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Technical Sheets Creator
Technical Sheets & Recipe Cost Calculator for the Hospitality & Foodservice Industry
Built for the restaurant and catering sector, bars, and multi-site operators: create technical sheets, calculate recipe costs in real time, and sharpen menu pricing with target food cost %, net or gross purchase prices, and tax-aware suggested selling prices—then export a professional PDF.
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Digital kitchen scale (0.1 g)
Consistent recipe weights for costing
Instant-read probe thermometer
HACCP-friendly temps for proteins
Stainless prep & storage set
Batch prep for high-volume lines
What is a Technical Sheet in Restaurants, Catering & Foodservice?
A technical sheet (sometimes called a recipe spec or fiche technique) is a structured document that describes how a dish or drink is built and what it costs to produce. In the hospitality industry and across the foodservice industry, it typically lists each ingredient with quantities and units, notes allergens where required, and anchors training and quality. (In parts of Europe the same workflows are often grouped under the term HORECA—hotels, restaurants, and cafés.)
Financially, the technical sheet connects purchasing to menu engineering: when every line uses real pack prices and units, you can roll up batch cost, divide by portions, and compare against selling price and margin targets. That is why teams in the restaurant and catering sector pair technical sheets with live calculators—not only static spreadsheets.
How to Calculate Food Cost Percentage (Restaurants & Catering)
Food cost percentage measures ingredient cost as a share of revenue—core to profitability in foodservice. At menu-item level, divide the cost of all ingredients in one portion by the selling price before sales tax or VAT (depending on your market), then multiply by 100. Example: a plate that costs $3.60 to make and sells for $12.00 ex-tax has a 30% food cost.
Many operators set a target band (for example roughly 28–35% for food in full-service restaurants, often lower for drinks) and work backwards from recipe costs to a viable price. Whether you operate in the UK, US, or EU, tax treatment on the check differs; this tool helps you model ex-tax and inc-tax guest prices so you can test launches and specials quickly.
How to Price My Menu? A Practical Guide for Hospitality Operators
"How to price my menu?" usually starts with accurate recipe costing: capture pack sizes and purchase prices, then allocate each ingredient to the plate or pour. Once you know cost per portion, apply your target food cost percentage (or contribution margin) to derive a baseline selling price before tax.
In the hospitality industry, pricing also reflects positioning, competition, and daypart—but without solid technical sheets and the ability to calculate costs when suppliers change prices, even strong concepts leak margin. Technical Sheets Creator is built to support that loop: update inventory, refresh recipes, and see suggested prices aligned to your targets.
Step-by-Step: Using This Calculator for Your Kitchen or Bar
- Configure your business in Global configuration: currency, language, metric or imperial display, menu tax rate, whether pack prices are net or gross, and your target food cost percentage.
- Populate the ingredient database with each item's pack quantity, unit (kg, L, g, ml, or unit), and total pack price. The app derives cost per gram, per millilitre, or per piece automatically.
- Build recipes: name each dish or drink, set batch yield (portions), and add lines from inventory. Line costs and batch totals update as you type.
- Review live costing for cost per portion, batch cost, finished batch size by category, and suggested selling prices with and without tax.
- Export PDF technical sheets for training, audits, or handover across sites in your foodservice or catering operation.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I price my menu in foodservice?
- Start with recipe-level technical sheets and true ingredient costs, then set selling prices so food cost (or margin) hits your targets before tax. Adjust for positioning and competition after the math is sound.
- What is a technical sheet used for in restaurants and catering?
- It documents ingredients, quantities, and cost so kitchens stay consistent and finance can track margins—essential across the hospitality industry and restaurant and catering sector.
- How do I calculate recipe costs accurately?
- Record the full pack price and pack size for each supplier SKU, note whether tax is included, then let the tool scale those costs down to the grams, millilitres, or units in each recipe line.