Food cost, kitchens, and running the business.

Menu pricing

How to price a menu item so it actually makes money

Most menu prices are set by feel. Here's how to price a dish from its real plate cost and your target food cost — so every item earns its place.

Lowboy · 6 min read

Inventory & pars

Pars, plainly: how much to keep on hand without tying up cash

Too high and cash sits spoiling in the walk-in; too low and you 86 dishes. How to set par levels from your real usage.

Lowboy · 5 min read

Food cost

The 5 places food cost quietly leaks — and how to catch each

Food cost rarely jumps; it leaks a few cents at a time. The five places it slips away in a kitchen, and a fast way to catch each one.

Lowboy · 6 min read

From the founder

I ran a restaurant on a laminated sheet for 7 years. Here's what I'd tell my younger self about food cost.

Seven years of running the numbers by hand, and the five things about food cost I wish I'd understood sooner — operator to operator.

Andrew · 5 min read

Food cost

Your food cost percentage, explained — what the number means and what to do about it

What food cost % actually is, what a good one looks like, how to read it without getting fooled, and the specific moves when yours is too high.

Lowboy · 5 min read