A step-by-step pricing method for home cooks — cost your recipe, set a target food cost, add your labor, check the fees — with a worked example and the mistakes that keep makers underpaid.
Price a home-cooked meal by dividing your per-plate ingredient cost by 0.30–0.35 (a 30–35% food cost target), then checking that the result also covers your time at a rate you'd accept. A plate that costs $5.50 in ingredients should sell for $16–$18. Most home cooks in the Bay Area land between $15 and $25 for a single serving and $35–$60 for a family portion. If the math says higher than feels comfortable, the fix is usually portion or menu design — not a lower price.
Write out every ingredient in one batch, with what you paid. Include the ones people skip: oil, salt, spices, garlic, the lime wedge, the herb garnish, the container. Divide by the number of plates the batch makes. Be honest about yield — a 5-lb pork shoulder is 3.5 lb after cooking.
| Ingredient | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken thighs, 5 lb | $14.50 | Restaurant supply |
| Tomatoes, onion, garlic, chipotle | $7.20 | |
| Rice, 3 cups dry | $1.50 | Bulk |
| Black beans, 2 cans | $2.40 | |
| Tortillas, 36 | $4.00 | |
| Crema, cotija, cilantro, lime | $6.80 | Garnish — don't skip it |
| Oil, salt, spices | $1.20 | Estimate 2–3% of total |
| Containers + lids + bag, 12 | $7.20 | $0.60 each |
| Total | $44.80 | $3.73 per plate |
Restaurants target 28–35% food cost. Home cooks should too — you don't have rent, but you also don't have volume. At 30%, the tinga plate prices at $3.73 ÷ 0.30 = $12.43. At 35%, $10.66. Round to a clean number and check it against the next step, because at this point the price only covers ingredients with margin — not you.
Total the hours in the batch: shopping (1 hr), prep and cooking (2.5 hrs), packing (0.5 hr), handing off or delivering (1 hr). That's 5 hours for 12 plates. At a target of $25/hour — a fair floor for skilled work — that's $125, or $10.42 a plate in labor.
Now the real minimum: ingredients $3.73 + labor $10.42 + fees ≈ $1 = $15.15. The 30%-food-cost price of $12.43 was too low. This is the step almost every home cook skips, and it's why so many burn out at $10 a plate.
On Makinson Street, a card order costs you 3% of the plate price plus Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢. On a $16 plate that's about $1.24. In-person payments cost nothing. On a 30% delivery-app commission the same plate would lose $4.80 — the difference between a business and a hobby.
Only now compare to what similar meals sell for nearby. If your number is in range, good. If it's well above, the answer is rarely to cut price — it's to change the plate: a bigger, more generous portion that justifies $18; a family-size for $48 that halves your packaging and handoff time per dollar; a fixed weekly menu that lets you buy in bulk and drop food cost to 25%.
| Format | Typical price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Single serving, everyday (rice bowls, curries, pasta) | $14–$18 | Highest volume |
| Single serving, premium (seafood, specialty, labor-heavy) | $19–$26 | Tamales, dumplings, biryani, sushi |
| Family portion, serves 3–4 | $38–$60 | Best margin per hour |
| Baked goods / dessert add-on | $4–$9 | Easy upsell |
| Weekly meal-prep bundle (5 meals) | $65–$95 | Predictable revenue |
Ingredients ÷ 0.30, then make sure it also covers $25/hour for your time. If not, raise the price or redesign the plate. Then list it.
Completely free for orders paid in person (3% plus Stripe's processing fee on card payments). No listing fees, no subscription.
28–35%, the same range restaurants use. Below 28% usually means portions are too small; above 35% means the price is too low or the menu is ingredient-heavy.
Most single-serving home-cooked meals sell for $14–$22 and family portions for $35–$60. Calculate your own price from ingredient cost (÷ 0.30) and make sure it also pays you at least $20–$25 an hour for the time involved.
No. Customers are paying for the food and the fact that it's made by a person they can talk to — not for your rent. Price against comparable takeout, not against groceries.
On a low-fee marketplace (Makinson Street: 3% plus Stripe processing) fees are about $1 on a $16 plate and you don't need to change your price. On a 15–30% commission app, you'd need to raise prices 20–40% to net the same amount.