Restaurant COGS: how to reduce it without losing quality
A high COGS eats your margin. See how to reduce the cost of goods sold — purchasing, portioning, waste, and menu — without giving the customer less.
COGS (Cost of Goods Sold, "CMV" in Brazil) is how much your inputs represent of your selling price. When it rises, your margin falls in the same proportion — without you noticing. The goal isn't to cut quality; it's to trim the fat from the cost. Here are the five levers that work best.
First: what's a healthy COGS
In food service, COGS usually sits between 25% and 35%, varying by segment. If yours is above that, there's room to cut. (If you don't calculate your COGS yet, start with the recipe cost sheet for each dish.)
1. Purchasing: the highest-return move
- Get quotes from more than one supplier and negotiate on volume.
- Buy the right amount. Buying too much becomes waste; too little becomes a scramble and emergency prices.
- Track the price of critical inputs — the 20% that drive 80% of the cost.
2. Standardized portioning
Without a standard portion, each employee plates "by eye" — and the cost slips away. Use the recipe cost sheet and simple tools (a scoop, a scale) to standardize. Standardizing portions is money quietly recovered.
3. Waste and loss
Every bit of food that hits the trash is burned margin. Control inventory, respect expiration (first to expire, first out), and use what can safely be used.
4. Menu: cut what costs a lot and sells little
Cross cost vs. sales for each item. A high-COGS, low-sales dish just takes up space and ties up inventory. Drop it (or rework it) and highlight the profitable items — the ones that sell well and leave a good margin.
5. A living recipe sheet
Input prices change all the time. An outdated recipe sheet hides your real COGS. Review it when costs move and before creating a combo or promotion.
| Lever | Where it acts | Typical gain | |-------|---------------|--------------| | Purchasing | Input price | Straight into COGS | | Portioning | Portion consistency | Recovers lost margin | | Waste | Inventory and production | Cuts invisible loss | | Menu | Sales mix | Focus on what's profitable |
How Quickap helps
The sales data in the dashboard shows what sells most — the basis for highlighting the right dishes on the menu and cutting the ones that only weigh on cost. Menu decisions with data, not guesswork.
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