--- title: "The Latte Example: Figuring Out Your Food Costs" description: Your food costs should be under 35%. Learn to calculate them accurately so you can assure you're making a profit. image: http://www.intermixbev.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/iStock_000000323326Large-300x225.jpg --- [![ESI_Primary_Logo_Color](https://www.espresso-services.com/hs-fs/hubfs/ESI_Primary_Logo_Color.png?width=100&height=87&name=ESI_Primary_Logo_Color.png)](https://www.espresso-services.com/) ** ** ** This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. ![ESI banner FINAL color](https://www.espresso-services.com/hs-fs/hubfs/ESI%20banner%20FINAL%20color.png?width=2000&height=24&name=ESI%20banner%20FINAL%20color.png "ESI banner FINAL color") # Espresso Blog # The Latte Example: Figuring Out Your Food Costs While great coffee and impeccable customer service can lead people to line up outside your door, you need to keep your food costs in line—or you'll still lose money. Take the basic latte. Are you charging enough for it to make a profit? A successful food-service operation has food costs that are around 30% to 35% of total revenue. If a cafe does $20,000 per week in sales and the total cost of food and beverages is $7,000 for that week, then the food cost is considered 35 percent. To calculate the cost of a latte and other drinks, add up everything that goes into making it. For example, for a 16 ounce flavored latte, you have a cup, a lid, milk, flavoring and espresso. ### **To find the cost of a latte**: Example prices below are just averages. If you pay shipping on any products, don't forget to add that cost as well. **1. Cup, Lid and Sleeve ** Take the cost of a case of cups (say, $100) and divide by the amount of cups per case (1000). This is your cost per cup: $100 (per case of cups) ÷ 1,000 (cups in a case) = 10 cents per cup Do the same calculation for the lid: $50 (per case of lids)÷ 1,000 (lids in a case) = 5 cents per lid And sleeve: $50 (per case of sleeves)÷ 1,000 (sleeves in a case) = 5 cents per sleeve **Total cost for cup (10 cents), lid (5 cents) and sleeve (5 cents): 20 cents.**   **2. Milk ** Assuming a price of $3.00 per gallon of milk, find your price per ounce: $3.00 (per gallon) ÷ 128 (ounces in a gallon) = 2.3 cents per ounce. Multiply 2.3 by the amount of milk you are using. The amount of milk varies depending on the volume of espresso and syrup, but will generally be around 9 ounces: 2.3 (cents per ounce ) x 9 (ounces) = 21 cents ** Milk cost for a 16 ounce latte: 21 cents. **   **3. Flavoring Syrup ** Assuming the price of a 750ml bottle (25.4 ounces) of flavored syrup costs $4.50, and you'll use 1.25 ounces per latte, find your price per ounce: 25.4 (ounces) ÷ 1.25 = 20 servings per bottle. Then divide the cost per bottle by number of servings: $4.50 (per bottle) ÷ 20 (servings) = 22.5 cents **Syrup cost per 16-ounce drink: 22.5 cents. **   **4. Espresso** There are approximately 32 double shots in a pound of espresso. Assuming a pound of espresso is $8: $8 (per pound) ÷ 32 (double shots) = 25 cents. **Double shot of espresso cost per drink: 25 cents. ** Using the above numbers, a flavored latte costs almost 89 cents. Subtracting your cost (89 cents) from your retail price (say, $3.50) makes your gross profit per drink $2.61. ### If you have any questions about calculating cost per serving, please feel free to [email us](https://www.espresso-services.com/contact-us-) or give us a call at 800.826.4177! ![](http://www.intermixbev.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/iStock_000000323326Large-300x225.jpg)   - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) ### Our Products [![View Products](https://hubspot-no-cache-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/191573/46fcd6b6-91a8-4836-b275-b93445cd209f.png)](https://hubspot-cta-redirect-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/redirect/191573/46fcd6b6-91a8-4836-b275-b93445cd209f) ### Share This [![Share on Facebook](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/facebook-24x24.png)](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espresso-services.com%2Fespresso-blog%2Fthe-latte-example-figuring-out-your-food-costs%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook) [![Share on LinkedIn](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/linkedin-24x24.png)](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espresso-services.com%2Fespresso-blog%2Fthe-latte-example-figuring-out-your-food-costs%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dlinkedin) [![Share on Twitter](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/twitter-24x24.png)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espresso-services.com%2Fespresso-blog%2Fthe-latte-example-figuring-out-your-food-costs%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espresso-services.com%2Fespresso-blog%2Fthe-latte-example-figuring-out-your-food-costs%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&source=tweetbutton&text=The%20Latte%20Example%3A%20Figuring%20Out%20Your%20Food%20Costs) [![Share on Email](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/email-24x24.png)](mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espresso-services.com%2Fespresso-blog%2Fthe-latte-example-figuring-out-your-food-costs%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Demail%20&body=Check%20out%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espresso-services.com%2Fespresso-blog%2Fthe-latte-example-figuring-out-your-food-costs%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Demail) ### Topic Cloud - 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