Food cost targets and drift alerts

Food cost percentage moves whenever supplier prices change. Most of the time you don't notice — until margins are 3 points down at month-end and you can't tell which dish did it. Target alerts catch the drift the moment it happens.

What a target does

Every menu item can have a target food cost % — the threshold you want actual food cost to stay below. When a receipt lands and pushes the actual cost above target, Rinvy:

• Creates a food cost alert tied to the menu item.
• Surfaces it on the dashboard alerts card.
• Sends a push notification to owners and managers (if you have notifications enabled).

The alert says which menu item, what the current food cost percentage is, what the target was, and what recent receipt triggered the recalculation.

Setting a target

1. Go to Menu items.

2. Open the menu item.
3. Set Target food cost % to your acceptable maximum (e.g., 30 for 30%).
4. Save.

You don't have to set targets for every menu item. Start with the dishes you sell most or that have the thinnest margins — those are where drift hurts most.

How "above target" is computed

Food cost % is computed continuously:

food cost % = recipe cost ÷ selling price

Recipe cost uses weighted-average ingredient cost from receipts inside the menu item's costing window. See how cost is computed.

Every time a receipt is recorded that changes an ingredient's cost, Rinvy recomputes food cost % for every menu item that uses that ingredient. If the new percentage exceeds the target, an alert fires.

When an alert fires

You'll see:

• A new alert on the dashboard food cost alerts card.
• A push notification (if enabled) to owners and managers.
• The alert lists: menu item name, current vs. target percentage, the receipt that triggered the recalculation.

Alerts stay active until you either:

• Dismiss the alert (records the percentage at dismissal so it won't re-fire at the same level).
• Raise the price on the menu item or change the recipe to bring the actual below target.

A dismissed alert re-fires only if food cost climbs further above the dismissed percentage — so you don't get spammed by the same drift.

Tuning targets

A few practical anchors:

• 30% is a common target for full-service restaurants.
• 25–28% for higher-margin concepts (pizza, sushi, bar).
• 35–40% for steakhouses, fine dining, raw-bar items.

Set realistic targets — alerts that fire constantly become noise. If actual is already above target on day one, the alert isn't telling you about drift; it's telling you the menu was mispriced.

Related

• Menu items overview
• How cost is computed