5.3. Cost Calculation

Once a recipe is entered, the next step is cost. In this lesson you will learn why recipe cost and product cost are separate, how to move recipe cost to the product card and how to compare theoretical usage with supply using recipe analysis.

What portion cost is

Portion cost is the sum of each ingredient's quantity in the standard recipe multiplied by its unit cost. Without it, you cannot judge sale prices and profitability correctly (Dopson and Hayes, 2015; BC Cook Articulation Committee, 2015).

A sample portion cost calculation is in 5.2. Adding and Editing Recipes. To quickly cost a prep item or sauce, you can also use the prep cost calculator.

Why recipe cost and product cost are separate

In Ritapos, recipe cost and product cost are kept separate by design. Each has its own job.

Recipe cost is a test area. In the recipe you can freely try different ingredients, quantities and trim loss scenarios. These trials do not change the cost recorded on sales or the cost reports.

Product cost is the Maliyet (cost) field on the product card. Final profit is calculated with this value. When a product is sold, this value is copied to the order line. Food cost analizi (food cost analysis), Prime cost analizi (prime cost analysis) and Menü mühendisliği (menu engineering) use it.

You move the cost you decided on in the recipe to the product with Tümünü uygula (apply all).

	Recipe cost	Product cost
What it is	The cost calculated from the ingredients in the recipe. A test area.	The final unit cost of the product. Profit is calculated with it.
Where it lives	The Reçete maliyeti (recipe cost) column on the recipes list	The Maliyet field on the product card. It also shows in the Ürün maliyeti (product cost) column on the recipes list.
Who or what uses it	You, when comparing ingredient, quantity and trim loss options. Apply all moves it to the product.	The order line at the time of sale. Food cost analysis, prime cost analysis and menu engineering.
When it changes	When calculate all calculates and saves it	When you move it with apply all or enter it by hand
Effect on sales and reports	None. Trials do not change the cost of sales or the cost reports.	Yes. New sales are recorded with this cost. Past sales keep the cost from the moment they were sold.

Two tips:

• Apply all writes each recipe's cost to its product. Before applying, put any recipes you are trying out back to the version you decided on.
• This freedom to experiment applies to the cost side. Changing the recipe cost does not by itself change the product cost or profit. The Miktar and Fire values, however, set the quantity deducted from stock at sale. When you finish a trial, save the recipe as the kitchen makes it.

This separation is similar to the difference between standard cost and actual cost in cost control. Cost control is built on standards, and the standard recipe and the standard food cost percentage are among them (Çakır and Özgür Göde, 2025). Dopson and Hayes make this comparison between attainable (theoretical) cost and actual cost (Dopson and Hayes, 2015). The Maliyet field on the product card takes the place of the standard cost you decided on. You see the actual side in the Theoretical and actual cost and Recipe analysis sections below.

Recipe cost, in turn, works like a space for scenario (what-if) analysis. You can see how changing an ingredient, reducing a portion or cutting trim loss affects cost without touching your sales figures.

Calculate all and apply all

Two bulk actions calculate recipe cost and move the cost you decided on to the product card.

On Stoklar & Reçeteler > Reçeteler, open the İşlemler (actions) menu at the top right:

1. Tümünü hesapla (calculate all): calculates and saves the cost of every recipe.
2. Tümünü uygula (apply all): writes each recipe's cost into the Maliyet field of its product card.

Tümünü hesapla calculates each recipe's cost from raw material sale prices. For each raw material, the sale price of the smallest unit (the Minimum birimin satış fiyatı column) is multiplied by the recipe's Miktar plus Fire. The cost of sub-recipes and the amounts in the Kaynaklar (resources) and Diğer maliyetler (other costs) sections are then added. The result is rounded to two decimal places. A worked example is in 5.2. Adding and Editing Recipes.

Run the two steps in this order: calculate first, then apply. The menu also has a third option, Tüm reçeteleri sil (delete all recipes). It deletes all your recipes. Do not use it for cost tasks.

Repeat these steps when:

• you change a recipe
• raw material sale prices change through Excel or manual editing
• you update the electricity, water or gas costs in the recipe settings

Recipe costs do not refresh by themselves when a sale price changes. When a sale price changes, run Tümünü hesapla. Production recipe costs are calculated separately from the İşlemler menu on the Üretim reçeteleri (production recipes) page. This step is covered in 5.5. Production Module.

Why the product cost field matters

You can enter the Maliyet field on the product card by hand or fill it from the recipe with apply all. The product form is covered in 4.2. Adding and Editing Products.

Tümünü uygula fills the Maliyet field only for products that have a recipe. A product without a recipe, such as a soda sold as is, keeps an empty Maliyet field. Enter the cost by hand for these products.

In the example, the Izgara köfte (grilled meatballs) product shows Maliyet 112, Satış fiyatı (sale price) 320 and KDV oranı (VAT rate) 10 (sample data).

When a product is sold, its Maliyet value at that moment is copied to the order line. The food cost, prime cost and menu engineering tools use this value. This design has two benefits:

• Sales and reports work with the cost you decided on and moved to the product. Trials in the recipe do not change these figures.
• Past sales keep the cost from the moment they were sold. Updating the cost today does not change past profit.

When you decide on a new cost in the recipe, move it to the product with Tümünü hesapla (calculate all) and Tümünü uygula (apply all). New sales are then recorded with that cost.

Products without a cost

If some products have no cost, an orange warning band appears above the list on Ürünler > Ürün listesi (products, product list). The band reads: "Maliyeti belirli olmayan ürünleriniz var. Dünya genelinde kabul gören bir oranla maliyetleri Ritapos Ai'ın belirlemesini ister misiniz?" (you have products without a set cost; would you like Ritapos AI to set them with a globally accepted ratio?)

Use the Hey Rita. Maliyetleri gir! (Hey Rita, enter the costs) button on the right of the band to get cost suggestions from Ritapos AI. Compare the suggestions with your own recipes and prices before saving. This band is not shown in franchise branches.

Products without a cost distort the cost tools. In the food cost tool you can leave these products out of the analysis. See 5.6. Food Cost Tool.

Theoretical and actual cost

Dopson and Hayes call the cost that sold items should have under the standard recipe the attainable (theoretical) cost. Actual cost is the cost of what was really used in the period. The ratio between them shows operational efficiency (Dopson and Hayes, 2015):

• Operational efficiency ratio = Actual / Theoretical x 100
• Cost variance = (Actual - Theoretical) / Theoretical x 100

To find actual usage from counts, use opening stock + purchases - closing stock. This calculation, with sample data, is in 5.1.5. Stock Count.

Recipe analysis

Araçlar > Reçete analizi (tools, recipe analysis) compares the usage your recipes predict from sales with the supply received in the period. The tool is part of the premium package. The user's role needs the Raporlar: Detaylı (reports: detailed) permission.

The tool opens as a two step wizard:

1. Ürünler (products): tick the products to analyse under their groups.
2. Tarih & Saat (date and time): choose the date range and click Rapor oluştur (create report).

In the date picker, the start hour defaults to 04:00. If you want the period to start at midnight, change the start hour to 00:00.

When you create the report, you see these metrics:

• Satış fiyatı (sale price)
• Net maliyet (net cost): cost based on the recipe's Miktar fields.
• Fire maliyeti (trim loss cost): cost based on the recipe's Fire fields.
• Reçete toplam maliyeti (total recipe cost): net cost plus trim loss cost.
• Gerçek tedarik maliyeti (actual supply cost): the cost of goods received in the period through incoming invoices and received warehouse orders.
• Fark maliyeti (variance cost): the gap between actual supply cost and the cost the recipes predict.

Example (sample data): for Izgara köfte the cards show Satış fiyatı 5.760,00₺, Net maliyet 2.002,50₺, Fire maliyeti 13,50₺, Reçete toplam maliyeti 2.016,00₺, Gerçek tedarik maliyeti 3.850,00₺ and Fark maliyeti 1.834,00₺. The Fark maliyeti is the gap between 3.850,00 and 2.016,00.

Theoretical usage is quantity sold multiplied by the recipe's Miktar plus Fire. The actual side is supply, that is, purchases. Recipe analysis does not use stock counts. Recipe analysis and Tümünü hesapla price ingredients with the same unit price: the sale price of the smallest unit.

Below the report there are four tabs: Grafikler (charts), Ürünler (products), Ham maddeler (raw materials) and Fark analizi (variance analysis). To see which raw material the gap comes from, open the Fark analizi tab. The Fark maliyeti is shown in this tab, separately for each raw material.

The Fark analizi table has these columns: Ham madde, Birim, Teorik (theoretical), Fatura (invoice), İstek (request), Gerçek (actual), Fark (difference), Teorik maliyet, Gerçek tedarik maliyeti and Fark maliyeti.

In the example, the Fark maliyeti is 663,20 for Domates (tomato), 792,00 for Kıyma (minced meat) and 283,80 for Soğan (onion). The Pirinç (rice), Sızma zeytinyağı and Tereyağı (butter) rows show negative values, for example -180,00 for Tereyağı. A negative value means less of the item came in during the period than the recipes predict.

Reading the supply variance

A supply-based variance is not the same as a count-based variance. The gap between them is the change in stock during the period.

Example (sample data): 600 portions of meatballs were sold in a month. The recipe uses 180 g of minced meat per portion. Theoretical usage is 108 kg.

• 120 kg of minced meat was bought in the month. The supply variance is 120 - 108 = 12 kg.
• 40 kg was counted at the start of the month and 35 kg at the end. Actual usage is 40 + 120 - 35 = 125 kg. The count-based variance is 125 - 108 = 17 kg.
• The 5 kg gap comes from storage stock falling from 40 kg to 35 kg during the month.

When reading the variance in recipe analysis, keep the stock change between the start and end of the period in mind. Over short periods, purchases are uneven, so the variance can look large. Longer periods such as a month give more meaningful results.

The supply side comes from your invoices. Enter invoices completely, with a supplier selected. Invoice entry is covered in 5.1.3. Entering Inventory from an Invoice.

If the variance is large, check:

• Do recipe quantities match the portions the kitchen serves?
• Are the trim loss fields realistic?
• Is waste being recorded?
• Were invoices entered with the right unit and quantity?

To see how much profit your sale price leaves over cost, use the profit margin calculator.

Sources

• Dopson, L. R. and Hayes, D. K. (2015). Food and Beverage Cost Control. 6th edition. Wiley. Chapters 3 and 5.
• The BC Cook Articulation Committee (2015). Basic Kitchen and Food Service Management. BCcampus. Chapter: Controlling Food Costs. opentextbc.ca
• Çakır, Ş. and Özgür Göde, M. (2025). A systematic review of studies addressing the cost control process in food and beverage businesses. Journal of Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality, 7(1), 57-75. doi.org/10.48119/toleho.1643299