Recipe Costing
Recipe costing is the core function of CostingBrik. It calculates exactly what each dish costs to produce, based on the real prices you are paying for ingredients right now.
How Brikly calculates recipe costs
The cost calculation follows a straightforward chain:
Supplier price --> Cost per base unit --> Ingredient line cost --> Recipe total --> Cost per portion
Step by step
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Supplier price to cost per base unit You buy flour in a 16kg sack for £12.80. Brikly divides: £12.80 / 16 = £0.80 per kg.
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Ingredient line cost Your recipe uses 0.5 kg of flour. Brikly multiplies: 0.5 x £0.80 = £0.40 for that line.
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Recipe total All ingredient line costs are summed: flour (£0.40) + eggs (£0.56) + butter (£0.31) + ... = £2.84 total.
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Cost per portion The total is divided by the yield. If the recipe makes 8 portions: £2.84 / 8 = £0.36 per portion.
This calculation runs for every line in the recipe, including any sub-recipes, which have their own costs calculated the same way.
Ingredient cost aggregation
When you view a recipe's costing breakdown, Brikly shows you:
- Each ingredient line with its quantity, unit cost, and total line cost.
- Sub-recipe lines with the sub-recipe's cost per unit and total line cost.
- Category breakdown - a summary showing what percentage of the total cost comes from each ingredient category (e.g. 35% Meat, 20% Dairy, 15% Produce).
- The recipe total and cost per portion.
This breakdown helps you understand where the money goes. If you need to reduce a recipe's cost, you can immediately see which ingredients are driving the expense.
Example - Fish and Chips (1 portion):
| Ingredient | Quantity | Unit cost | Line cost | % of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cod fillet | 180g | £12.50/kg | £2.25 | 57% |
| Potatoes (chipping) | 250g | £0.80/kg | £0.20 | 5% |
| Plain flour | 50g | £0.80/kg | £0.04 | 1% |
| Beer (for batter) | 100ml | £1.80/l | £0.18 | 5% |
| Vegetable oil (frying) | 150ml | £1.60/l | £0.24 | 6% |
| Tartare sauce (sub-recipe) | 30ml | £3.20/l | £0.10 | 3% |
| Mushy peas (sub-recipe) | 80g | £1.50/kg | £0.12 | 3% |
| Lemon | 0.25 | each | £0.08 | 2% |
| Salt, vinegar, garnish | - | - | £0.05 | 1% |
| Total | £3.26 | 100% (with rounding) |
At a glance, the cod represents over half the cost. If cod prices rise, this dish takes a disproportionate hit.
Wastage in recipe costing
When wastage or prep loss is set on a recipe line, Brikly factors it into the cost calculation. The principle is simple: if you lose 20% of an ingredient during preparation, you need to buy 25% more than the usable quantity.
The formula:
Gross cost = Net quantity x Unit cost / (1 - Wastage %)
For example, if a recipe calls for 180g of usable cod fillet and you have 10% wastage from trimming:
Gross quantity needed = 180g / (1 - 0.10) = 200g Cost = 200g x £12.50/kg = £2.50 (instead of £2.25 without wastage)
You can build recipes without wastage percentages and the costs will still be calculated. However, adding realistic wastage figures - especially for ingredients with significant prep loss like meat, fish, and fresh produce - gives you a much more accurate true cost.
Real-time cost updates
One of the most powerful features of CostingBrik is that recipe costs update automatically when ingredient prices change.
Here is what happens when you process a new invoice:
- The invoice shows that cod has gone from £12.50/kg to £13.80/kg.
- Brikly updates the cod ingredient price.
- Every recipe that uses cod is immediately re-costed.
- The Fish and Chips recipe's cod line changes from £2.25 to £2.48.
- The recipe total changes from £3.26 to £3.49.
- If you have set a GP% target, Brikly flags that this recipe has moved closer to (or below) your target margin.
You do not need to re-open, recalculate, or manually update anything. The moment the price changes, every affected recipe reflects the new cost.
Why this matters
In a traditional spreadsheet-based costing system, recipe costs are static - they show whatever price was entered when the sheet was last updated. In a busy kitchen, those spreadsheets can go months without being refreshed, meaning you are making pricing decisions based on stale data.
With CostingBrik, your costs are always live. Every invoice you process makes your data more current.
Even with automatic updates, it pays to review your highest-volume recipes regularly. Open the recipe, check the cost per portion, and confirm your selling price still delivers the GP% you need.
Exporting recipe costings
You can export a recipe's full costing breakdown as a PDF or CSV:
- PDF - formatted for printing, useful for kitchen reference or management review.
- CSV - for further analysis in a spreadsheet or importing into other systems.
To export, open a recipe and click Export in the top-right corner, then choose your format.