FREE FOOD-BUSINESS PRICING TOOLS
Food GP calculator for UK cafés and kitchens
Use a food GP calculator to check how much of a dish’s sale remains after its entered portion cost. Start with a real recipe cost, then compare the result with the expenses your business still needs to pay.
Open the free calculator →No account needed. Saved menu items stay in this browser.
Looking for an alternative to the Brakes GP calculator? GP Calculator UK is an independent food-pricing tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Brakes. Try the worked example below, then use price comparisons, portion-cost inputs and your locally saved menu.
Check the GP on a dish you already sell
Suppose a dish sells for £15 including an assumed 20% sales VAT and its entered portion cost is £3.75. The sale before VAT is £15 ÷ 1.20 = £12.50. Gross profit is £12.50 − £3.75 = £8.75, and GP margin is £8.75 ÷ £12.50 × 100 = 70%. These are illustrative figures, not a recommended margin.
Use the calculator with your own recipe
Open the calculator and choose Check my GP. Enter the cost per portion, customer menu price and the VAT rate applicable to that sale. To reproduce the example, enter 3.75, 15 and 20. The calculator shows GP in pounds, margin and markup; markup uses cost as its denominator and is a different percentage.
Keep your portion cost consistent
Use the ingredient quantities actually used per portion and include packaging or other direct costs if that is your chosen cost scope. Exclude recoverable purchase VAT and include VAT you cannot recover. Record the scope so different dishes can be compared fairly. The batch-cost builder can allow for unsold portions; cooking yield loss belongs in your usable ingredient costing instead.
Review what happens when costs rise
If the same dish’s portion cost increases to £4.25 while the customer price stays £15 and assumed VAT stays 20%, GP becomes £8.25 and margin becomes 66%. At a fixed 100 sales that is £50 less gross profit. It does not predict demand: a price change may also affect how many portions you sell.
Turn the result into a menu review
Compare candidate customer prices in the calculator, then save the dish on your device for a later cost review. Gross profit is before remaining expenses such as rent and any wages not included in your entered cost. It is not take-home profit. Choose a target that reflects your own business rather than treating an example percentage as a benchmark.