If you’ve ever struggled to calculate food costs accurately, manage multiple recipes, or deal with tricky unit conversions, I’ve got something exciting for you – the enhanced version of my Food Cost Calculator for Excel!

This isn’t just a spreadsheet. It’s a powerful, automated tool designed for chefs, restaurant owners, caterers, and anyone in the food industry who wants to track and optimize their recipe costs with ease.

🔧 What’s New in This Version?

This upgraded version brings major improvements based on user feedback and real-world kitchen needs:

🔁 Recipes Within Recipes

Ever made a sauce that’s used in five other dishes? Now you can treat pre-made recipes like ingredients in new ones. This saves time and improves consistency.

🔄 Automatic Unit Conversion

Switch between volume (cups, tablespoons), weight (grams, kilograms), and units (each) – no manual math required. The calculator handles conversions within the same measurement type automatically.

📂 Centralized Recipe Management

No more juggling between sheets. All recipes are now saved to a single Recipe Database sheet, keeping things clean and efficient.

💰 Smarter Costing

Define your target food cost, VAT, and optional buffer for each recipe. The calculator instantly shows you the selling price per portion to hit your profit goals.

⚡ VBA Automation

The file includes simple VBA macros that automate key actions – like pulling recipe data, updating databases, and refreshing views.

🔒 Note: Macros must be enabled for full functionality. This file is not compatible with Excel Online or Google Sheets.

📊 How It Works – A Quick Overview

• Ingredient Database: Add your ingredients, units, and purchase prices.
• Unit of Measure Sheet: Define conversion rules between volume, weight, or unit-based measures.
• Update Database Sheet: This is where the magic happens. Add or update recipes here using dropdowns and guided inputs.
• Summary Sheet: View all recipes at a glance, including cost per serving and selling price suggestions.
• Recipe Database: Stores all your recipe data automatically when updated.

You can even build on top of existing recipes. For example, create a pizza dough recipe, then reuse it in a pizza margarita recipe as an ingredient. The cost gets calculated automatically!

✅ Who Is It For?

• Restaurants, food trucks, and cafés
• Catering and meal-prep businesses
• Home chefs who love to stay organized
• Culinary schools and food business students
• Anyone who wants better control over recipe costs and profit margins

📥 How to Get It

Make sure to enable macros when you open the file to unlock all features.

🎥 Watch the Tutorial

If you have any questions or want to see more Excel tools like this, feel free to leave a comment or reach out. And if you found this helpful, don’t forget to share it with someone who could use it too!

Happy cooking (and calculating)!
— Elad @ Excel Highway