Food costing guide
Food costing: spreadsheet or software?
By the EROS team · Updated
Short answer
A spreadsheet is enough for food costing when you have a short menu, prices that rarely move, and someone who keeps it current every week. It breaks when prices change often, when invoices come in cases and packs, or when more than one person needs the numbers. Software earns its cost when it removes the retyping.
When is a spreadsheet enough for food costing?
- You have a short menu with a few dozen ingredients.
- Your vendor prices rarely change.
- One person owns the file and updates it every week.
- You trust the formulas and have checked them.
Where do food costing spreadsheets break?
- Prices go stale. Every vendor increase means finding every recipe that uses the ingredient.
- Units do not match. The invoice says a 40 lb case, the recipe says ounces, and the conversion lives in someone's head.
- Typing invoices is the job nobody keeps up with. The file is accurate the week it is built and drifts from there.
- Formula errors hide. One broken cell can sit in a plate cost for months.
- One person understands it. When they are away, the numbers stop.
- Nothing warns you. A price rise only shows up if you go looking.
Spreadsheet vs food costing software
| Task | Spreadsheet | Food costing software |
|---|---|---|
| Getting invoice prices in | Typed by hand, line by line | Read from the invoice itself |
| Cases, packs and weights | Your own conversion formulas | Matched to your ingredients |
| Updating plate costs after a price change | Edit each affected recipe | Plates re-cost from the new price |
| Spotting a vendor price increase | Compare invoices by eye | Flagged with the dishes it hits |
| Sharing with chef and manager | Passing a file around | Each person signs in |
| Cost | Free, plus your time | A monthly fee |
What should you look for in food costing software?
- It reads your invoices, so you are not typing them in.
- It handles units, packs and yield.
- It re-costs your plates automatically and shows food cost percentage against your target. See what is a good food cost percentage.
- It flags price increases in dollars as well as percent.
- Your chef and manager can use it while billing stays with the owner.
- The terms are clear, ideally month to month, and a real person answers when you need help.
What should you ask any food costing vendor?
- How soon after signup will I see my first plate cost?
- Who builds my recipes, and does that cost extra?
- How far back will you process my old invoices?
- What happens to my data if I cancel?
Where does EROS fit?
EROS is built for one job: knowing what every plate costs this week and what to fix. Snap an invoice and EROS reads it, re-costs your plates and flags price hikes, as described in how to track vendor price increases. It does not do bill pay or accounting sync, so your accountant and bookkeeping stay as they are. It is billed per location, month to month, with no contract.