A salmon poke bowl can cost you around $5.33 to make if you use 200 g of seasoned sushi rice, 100 g of trimmed salmon from skin-on fillets bought at $22.00 a kilo, 50 g of avocado, edamame, cucumber, toppings and dressing, serve it in a bowl with a lid and pay $15 an hour for assembly. That figure is an example with stated assumptions. Your grams, your trim losses and your packaging will change it. Below is the method to work out your own, and it is the same for a grain bowl, a Caesar salad or a burrito bowl.
What goes into the cost of a bowl
A bowl is a list of weighed components. Each has a cost per usable gram, and the bowl is the sum. Following the general method for working out what any dish costs to make:
- Base: rice, grains, leaves, noodles. Per gram cooked or washed.
- Protein: salmon, tuna, chicken, tofu, egg. Per gram trimmed or cooked.
- Toppings: avocado, cucumber, edamame, carrot, mango, pickled ginger, sesame. Per gram after trim.
- Dressing: per millilitre, as its own small recipe.
- Packaging: bowl, lid, chopsticks or fork, napkin, dressing pot.
- Labour: prep, cooking and assembly.
Step 1: cost per usable gram
This is the most common mistake with salads and bowls. You buy by the kilo or by the piece with skins, stones, stalks and outer leaves, but only what is left after prep goes in the bowl. Avocado loses its skin and stone; salmon loses skin, pin bones and any trim; lettuce loses its outer leaves and core.
For each ingredient:
- Weigh what you bought, or note the price per piece.
- Prep it the usual way and weigh what is ready for the bowl.
- Divide the price by the usable grams.
Those yields are yours. They change with the supplier, the season and who is doing the prep. A produce yield table is the easiest way to record them and keep them handy, and the yield tool gives the cost per usable kilo.
Bases move the other way: rice and grains gain weight as they cook. Cost them by cooked weight, because that is what you portion.
Step 2: fixed grams for every component
A bowl built by eye can carry 80 g of salmon one day and 130 g the next. Fix the grams for each component and serve with scoops or portion spoons that match. The guide to portion control shows how to set up a bowl line where every bowl weighs the same.
Step 3: dressing and packaging
Cost the dressing like a recipe: everything that goes in, divided by the millilitres that come out. It is easy to wave off as "only 30 ml", but sesame oil, good soy sauce and spicy mayo add up.
On a takeaway bowl, packaging can cost more than the rice and cucumber together. Count the bowl, the lid, the cutlery, the napkin and the dressing pot if it goes on the side.
Worked example: salmon poke bowl
Every number here is an assumption. Use your own.
Measured yields:
- Rice: 1 kg raw at $3.00, plus $0.40 of seasoning, gives 2,200 g cooked. Per gram: 3.40 ÷ 2,200 = $0.0015.
- Salmon: skin-on fillet at $22.00 a kilo; after skinning and trimming you keep 850 g per kilo. Per gram: 22.00 ÷ 850 = $0.0259.
- Avocado: $0.90 each, 120 g of usable flesh. Per gram: 0.90 ÷ 120 = $0.0075.
- Cucumber: $0.80 each, 300 g usable after ends.
| Component | Grams | Working | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sushi rice, cooked | 200 g | 200 × 3.40 ÷ 2,200 | $0.31 |
| Salmon | 100 g | 100 × 22.00 ÷ 850 | $2.59 |
| Avocado | 50 g | 50 × 0.0075 | $0.38 |
| Edamame, shelled | 40 g | 40 × $6.00 per kg | $0.24 |
| Cucumber | 50 g | 50 × 0.80 ÷ 300 | $0.13 |
| Ginger, sesame, spring onion | estimate per bowl | $0.25 | |
| Dressing | 30 ml | its own recipe | $0.20 |
| Bowl and lid | 1 | $0.40 | |
| Chopsticks and napkin | 1 | $0.08 | |
| Labour | $15 per hour, 20 bowls per hour | $0.75 | |
| Total | $5.33 |
Two things stand out. The salmon is $2.59, almost half the bowl. And the packaging ($0.48) costs more than the rice and the cucumber together ($0.44).
Now look at yield. If a batch of salmon has more trim and you keep 800 g per kilo instead of 850 g, the 100 g portion costs 100 × 22.00 ÷ 800 = $2.75. That is $0.16 more per bowl, with the same recipe. If smaller avocados give you only 100 g of flesh, the 50 g costs $0.45 instead of $0.38. Yields need re-measuring now and then.
For delivery
Delivery changes the cost in two places. Packaging goes up (a bag, a separate dressing pot so the leaves do not arrive soggy), and the app takes a commission from the price. The delivery price tool gives the app price that keeps your margin after commission.
From cost to price
With the example, a 60% margin on the price before any sales tax gives 5.33 ÷ (1 − 0.60) = $13.33. Check your local tax rules for what goes on top.
If you need to bring the cost down, start with the protein portion and the packaging. Trimming the cucumber barely moves the number.
Do it with the calculator
In the food cost calculator, enter each component with its purchase price, its usable or cooked yield and the grams in the bowl, plus the packaging. It returns the cost per bowl and the price for your margin.
Frequently asked questions
Why does avocado cost more per gram than its price suggests?
Because you pay for the skin and stone, which never reach the bowl. Weigh the flesh you get from one fruit and divide the price by those grams. That is your real cost per gram.
Should rice be costed raw or cooked?
Cooked, because that is how you portion it. Cook a kilo, weigh what comes out and divide the cost of the raw kilo, plus any seasoning, by the cooked grams.
How heavy should a bowl be?
That is your call, but it should be the same every time. Fix the grams for each component, weigh them for a week, and only then trust your cost.
Does a delivery bowl cost the same as one eaten in?
No. Delivery adds the lid, cutlery, bag and a separate dressing pot. And the app's commission comes out of the price, so the app price has to be higher.