Theoretical vs Actual Food Cost: Find Out Where Food Is Going

A theoretical vs actual food cost calculator compares the food cost your recipes say you should have with what you really used. Enter opening stock, purchases, closing stock and food sales, plus your theoretical cost, and the tool shows the variance and whether it is inside your tolerance.

How to read your result

Actual food usage: opening stock plus purchases minus closing stock. With KSh 200,000 opening, KSh 600,000 purchases and KSh 180,000 closing, usage is KSh 620,000.
Actual food cost %: usage divided by food sales. On KSh 2,000,000 of sales that is 31%.
Variance: actual minus theoretical, in percentage points and in money. A positive variance means you used more food than your recipes expect.
Within or Outside: whether the variance is inside the tolerance you set.

Download the matching form

Record every item that leaves stock without being sold on the Waste, Transfer and Credit Log. Most variance is explained once waste and transfers are written down.

Frequently asked questions

What is a normal variance?

There is no universal figure. Set a tolerance that suits your kitchen, watch the trend over several periods and investigate when the variance keeps growing.

What causes a large variance?

Common causes include unrecorded waste, over-portioning, receiving errors, recipe costs that are out of date and stock counts that are wrong. The Forty Thieves guide covers many of them.

How often should I run this?

Weekly gives the quickest warning, monthly is the minimum. Count stock on the same day and at the same time each period.

How to use this tool

Count stock at the end of the period and value it at cost.
Enter opening stock, purchases and closing stock.
Enter food sales for the same period.
Enter the theoretical food cost from your recipes and the tolerance you accept.
Read the variance. If it is outside tolerance, check the waste log, portions and receiving first.
Run the tool again next period and compare the trend.

East Africa Chef