Why your costing sheet doesn’t match your cash, how to fix it with a template that works

There are two types of businesses: those that “have costing sheets” and those that use them to make decisions.

The first group usually says something like: “According to the costing sheet we make money… but at the end of the month you can’t see it.”

If that sounds familiar, it’s almost never because “the math is wrong.” It’s because the costing sheet is calculated in a perfect world… and your restaurant (Barcelona, Girona or anywhere) lives in the real world: variable portions, invented yields, sauces nobody costs, inventory that isn’t controlled and delivery that eats margin.

This post is for that: so your costing sheet stops being a pretty Excel file and becomes a profitability control.

1) The symptom: the dish “should” have margin… but it doesn’t

The costing sheet is one picture. The cash is another. When they don’t match, one (or several) of these things usually happens:

• You are costing “according to recipe,” but serving “according to hand.”

• You are costing purchases, but not real consumption (stock).

• You are forgetting components (bases, sides, oils, bread, packaging).

• You are calculating yields “in your head.”

• You are mixing delivery with dine-in as if it were the same.

The solution is not to complicate. The solution is to standardize the minimum and measure what moves money.

2) The template we recommend (and why those columns)

A useful costing template must be able to answer quickly:

• How much does this portion cost me today?

• Which ingredient is breaking my margin?

• Which part of the cost am I not seeing?

Header (essential)

• Dish / version / date

• Portions per batch and standard portion

• Channel (dine-in / delivery) if applicable

• Owner (who validates changes)

Ingredient table (columns that must be there)

1. Ingredient

2. Net quantity used (g/ml/unit)

3. Purchase price (€/kg, €/l, €/unit)

4. Yield % (if applicable)

5. Net unit cost (calculated)

6. Line cost (calculated)

7. Type (main / side / base sauce / consumable / packaging)

8. Supplier/notes (brand, format, substitute)

Summary (what you look at to decide)

• Total batch cost

• Cost per portion

• Target Food Cost % (your internal reference)

• Suggested selling price (optional, if you already price with a target)

Why we add “Type”: because it’s the fastest way to find “hidden costs.” If everything is marked as “ingredient,” you will never see that the real problem was the sauce, the oil, or the packaging.

3) The #1 cause: variable portions (the silent “theft”)

In consulting we see it constantly: the recipe says 180 g… and on the pass it becomes 200–220 g. Not out of bad intent: out of rush, lack of standard, or because “it looks better full.”

It seems small, but multiply it:

• +20 g per plate × 80 plates/week × 4 weeks = 6.4 kg/month of “extra” (in just one dish)

How to fix it without a kitchen war

• Define the portion in writing (in grams and with a photo)

• Use a standard tool (spoon, ladle, tongs, mold)

• Weigh 10 plates “at random” during a service and correct with data, not shouting

4) Yields and waste: when “1 kg purchased” is not “1 kg served”

Another classic: you cost in gross and you serve in net. Result: the costing sheet “looks good” in Excel, but you are paying for the waste without recording it.

Simple professional rule

• If there is relevant trimming/butchery/evaporation: apply yield.

You don’t need a lab. You need to measure once:

• Weigh before and after (1–2 times per product)

• Save the yield by category (deboned chicken, skinless hake, peeled onion, etc.)

• Apply it every time until the product changes

5) Bases and sauces: the black hole of cost

Many costing sheets fail for one very specific reason: base recipes are not costed.

The “house” sauce, stock, truffle mayo, hummus, aioli… are made “by eye” and then charged to the dish as if they were free.

Pro solution (and easy)

• Cost the base recipe (by batch)

• Determine cost per gram/ml

• In the final dish, allocate: “60 g of sauce × cost/g”

When you do this, useful truths appear:

• dishes that looked cheap aren’t

• “small” sides are the ones that drive cost

6) Purchases vs real consumption: inventory is the difference

This point is key and almost nobody does it well at the beginning:

Purchases are NOT the same as consumption.

Real consumption is calculated like this:

Consumption = purchases + opening stock − closing stock

If you don’t control stock, you can be “lowering costing sheets” and still have high Food Cost because:

• there is overbuying

• there is expiry

• there is unrecorded waste

• there is a control break (bar, fridges, storeroom)

That’s why, if the costing sheet doesn’t match the cash, inventory is usually the missing “bridge.”

7) Delivery: a different account, a different logic

Delivery is not “the same with a bag.” It changes:

• packaging

• fees

• sales mix (it sells differently)

• waste (rework, time, refunds)

The right way is to have:

• a dine-in costing sheet

• and a delivery costing sheet (same dish, but with packaging and fees considered in your margin model)

8) The 10 mistakes that steal the most margin (symptom → cause → fix)

1. “Excel says margin, cash doesn’t” → variable portions → standard + sample checks

2. “The star dish drops in margin” → supplier/format changed → versioning + monthly update

3. “Sauces spike cost with no explanation” → bases not costed → cost base recipes

4. “Food Cost rises even if the recipe cost drops” → no inventory control → real consumption (purchases ± stock)

5. “Second peaks are expensive” → reactive mise en place → prep plan + par levels

6. “Delivery sells but doesn’t profit” → packaging/fees excluded → cost by channel

7. “You run out mid-week” → ordering by eye → mins/maxes

8. “There is waste but nobody sees it” → not recorded → simple waste log (2 min/day)

9. “Kitchen doesn’t follow the recipe” → no photo or tool → visual spec sheet

10. “You change the recipe and nobody knows” → no version control → version + date + owner

9) How to use this post without getting lost: 7-day plan

• Day 1: define portions for your top 5 dishes (with a photo)

• Day 2: measure yields for 3 critical raw materials

• Day 3: cost 2 base sauces (the ones you use the most)

• Day 4: update prices for 10 key ingredients

• Day 5: separate dine-in vs delivery in 1 profitable dish and 1 doubtful dish

• Day 6: quick inventory of 15 items (only the critical ones)

• Day 7: review: what changed the cost per portion and why?