A plate of ceviche can cost you around $5.98 to make if you buy skin-on white fish fillets at $18.00 a kilo, keep 800 g of every kilo after skinning and trimming, serve 150 g of fish with 50 ml of lime juice, red onion, chilli, sweet potato, corn and something crunchy, and pay $15 an hour for prep. That figure is an example with stated assumptions. Your fish, your yield and this week's lime price will change it. The method below gets you your own number.
What goes into the cost of ceviche
Ceviche looks simple, but most of its cost sits in two yields: the fish and the limes. Following the general method for working out what any dish costs to make:
- Fish: the price paid divided by the trimmed fillet you keep, times the grams on the plate.
- Lime juice: the price per kilo divided by the millilitres you squeeze out, times the millilitres per plate.
- Red onion, chilli, coriander, garlic, salt.
- Sides: sweet potato, corn, toasted corn or plantain chips, lettuce.
- Labour: trimming, dicing, juicing and plating.
- Packaging: for takeaway or delivery.
Step 1: fish yield
This is the number that matters most. You buy fillets by the kilo, but only clean, trimmed flesh goes on the plate: no skin, no pin bones, no dark bloodline. Cost the fish by the weight you bought and every plate looks cheaper than it is.
- Weigh the fish as it arrives.
- Skin and trim it the way you always do.
- Weigh the trimmed flesh ready to dice.
- Divide the price you paid by the trimmed grams: that is your cost per gram.
Your yield depends on the species, the supplier and the person with the knife. Measure it for every fish you buy. The guide to what seafood really costs covers fish, prawns and shellfish, and the yield tool gives the real cost per usable kilo.
If you buy whole fish, the same logic applies with a bigger loss: head, frame, skin and fins. If the frames go into a stock you sell, they are worth something; if they go in the bin, they are not.
Step 2: lime juice by the millilitre
Limes are bought by the kilo and used by the millilitre. Juice a kilo the way you do in service and measure what comes out. That number is yours; it changes with the season and the size of the fruit.
Divide the price by the millilitres to get the cost per millilitre, then multiply by the juice in each plate. The guide to what fresh juice costs to make applies the same method to drinks, which are also bought by the kilo and sold by the glass.
Watch the lime price. It can swing a lot from one month to the next, so update it every time you buy.
Step 3: the sides and the rest
Sweet potato gets peeled, so count the peel. Red onion loses its skin and ends. Chilli, coriander and garlic are small per plate but they add up. If you serve tiger's milk (the leftover marinade) as a separate shot, it is another product with its own cost.
Worked example: a plate of ceviche
Every number here is an assumption. Use your own.
What you measured:
- Skin-on white fish fillets at $18.00 a kilo. After skinning and trimming you keep 800 g per kilo. Cost per gram: 18.00 ÷ 800 = $0.0225.
- Limes at $4.00 a kilo. A kilo gives 400 ml of juice. Cost per ml: 4.00 ÷ 400 = $0.01.
- Red onion at $2.20 a kilo, 900 g usable per kilo.
- Sweet potato at $2.50 a kilo, 850 g peeled per kilo.
| Item | Working | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Fish | 150 g × 18.00 ÷ 800 | $3.38 |
| Lime juice | 50 ml × 4.00 ÷ 400 | $0.50 |
| Red onion | 50 g × 2.20 ÷ 900 | $0.12 |
| Chilli, coriander, garlic, salt | estimate per plate | $0.25 |
| Sweet potato | 80 g × 2.50 ÷ 850 | $0.24 |
| Corn kernels | 60 g × $4.00 per kg | $0.24 |
| Toasted corn or plantain chips | per plate | $0.25 |
| Labour | $15 per hour, 15 plates per hour | $1.00 |
| Total | $5.98 |
The fish is $3.38 of $5.98, close to six dollars in every ten. That is why trimming yield moves the cost more than anything else. If a different fish or rushed trimming leaves you 700 g per kilo instead of 800 g, the fish on the plate becomes 150 × 18.00 ÷ 700 = $3.86. The plate goes up $0.48 with the same recipe.
Limes do something similar. If they go from $4.00 to $8.00 a kilo, the juice on each plate goes from $0.50 to 50 × 8.00 ÷ 400 = $1.00.
Mixed seafood ceviche
For a mixed ceviche, cost each item by its own yield: prawns lose shells and heads, octopus loses weight when cooked, scallops are bought by the piece or by weight in the shell. Add up the grams of each on the plate. Lime and sides are costed the same way.
From cost to price
The cost per plate is your floor. The plate price tool works out a price from the cost and the food cost percentage you want. With the example, a 60% margin on the price before any sales tax gives 5.98 ÷ (1 − 0.60) = $14.95. Check your local tax rules for what goes on top.
Because fish and limes change price often, recheck the cost of your ceviche whenever they do, not only when you print a new menu.
Do it with the calculator
In the food cost calculator, enter the fish price with its trimmed yield, the limes with the millilitres a kilo gives you, the grams of each side and your prep time. It returns the cost per plate and the price for your margin.
Frequently asked questions
How much usable fish do I get from a kilo of fillets?
It depends on the species, the supplier and who is trimming, so measure it. Weigh the fillets, skin and trim them the usual way, and weigh what is ready to dice.
How much juice is in a kilo of limes?
It depends on the limes, the season and how hard you squeeze. Juice a kilo the way you do in service, measure the millilitres and use that number.
Why does my ceviche cost more when limes go up?
Because lime juice goes into every plate and its price can move a lot in a few weeks. Update the lime price in your costing every time you buy, not once a year.
Should I buy whole fish or fillets?
Compare the cost per gram of trimmed fillet both ways. With whole fish you pay for the head, frame and skin; with fillets you pay someone else to remove them. Run the numbers with your prices and your yield.