How to Calculate Food Cost Percentage for a UAE Restaurant
Food cost percentage is your ingredient cost divided by sales, times 100. Here's the formula, a worked AED example, the healthy 25–35% target, and how to control it.
What Is a Healthy Food Cost Percentage in the UAE?
A healthy food cost percentage for most UAE restaurants is 25–35%, but it varies by concept. Here are realistic benchmarks for cafés, casual dining, and fine dining.
Theoretical vs Actual Food Cost: Closing the Gap
Theoretical food cost is what your recipes say you should spend; actual is what you really spent. The gap reveals waste, theft, or portioning problems. Here's how to close it.
How to Reduce Food Cost Without Lowering Quality
You can cut restaurant food cost without hurting quality by tightening portions, cutting waste, renegotiating supplier prices, and dropping low-margin items. Here's how.
Recipe Costing for UAE Restaurants: A Step-by-Step Guide
Recipe costing means calculating the exact ingredient cost of every dish so you can price for profit. Here's the step-by-step method with a worked AED example.
How to Price a Menu Item for Profit in the UAE
To price a menu item for profit, start from its full ingredient cost, apply your target food cost percentage, then sense-check against the local market. Here's the method.
COGS for Restaurants Explained in Plain Language
Cost of goods sold (COGS) is the total cost of ingredients used to produce the food you sold in a period. Here's what it means, how to calculate it, and why it matters.
The Hidden Cost of Food Waste in UAE Kitchens
Food waste is lost profit on top of the labour, storage, and disposal you already paid for. Here's the true cost of waste in UAE kitchens — and how to cut it.
How to Cut Food Waste During Ramadan in Your Restaurant
Food waste spikes during Ramadan, especially at iftar buffets. Here's how UAE restaurants cut it — tighter demand forecasting, buffet portion control, and daily tracking.
Portion Control: The Fastest Way to Protect Your Margins
Portion control is the fastest way to protect restaurant margins because over-portioning silently inflates food cost on every plate. Here's how to get it right.
Menu Engineering: Which Dishes Actually Make You Money
Menu engineering classifies every dish by popularity and profitability — stars, plowhorses, puzzles, and dogs — so you promote winners, fix underperformers, and cut losers.
How Rising Supplier Prices Erode Restaurant Profit (and How to Track It)
Small, unnoticed supplier price increases erode restaurant profit over time. Here's why they compound, and how tracking invoice prices per ingredient protects your margins.