kg | 0.08 |
| Batch | 8.410 kg of dough | 7.26 |
At 250 g per dough ball, the 8.410 kg make 33.64 dough balls on paper. You weigh out 33, and 160 g are left over.
CHF 7.26 ÷ 33 = CHF 0.22 per dough ball
You divide by 33, not by the 33.64 on paper, or you spread costs over a remainder that never becomes a pizza. In the example the difference is less than a centime. It is the principle that matters.
If you buy in dough balls, their purchase price per piece takes the place of base recipe 1.
Then the tomato sauce, base recipe 2, raw and not reduced:
| Ingredient | Quantity | Example price | CHF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peeled tomatoes | 2 tins with a nominal quantity of 2.550 kg | CHF 5.10/tin | 10.20 |
| Salt | 0.040 kg | CHF 1.20/kg | 0.05 |
| Batch | 5.140 kg of sauce | 10.25 |
Per pizza, 80 g: CHF 10.25 × 0.080 ÷ 5.140 = CHF 0.16
For the peeled tomatoes, the whole nominal quantity counts, because the juice goes into the sauce. If you reduce the sauce, weigh it once after cooking and divide by that weight (more on cooking loss).
Why does fior di latte cost more than the invoice says?
Because it goes on the pizza without its liquid and you pay for it with the liquid.
The kitchen rule behind it: what goes on the pizza counts. For the peeled tomatoes that is the whole contents of the tin; for fior di latte, only what is left once drained, because the liquid goes.
The Swiss ordinance on quantity declarations (MeAV) defines the drained weight as the “weight of a solid good after the covering liquid has been poured off” (Art. 2 let. h). It governs quantity declarations for consumers (Art. 1 para. 1 let. a), and for prepackages Art. 16 para. 1 says: “Where a solid foodstuff is in a covering liquid, the prepackage must state the drained weight in addition to the total nominal quantity.” There is no official English text of the MeAV; these are translations for information only.
If the pack states a drained weight, you calculate with it, without a single measurement. If it does not, you weigh one bag once, the way it goes on the pizza; that is then already the minimum, not a refinement. If you want to measure more precisely than with a single weighing, the measuring protocol is in the article on yield and waste.
The pack in the example: nominal quantity 1,000 g, declared drained weight 750 g, example price CHF 9.00. 100 g go on the pizza:
| Price per kilo based on | Price per kilo | 100 g per pizza |
|---|---|---|
| nominal quantity, 1,000 g | 9.00 ÷ 1.000 = CHF 9.00 | CHF 0.90 |
| declared drained weight, 750 g | 9.00 ÷ 0.750 = CHF 12.00 | CHF 1.20 |
| weighed in-house after preparation (cut, drained), 700 g | 9.00 ÷ 0.700 = CHF 12.86 | CHF 1.29 |
The first line is the mistake: with it, the Margherita would be at CHF 1.40 instead of CHF 1.79, CHF 0.39 too low, just over a fifth of the food cost. The second takes no measurement, just a division, but in the example it is CHF 0.09 below the third. The third is, for a pack with a drained weight, the next step up, the same single weighing.
If the Margherita is your best-selling dish, its cheese is exactly the ingredient to start with; in the example, at CHF 1.29 out of CHF 1.79, it is the most expensive item.
Grated mozzarella sits in no liquid; there is nothing to drain.
What is left of a Margherita, dine-in and take-away?
In the example, after food cost and VAT, CHF 15.32 per pizza is left dine-in and, for take-away, CHF 15.84 after the pizza box. Both come from the same menu price, the price on the menu that the guest pays; the example sets it at CHF 18.50 in both channels. If you sell cheaper for take-away, use your lower price there; the costing sheet for this article has a field for it.
The pizza box alone does not make it take-away: what counts is whether the pizza is eaten off the premises (Art. 55 para. 2 VAT Ordinance), and among the indications the ordinance names for this are the customer’s stated wish to take the pizza away (let. a) and the transport packaging (let. b).
Dine-in, serving the pizza is a restaurant supply, because the business maintains special installations for consumption on the spot, such as tables, bar tables, counters or other eating surfaces (Art. 25 para. 3 VAT Act, Art. 54 para. 1 VAT Ordinance); the standard rate of 8.1% applies (as of 2026). For take-away or delivery, the reduced rate of 2.6% applies, but only “provided suitable organisational measures are taken to differentiate these supplies from restaurant supplies; if this is not the case, the standard rate applies” (Art. 25 para. 3 VAT Act). Such a measure is, under Art. 56 of the VAT Ordinance, “in particular the issue of receipts that indicate whether a restaurant supply, a delivery of food or a supply of goods for takeaway was provided”. How the two rates work is covered in the article how to price a dish.
For small snack bars, the FTA offers a simplified method under which this calculation does not apply as it stands (next section).
| Dine-in (8.1%) | Take-away (2.6%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Menu price, gross | CHF 18.50 | CHF 18.50 |
| Net price | 18.50 ÷ 1.081 = CHF 17.11 | 18.50 ÷ 1.026 = CHF 18.03 |
| Food cost | CHF 1.79 | CHF 1.79 |
| Food cost percentage | 1.79 ÷ 17.11 = 10.5% | 1.79 ÷ 18.03 = 9.9% |
| Contribution margin | 17.11 − 1.79 = CHF 15.32 | 18.03 − 1.79 = CHF 16.24 |
| Pizza box (example price) | – | CHF 0.40 |
| Left after the box | CHF 15.32 | 16.24 − 0.40 = CHF 15.84 |
At the same menu price, the same pizza brings in CHF 0.92 more net as take-away (18.03 − 17.11), because there is less VAT in the price. After the box, CHF 0.52 more is left than dine-in.
The food cost percentage of the same pizza is lower for take-away, 9.9% instead of 10.5%, although nothing on the pizza has changed; the difference lies entirely in the net price. So the more pizzas go out as take-away, the lower the revenue-weighted menu percentage, at the same menu price in both channels and with the rest of the sales mix unchanged, by the same mechanism as the sales mix.
The 10.5% and 9.9% are single-dish percentages. They say how this one pizza is priced, and nothing about the business; they do not belong next to a rule of thumb for the whole business (the four food cost numbers).
The difference in net price gives the box threshold: CHF 0.92. If what goes out extra with a take-away order (box, napkin, bag) costs more than that, less is left for take-away than dine-in. The figure holds for this menu price and these two rates. In general, under the effective method and at the same menu price in both channels:
Difference in net price = menu price × (1 ÷ 1.026 − 1 ÷ 1.081) = menu price × 0.0496
That is just under 5% of the menu price, in the example 18.50 × 0.0496 = CHF 0.92; the factor follows from the two rates alone.
The costing sheet redoes the same table with your own prices, for the Margherita and other pizzas from the same base recipes:
- Costing sheet as XLSX: with instructions, the three base recipes, the Margherita, rows for more pizzas and the calculation per channel
- Costing sheet as CSV: raw, values only, for a spreadsheet
The free food cost calculator works out the food cost percentage and contribution margin of a dish at either 8.1% or 2.6%; you take the box off yourself.
This section explains costing and is not tax advice; what is authoritative is the VAT Act, the VAT Ordinance and guidance from the Federal Tax Administration (FTA). English is not an official Swiss language: the English texts of the Act and the Ordinance on fedlex are translations for information only and have no legal force; the German, French and Italian versions are binding.
Does this calculation apply to every pizzeria?
No. It applies to a VAT-registered business that uses the effective method and separates dine-in and take-away with receipts. Two methods of accounting for VAT work differently, and delivery platforms are a case of their own.
The FTA’s simplified method for small snack bars. Under FTA practice, a business with at most 20 seats or standing places (per branch, point of sale, etc.) that makes more than 50% of its total turnover from take-away sales may use a simplified method. It then taxes its turnover excluding alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tobacco products and non-food items, dine-in and take-away together, half at the standard rate and half at the reduced rate (Art. 55 para. 3 VAT Ordinance; FTA VAT sector info 08, para. 1.3.4). The method is optional; a business that chooses it applies it for at least one tax period. Among its examples the FTA names pizza outlets explicitly, next to sausage, kebab and chicken outlets. For a business that accounts this way, the VAT on a pizza does not depend on where it is eaten, and the difference from the previous section does not exist for it. The FTA publishes this practice in German, French and Italian only; the conditions here are a working translation.
The net tax rate method. Anyone using it multiplies their takings, including tax, by the net tax rate the FTA has approved (Art. 37 para. 2 VAT Act); for them, ÷ 1.081 and ÷ 1.026 is not the calculation.
This example does not cover orders through a delivery platform: there, the platform itself can count as the supplier for VAT purposes (Art. 20a VAT Act), and its commission comes on top.
How do you cost the whole pizza menu from the same base recipes?
By having every pizza refer to the same base recipes instead of copying them; a new purchase price then changes one place only. By hand, this is what happens when the fior di latte in the example goes up from CHF 9.00 to CHF 10.00 a pack:
Prepared: 10.00 ÷ 0.700 = CHF 14.29 per kilo, for 100 g CHF 1.43 Food cost of the Margherita: CHF 1.93 instead of CHF 1.79 Dine-in: food cost percentage 1.93 ÷ 17.11 = 11.3%, contribution margin CHF 15.18 Take-away: food cost percentage 1.93 ÷ 18.03 = 10.7%, contribution margin CHF 16.10, after the box CHF 15.70
Whether the menu price still works after that is a calculation of its own, with rounding and a cross-check (how to price a dish).
And that is only the Margherita. Every other pizza with the same fior di latte moves with it, and if you cost straight from purchase prices, you update each one separately (the same value in several places).
That is exactly what we are building Trolevo for. The dough and the tomato sauce can each be their own recipe there, which every pizza takes in; their food cost runs into the pizza’s. Fior di latte goes in as an ingredient: you work out the price per kilo on the weight that goes on the pizza yourself and store it as the ingredient’s price per kilo; when a new invoice comes in, you divide again and replace it. That way the loss sits in the price per kilo and belongs nowhere else, or it counts twice.
The app keeps one selling price per recipe, with no VAT rate and no channel; it does not do the dine-in versus take-away calculation. The net price, food cost percentage and contribution margin per channel come from this article’s costing sheet and the free food cost calculator.
When you save the new price per kilo of the fior di latte, Trolevo recalculates the food cost of every pizza that uses it, directly or through a sub-recipe. This helps keep the costing current; the pricing decision stays with the business.
Trolevo is in development – get early access.
Sources
- VAT Act – Federal Act on Value Added Tax, SR 641.20, Art. 20a, 25 and 37 (German original; the English text is a translation for information only and has no legal force)
- VAT Ordinance, SR 641.201, Art. 54, 55 and 56 (German original; the English text is a translation for information only and has no legal force)
- MeAV – Mengenangabeverordnung (Swiss ordinance on quantity declarations), SR 941.204, Art. 1, 2 and 16 (German original; there is no official English text, and the passages quoted in this article are translations for information only and have no legal force)
- FTA – MWST-Branchen-Info 08 Hotel- und Gastgewerbe (VAT sector info 08, hotel and restaurant industry), para. 1.3.4 (German; also in French and Italian, no English version)
- FTA – VAT rates (standard rate 8.1%, reduced rate 2.6%)
The figures in the examples are illustrative and not an industry statistic. This article explains costing and is neither tax nor legal advice.