Coffee prices are often set “like the shop next door”. But without the cost you cannot see which item earns money and which only takes up space on the menu. It is easy to calculate — here is an example.
What the cost is made of
The cost of a cup is the price of everything that goes into it: beans, milk, syrup, a cup with a lid. Rent, salaries and utilities are not included — they are covered by the difference between the price and the cost.
Example: a takeaway cappuccino
The prices below are illustrative — use your own purchase prices.
- beans: 18 g at 900 UAH/kg — 16.20 UAH;
- milk: 200 ml at 45 UAH/l — 9.00 UAH;
- a cup with a lid — 4.00 UAH.
The total cost is 29.20 UAH. If the cappuccino sells for 75 UAH, the cost share in the price (food cost) is about 39%.
Plant milk and an extra shot
Oat milk at 120 UAH/l instead of regular milk adds 15 UAH to the cost: 24 UAH instead of 9. Sold at the same price, such a cappuccino earns noticeably less. That is why plant milk and an extra shot should be modifiers with a surcharge — they change both the price and the write-off.
Why manual calculation quickly goes out of date
Bean and milk prices change with every delivery, and a menu has dozens of drinks. Nobody has time to recalculate a spreadsheet every time — so the cost in it lags behind reality.
How to calculate it automatically in Goovii
- Create a recipe card for the drink: grams of beans, millilitres of milk, the cup.
- Add modifiers — size, milk type, syrups — with their own price and composition.
- Record supplies with current prices — Goovii calculates the cost from supply prices.
- See in the reports which drinks bring the most profit and which are worth reviewing.
More on calculating the whole menu in the article Recipe cards and dish costs, and everything for a coffee shop on the coffee shop software page.