Whether you manage a restaurant or a cafe or cook at home, understanding the cost of each recipe is crucial. It helps you set a budget, ensure profitability, and prepare a delicious dish that everyone will love.
Many people use Excel to track and organize their finances, day-to-day tasks, and more. Anyone can learn Excel in a couple of hours.
It is the perfect tool to manage various aspects of a recipe and stay organized.
This is an in-depth guide about top recipe cost calculator Excel templates. Make sure to read the article till the end because we have also discussed a step-by-step process of creating a recipe cost calculator in Excel from scratch.
Top 6 FREE Excel Recipe Costing Templates
Numerous recipe costing templates are available on the Internet. We understand that it is not possible for you to download and test each one to determine whether it fits your needs.
Hence, to make your task easier, we have compiled a list of 6 Recipe Costing templates that include nearly every possible feature to help you manage your food business.
All of them are easy to use and free to download. Now, without any further ado, let’s begin.
1. Basic Recipe Costing Template by SoftwareAccountant
Click Here To Use This Template!
If you are looking for a recipe costing template with an attractive design and easy-to-use interface, then this one by SoftwareAccountant is a must-try.
Anyone from beginners to advanced users can use this template.
You need to start by entering the recipe name at the top, followed by the expected number of servings and total yield. The template automatically calculates the total cost and price per serving, as shown in the above image, based on the ingredient list provided in the table.
It is a highly customizable template. You can easily add more rows and columns to accommodate additional information in the future.
2. Recipe Cost Calculator by Spreadsheet123
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This is another excellent option on Spreadsheet123’s list. It not only offers recipe cost tracking but also includes a section for entering the preparation method and a photo of the dish.
The template includes different tables for entering the primary and secondary ingredients, along with the quantity, cost per unit, and total cost. It automatically displays the total preparation cost of the dish, along with utilities like Gas, electricity, etc.
Note that it uses built-in functions to automate various calculations. To ensure the template works properly, you should avoid editing the cells that contain formulas.
It is an all-in-one solution for small businesses or home-based chefs who want to track their recipe expenses more thoroughly.
3. Recipe Cost Calculator by Template.net
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This recipe cost calculator is a perfect tool for cafe and restaurant owners. The main goal of this template is to provide a visual representation of profit and losses gained from the cost per serving. It helps them plan pricing strategies for long-term success.
Anyone can use it as a recipe expense management tool.
It uses many formulas (created using built-in functions) to automate various calculations related to food preparation and serving. Do not edit the cells containing the formula; otherwise, your template will not work as expected.
4. Food Cost Calculator by the eat
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Yet another visually appealing recipe cost calculator on this list. It can be used to calculate the cost of a dish by breaking it down into various preparation sections.
At the top of the template, you can enter the dish name, estimated sale price, and ingredient details (both primary and secondary). For each ingredient, you can enter the quantity and cost per unit. The template then automatically calculates the total cost of each ingredient and the total cost of the dish using built-in formulas in Excel.
The pie chart on the right shows the cost distribution, while the total recipe cost and net profit are displayed at the top.
The main goal of this template is to help users manage expenses and profits effectively.
5. Recipe Costing Template by Spreadsheetpoint
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Are you searching for an advanced recipe costing template?
Please have a look at this fantastic template by Spreadsheetpoint. It is designed for small businesses and restaurants. Using this template, you can keep track of each edible portion of the dish separately.
Additionally, this template is different from the others because you can define the procedure for making a dish at the bottom.
At the top of the template, you can enter the recipe name, restaurant name, and chef’s name, making it easy for future reference. It has a massive table where you can enter the amount of ingredients required, whether by weight, volume, or quantity. This makes it easy to know how much each ingredient costs and make the most of your restaurant business.
The template contains many formulas to automate recipe calculations. If you have made any changes accidentally, you can press “Ctrl + Z” on the keyboard to revoke them. Make sure to avoid editing the cells that hold the formulas.
6. Recipe Calculator Spreadsheet Template by Spreadsheetpoint
Click Here To Use This Template!
This is our last pick on the list. It is a simple and beginner-friendly recipe calculator that aims to calculate the total ingredients cost and the entire recipe or dish cost automatically.
There are two worksheets:
- Ingredients Cost: This sheet provides the cost per serving, the package size, the discounted price, and the number of servings per container.
- Recipe Calculator: Here, you can easily find the cost of your recipe by specifying the number of ingredients along with their quantity and prices.
Note that the template is free to download, and you can customize it according to your needs without any limitations.
Guide to Creating Recipe Cost Calculator Excel
If you are not satisfied with the ready-made templates discussed above, follow the steps below to create one from scratch.
Excel boasts a range of built-in formatting tools and functions, so it is really easy to create a professional-looking recipe cost calculator.
Please keep in mind that automating recipe cost calculations requires advanced knowledge. We have tried our best to explain each formula and formatting tool in detail, so please make sure to read the process until the end.
Here is the screenshot of the template we are about to design. It includes recipe details at the top leftmost corner, a table of ingredients at the bottom, and a summary of dish cost at the top rightmost corner.
Now, without any further ado, let’s begin.
STEP #1 – Creating the Header
A Header is an important part of any Excel template.
Here, it allows you to add the recipe name, restaurant logo, and more to make the template look more personal.
Let’s begin,
- Open a new Excel spreadsheet
- Select the entire first row
- Increase the height of the first row
- Select the cells “A1” to “H1”
- Click on the “Merge & Center” option from the “Home” tab
- Click on the cell “A1”
- Type in “Basic Recipe Costing Template“
- Make the font bold
- Adjust the font alignment to the middle
- Increase the font size to 23
- Make the font bold
- Change the color of the cell background to dark blue (Hex Code – #001149)
- Finally, change the font color to white
After following the above steps, our header should look like below,
STEP #2 – Creating Recipe Details Table
In this step, we will create a table to enter the recipe details, such as the name of the dish, unit of measurement, total yield, expected number of servings, and size per serving.
It is going to be our recipe overview table. Let’s begin,
- Select the cell “B3“
- Type in “Recipe Name“
- Now, select the cell “B4” and enter “Unit of Measurement“
- Complete the table as shown below,
- Select all the cell range “B3” to “B7”
- Change the color of the cell background to dark blue (Hex Code – #001149)
- Change the font color to white
- Make the font bold
- Increase the width of the column to make sure they fit in the specified cell
Our recipe details table is ready, as shown below,
Now, we will create a summary table to find the total cost of the recipe.
- Select the cell “G3“
- Enter “Total Price“
- Select cell “G4” and type in “Price Per Serving“
- Select both the cells “G3” and “G4”
- Change the cell background color to dark blue (Hex Code – #001149)
- Change the font color to white
Once done, the template should like below,
STEP #3 – Creating Ingredient Details Table
This table will allow you to enter the details of the ingredients, including name, pricing, measurement unit, etc.
Here are the steps,
- Select the cell “B9“
- Type “Ingredients“
- Select cell “C9” and type “Quantity“
- Next, complete the table as shown below,
- Make all of them bold
- Select the cells from “B9” to “G9”
- Change the cell background color to dark blue (Hex Code – #001149)
- Change the font color to white
Now, the template looks like this,
We can start entering the ingredient details in the above table.
STEP #4 – Adding Dropdown to Unit of Measurement Column
In this step, we will add a dropdown to select the unit of measurement for each ingredient quickly. This can help you streamline data entry.
Before getting started, we have to enter the predefined values somewhere in the template.
I prefer to enter them on the same sheet, but you can also choose to enter them on a separate sheet.
We have defined some measurements between the cells “S3” and “S8,” as shown below.
Now, let’s learn the steps to create a dropdown,
- Select the cell range “E10” to “E18”
- Hover to the main menu and click on “Data” tab
- Select “Data Validation” in the “Data Tools” group
- A Data Validation dialog box will appear as shown below
- In the “Allow” dropdown, select “List”
- In the “Source” box, type the cell references where we have predefined the units of measurement
(Note that you can select the cell range by clicking on the small icon next to the Source field, as shown in the following image) - Click the “OK” button once done
You will now see a dropdown in the measurement column, as shown below.
Similarly, we need to select the cell “C4” and repeat the above steps to add the same dropdown in the recipe details table. Refer to the following image,
STEP #5 – Calculating the Total Price and Cost Per Serving
Let us make sure the template will automatically calculate the total cost of the dish and price per serving.
We will use the IF and ISBLANK functions in Excel.
Here is the formula to calculate the total cost of the first ingredient.
=IF(ISBLANK(C10), D10*F10, C10*F10)Insert the above formula in the cell “G10”.
You can quickly insert the formula in the rest of the cells of column G. Simply hover to the lower-leftmost corner of the cell “G10” until you see a “+” icon. Next, click and drag down that icon to the end of the table.
Similarly, to calculate the size per serving, let us use the following formula in cell C7.
=IFERROR(C5/C6, "")The total cost of preparing our delicious dish is displayed in cell “H3”. Insert the following formula in that cell,
=SUM(G10:G17)Finally, we need to calculate the price per serving using the following formula in the cell “H4.”
=IFERROR(H3/C6, "")STEP #6 – Formatting the Template
It is an optional step to ensure a best-in-class template that attracts everyone.
Excel provides many formatting tools that can enhance the appearance of a template. Using our knowledge and expertise in Excel, we formatted the recipe costing calculator.
You can download the template we created using the following link.