It is one of the most common problems in restaurants across Accra. A dish is popular. Customers order it constantly. The kitchen is busy. And yet at the end of the month, the numbers do not add up.

You Cannot Manage What You Cannot Measure

Most restaurant owners set prices based on what feels right, what competitors charge, or what customers seem willing to pay. That is understandable. But without knowing what a dish actually costs to make, you are guessing. And in a business with thin margins, guessing is expensive.

The good news is that working out whether a dish is making you money does not require an accountant. It requires three numbers.

The Three Numbers You Need

1. The cost to make the dish

Add up every ingredient that goes into the dish. Not just the main protein or starch. Everything. The oil used to cook it. The garnish. The sauce. The portion of rice or plantain on the side.

If a plate of grilled tilapia uses GH₵18 worth of ingredients, that is your food cost for that dish.

2. The selling price

This is what the customer pays. Say you sell that plate for GH₵55.

3. The food cost percentage

Divide the cost by the selling price and multiply by 100.

GH₵18 divided by GH₵55 equals 0.327. Multiply by 100 and you get 32.7%.

That is your food cost percentage for that dish.

What Does a Good Number Look Like?

Most restaurants aim for a food cost percentage between 25% and 35%. Below 25% and you are likely charging well and managing ingredients tightly. Above 35% and the dish is eating into your margins.

If your tilapia is at 32.7% that is within a healthy range. If your jollof rice combo is at 48% something needs to change.

But before you raise the price, check the other causes. A high percentage is often a portioning problem, not a pricing problem. Serving staff who are generous with the rice, or ingredients going to waste before they reach the plate, will push that number up just as quickly as an underpriced dish.

One Important Caveat

Food cost is the starting point, not the whole picture. Your rent, electricity, staff wages and everything else still have to come out of what is left. A dish at 30% food cost is healthier than one at 45%, but it is not pure profit.

Think of food cost as the first question, not the last one.

The Dish Everyone Orders Is Not Always the Dish Making You Money

This is the part that surprises most owners. A high-selling dish with a bad food cost percentage is quietly draining your business every single day. Meanwhile a dish that sells less frequently but has a 22% food cost is contributing more to your bottom line per plate.

Knowing this changes how you run your restaurant. You promote the dishes that make you money. You review the ones that do not. You price with confidence instead of guessing.

Start With Your Top Five

You do not have to do this for every item on your menu today. Start with your five best-selling dishes. Work out the food cost for each one. Calculate the percentage. See where you stand.

You may find that everything is healthy. Or you may find one or two dishes that need a closer look. Either way you will know. And knowing is the beginning of running a smarter restaurant.

Doing this by hand once is useful. Doing it every time a supplier price changes is where most owners give up.

In Restro, you enter your cost price when you add a menu item and your margin is calculated for you. When ingredient costs change, your numbers change with them. You see which dishes are earning and which are not, without recalculating anything.