Pizza Margherita Food Cost Calculator
A margherita pizza’s cheese weight often moves the cost more than the dough, so this twelve-inch example specifies three ounces of mozzarella instead of an unmeasured handful.
The dough ball and sauce are priced as prepared subrecipes with their own usable yields already included, while the basil allowance counts usable leaves rather than charging a whole bunch to one pizza.
Editable example: quantities are a typical standard spec and prices are plausible US wholesale estimates, not supplier quotes or current market data. Replace them with your own.
Example ingredient spec
Purchase and usage quantities use the same unit named in each row. Batch portions: 1.
| Ingredient / unit | Purchase qty | Purchase cost ($) | Used | Yield % | Line cost ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepared dough ball (each) | 1 | 0.55 | 1 | 100 | 0.55 |
| Tomato sauce (oz) | 106 | 5.50 | 3 | 100 | 0.16 |
| Mozzarella (oz) | 16 | 3.20 | 3 | 100 | 0.60 |
| Usable basil leaves (each) | 100 | 3.00 | 5 | 100 | 0.15 |
| Olive oil (oz) | 33.8 | 8.00 | 0.25 | 100 | 0.06 |
Example menu price
Example cost per plate: $1.51. At 30% food cost, the unrounded price is $5.05. Suggested price rounded up to the next $0.50: $5.50, giving 27.54% actual ingredient cost.
These example prices exclude labor, overhead and tax. The ingredient table and suggestion describe the starting spec; edit the calculator to cost your own version.
Formula
Ingredient cost = purchase cost ÷ purchase quantity × quantity used ÷ (yield % ÷ 100). Plate cost = total ingredient cost ÷ portions.
More to cost
Calculated free at thehospitalityinsider.com/food-cost/pizza-margherita