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Food cost targets and drift alerts

A food cost target is the highest food cost percentage you accept for one menu item. When the dish's actual food cost rises above it, Rinvy flags the dish on the dashboard and sends owners and managers a push. You see the change in the same week a supplier raises a price.

What a target does

Every menu item can have a target food cost %. When the dish's actual food cost rises above the target, Rinvy:

  • Creates a food cost alert tied to the menu item.
  • Shows it in the Worth a look section on the dashboard, below Needs attention.
  • Sends owners and managers a Food cost over target push at 6 AM kitchen time, once per dish at each whole percent. Each person can turn it off with the Food cost drift switch in Kitchen Settings → Notifications.

Setting a target

  1. Go to Menu.

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

The Edit menu item dialog for Beef Taco Plate, with the Target food cost % field set to 20 and its helper text: Alert when the food cost rises above this number

The field takes a number from 0 to 100, with up to two decimals. It shows only on the Standard and Pro plans.

You don't have to set targets for every menu item. Start with the dishes you sell most or the ones with the thinnest margins. A price rise hits those dishes hardest.

A target also changes the food cost chip on the Menu page. With a target, the chip is green at or under it and red above it. Without one, the chip uses fixed bands: green under 28%, gray from 28%, orange from 33% and red from 38%.

Why did a dish go over target when nothing on the menu changed?

An ingredient got more expensive. Rinvy prices each recipe at the weighted-average cost of its ingredients from your receipts, so one delivery at a higher price raises the cost of every dish that uses that ingredient. Wholesale food prices change often: the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks them in its Producer Price Index, and the USDA's Food Price Outlook forecasts food price changes up to 18 months ahead.

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.

Rinvy rechecks every dish right after each receipt, record-only receipts included. A recipe edit, a new selling price or a changed target shows up within the hour. A dish counts as over target as soon as its food cost % is higher than the target.

Here is how one delivery plays out. A Beef Taco Plate sells for $13.00 with a 30% target. Its recipe costs $3.80, so it runs at 29.2%. A Sysco receipt raises the weighted-average cost of ground beef by $0.70 a pound, and the plate uses 0.4 lb. The recipe now costs $4.08, and the plate runs at 31.4%. The dashboard row reads 1.4 pts over target. At 6 AM the next morning, owners and managers get a push that the plate is running at 31% food cost, above the 30% target.

When an alert fires

You'll see:

  • A new alert in the Worth a look section on the dashboard.
  • A push notification (if enabled) to owners and managers.
  • Tap the row for the details: target food cost, actual food cost, how many points over, the selling price and a Suggested price. The suggested price is the recipe cost divided by the target. For the taco plate above, that is $4.08 ÷ 0.30 = $13.60.

The dashboard's Worth a look card with a Beef Taco Plate row that reads 1.5 pts over target and has an Over target badge, below the Needs attention card's low-stock rows

The Alert details sheet for Beef Taco Plate: target food cost 20.0%, actual food cost 21.5%, over by 1.5 pts, selling price $12.99, suggested price $13.98, and a Dismiss alert button

Alerts stay active until you do one of these:

  • Dismiss the alert with Dismiss alert. Rinvy records the percentage you dismissed at.
  • Raise the price on the menu item or change the recipe to bring the actual below target.
  • Archive the menu item. Archived dishes get no drift alerts.

A dismissed alert comes back only when food cost moves more than 1 percentage point away from the level you dismissed, up or down. Small price wobbles stay quiet. If you dismiss the taco plate at 31.4% and a later receipt takes it to 32.6%, you get a new alert, and a new push at 33%.

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. If an alert fires all the time, people stop reading it. If actual is already above target on day one, there's no drift to catch: adjust the target or the menu price first.

Common mistakes

Setting targets aspirationally

A 25% target on a dish that's run at 32% for two years won't lower your costs. It only fires an alert at once. Use the current actual as the floor and pick a target you can defend operationally.

Ignoring the dismissed-percent stickiness

Dismissing an alert means "I've seen this drift, don't bug me again at about this level." The dismissal covers 1 point either way. If you dismiss at 33% and costs drift to 33.8%, Rinvy stays quiet. At 34.5% you get a new alert.

Trusting a cost marked cost incomplete

A dish marked cost incomplete on the Menu page is missing ingredients from its cost, for example an ingredient whose unit Rinvy can't convert. Its food cost % reads low, so it can sit under target while the real cost is over. The tag names the ingredient. Tap it to see why and how to fix it, then fix the missing ingredient before you rely on the alert.

Forgetting about portion size

Food cost percentage uses the recipe's full cost divided by the menu item's selling price. If the menu item uses a fraction of the recipe, set Portion size below 1 (e.g., 0.5 for a half portion). Otherwise food cost % looks higher than it should.

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