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menu-cost-engineer

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Cost a menu item to a plate cost and food-cost percentage, then price it for a target margin. Use when asked to cost a dish, calculate food cost percentage, price a menu item, or engineer a menu for profitability. Produces a plate-cost breakdown (ingredient × yield × price), the food-cost %, a suggested price for the target margin, and menu-engineering flags (star / plow-horse / puzzle / dog) so the operator knows what to promote, reprice, or cut.

skills/menu-cost-engineer/SKILL.md

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Nov 10, 2026
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# Menu Cost Engineer Skill

Restaurants don't fail on bad food — they fail on math they never did. A dish that "feels" priced right can quietly run a 45% food cost. This skill costs the plate honestly (accounting for yield loss and waste), sets a price to the margin the operator actually needs, and flags where the menu is leaking money.

## Working from a brief

Given a recipe and ingredient prices, **produce the full costing** — estimate yields and waste where not given (label the assumption). If prices are missing, ask or use a stated regional estimate and flag it.

## Required Inputs

Ask for (if not provided, else infer and label):
- **The dish** — ingredients and portion sizes (recipe)
- **Ingredient costs** — as purchased, with pack size/unit
- **Target food-cost %** (default ~28–32%) or target margin, and current menu price if repricing
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