Most venue owners can name last week’s takings to the dollar and can’t name their food cost within six points. That gap is where the money goes.

This is the sheet we use to find it. You enter four weeks of supplier invoices and four weeks of food sales. It gives you your real food cost percentage, your per-plate cost on every dish you enter, and the gap between what you charge and what you should.

Healthy sits at 27–32%. Anything over 38% is costing you every single week. On a venue turning over $20,000 a week, eight points above normal is $1,600 gone before you’ve paid yourself.

What you get

• The Food Cost Control Sheet (Google Sheets, copy it to your own drive)
• Per-plate costing that updates when supplier prices move
• The four-week reconciliation that gives you your true percentage
• A one-page quick guide: what to do when the number comes back high

Who it’s for — Australian restaurant, cafe, pub and bakery owners who want the number tonight, not after the next BAS.

Who it’s not for — anyone looking for a course. This is a working file. Twenty minutes and you have your number.