A plate of spaghetti bolognese can cost you about $2.74 to make. That figure uses example wholesale prices, 100 g of dry spaghetti per plate, 180 ml of sauce and 15 g of grated parmesan on top. Your cost will move with your prices and your portions, but the method stays the same: pasta + sauce + cheese + gas, each worked out per plate.
The method, component by component
A pasta dish is made of parts you prepare separately. Cost each one:
- Pasta: price per kilo × dry grams per plate.
- Sauce: cost of the whole batch ÷ portions it gives with your ladle.
- Cheese on top: price per kilo × grams per plate.
- Gas or power: what the batch uses ÷ plates.
- Anything extra: meatballs, chicken, garlic bread, each at its own cost per portion.
If you buy in 500 g packs, cans or cases, the guide to unit conversions helps you get everything to a price per kilo or per gram first.
Worked example: spaghetti bolognese for 10 plates
Example prices. Use your own receipts.
Pasta: dry spaghetti at $2.40 a kilo. You serve 100 g dry per plate, so a kilo gives 10 plates: 2.40 ÷ 10 = $0.24 per plate.
Bolognese sauce:
| Ingredient | Quantity × price | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Ground beef | 1.0 kg × $11.00 | $11.00 |
| Canned tomatoes | 2 × 800 g at $2.00 | $4.00 |
| Onion, carrot, celery | $1.50 | |
| Tomato paste | $1.00 | |
| Garlic, oil, herbs, salt | $1.50 | |
| Sauce batch | $19.00 |
The batch yields 1.8 litres and you ladle 180 ml per plate: 1.8 ÷ 0.18 = 10 plates. Sauce per plate: 19.00 ÷ 10 = $1.90.
Parmesan on top: 15 g at $30 a kilo = 0.015 × 30 = $0.45.
Gas: $1.50 for the batch (pasta water and sauce) ÷ 10 = $0.15.
| Component | Per plate |
|---|---|
| Spaghetti | $0.24 |
| Bolognese | $1.90 |
| Parmesan | $0.45 |
| Gas | $0.15 |
| Total | $2.74 |
Look where the money is. The pasta is the cheapest thing on the plate. The sauce, and the meat in it, is what sets the cost. A cheese sauce, a pesto or a seafood sauce follows exactly the same method; only the batch and its yield change.
Dry or cooked: never mix the two
Pasta grows when it cooks because it absorbs water. If you weigh 100 g dry and, cooked and drained, it weighs 230 g, your pasta grows 2.3 times. That number is yours: it depends on the shape, the cooking time and how well you drain it. Weigh it yourself.
The usual mistake is costing at the dry price but portioning by cooked weight without converting. If you assume a 230 g cooked portion uses 230 g of pasta, you charge the plate $0.55 instead of $0.24. The opposite mistake, counting 100 g cooked as if it were 100 g dry, makes the plate look cheaper than it is.
If you portion by cooked weight, get a price per cooked kilo: 2.40 ÷ 2.3 = $1.04 per kilo of cooked pasta. For any ingredient that changes weight between raw and ready, the real cost per usable kg tool does this conversion.
Dry or fresh pasta
Fresh pasta costs more per kilo and grows less when cooked, because it already holds water. Say you buy fresh pasta at $12 a kilo and, in your pot, 100 g fresh becomes 140 g cooked.
- For the same 230 g cooked plate you need 230 ÷ 1.4 = 164 g of fresh pasta
- Cost: 0.164 × 12 = $1.97 per plate
- With dry pasta: $0.24
That is $1.73 more per plate. If fresh pasta lets you charge more or is what your place is known for, it may be worth it, but decide with the numbers in front of you. If you make it yourself, the cost is flour, eggs and your time rolling and cutting, and that time belongs in the cost too.
What is still missing from the full cost
The $2.74 is ingredients and gas. Add the container if it goes out as takeaway, your time and a share of your fixed costs. The guide to plate cost in a restaurant shows how to build the full cost for every dish on your menu and use it to review prices.
With the cost ready, the plate price tool gives you a price from the food cost percentage you choose. For example, if you decide ingredients should be 30% of the price before tax: 2.74 ÷ 0.30 = $9.13. Check your local tax rules for anything you add on top.
Recheck whenever prices move
Beef, cheese and fresh herbs change price from week to week. Dry pasta barely moves. That is why it pays to keep each component on its own line: when beef goes up, you change one line and see the new plate cost at once. The guide to what each dish costs to make applies the same method to other dishes on a typical menu.
Do it with the calculator
Put the pasta, the sauce batch and the cheese into the food cost calculator at what you paid, with the number of plates; it gives you the cost per plate and the price you need for your margin.
Frequently asked questions
Should I cost the portion by dry or cooked weight?
Either, as long as you never mix them. Costing by dry weight is simplest, because that is how you buy it. If you portion cooked pasta, measure how much yours grows and convert.
Is fresh pasta more expensive per plate?
Usually, because it costs more per kilo and grows less when cooked, so you need more grams for the same plate. Run the numbers with your own prices before switching.
Do I count the gas for boiling the water?
Yes. Note roughly what one batch uses and divide it by the plates. It is small per plate, but it adds up across a service.
How do I cost a sauce I make in big batches?
Cost the whole batch, measure how much it yields, and divide by the amount you ladle per plate. Sauce you use the next day is not waste; sauce you throw away is already covered when you divide by the plates you served.