How to Cost a Daily Specials Board to Hit Your Target GP (UK)

By The ChefSums team · 21 Jul 2026

To cost a daily special that hits your target gross profit, work backwards from your GP percentage: calculate the total ingredient cost per portion, then divide that cost by (1 − your target GP as a decimal) to get the ex-VAT selling price. For a dish costing £2.80 at a 70% GP target, that's £2.80 ÷ 0.30 = £9.33 ex-VAT, which becomes £11.20 on the menu once you add 20% VAT.

That single formula is the backbone of every profitable specials board. The rest is discipline: costing accurately, updating for volatile prices, and pricing to a number the customer will actually pay. Here's the full process.

Step 1: Know your target GP before you touch the produce

Gross profit percentage is the portion of your selling price left after food cost. Most UK kitchens work to:

• 68–72% GP on food for a typical gastropub or casual restaurant
• 65–68% where premium ingredients or larger portions are the draw
• 75%+ on high-margin items like soups, pasta, and vegetable-led dishes

Specials give you a chance to run a blended GP. A low-GP hero protein special can be balanced by high-GP sides and puddings elsewhere on the board. Decide your target for the specials category as a whole, then set individual dish targets around it.

Step 2: Cost every ingredient to the gram

This is where most specials lose money. A special is often built from surplus stock, a supplier deal, or a chef's whim — and gets scribbled on the board without a proper costing. Do it properly:

1. List every component, including garnish, oil, seasoning, and sauce.
2. Use pack price ÷ pack quantity to get a unit cost (cost per gram, per ml, per unit).
3. Multiply by the exact quantity used in one portion.
4. Add it all up for a true plate cost.

Worked example — pan-fried sea bass special:

Step 3: Account for yield and waste

Raw pack price is not the same as usable cost. A whole fish, a side of beef, or a case of vegetables loses weight in trimming, peeling, and cooking. Ignore this and your costings will run 15–30% light.

Apply a yield percentage:

• If a 2 kg piece of beef trims down to 1.5 kg of usable meat, your yield is 75%.
• Divide the pack cost by the yield to get the true cost of usable product.
• Example: £18/kg beef at 75% yield = £24/kg usable.

For specials built from off-cuts or trim, yield actually works in your favour — you're using product you've already paid for. Just make sure you're valuing it at its real cost, not zero, or you'll build habits that break when the deal ends.

Step 4: Apply the GP formula

Once you have a true plate cost, price it:

Selling price (ex-VAT) = Plate cost ÷ (1 − target GP)

For the sea bass at £2.96 plate cost and a 70% target:

• £2.96 ÷ 0.30 = £9.87 ex-VAT
• Add 20% VAT: £9.87 × 1.20 = £11.84
• Round to a sensible menu price: £11.95 or £12.50

Rounding up slightly improves your GP; rounding down erodes it. Always check what the rounded price does to your actual GP:

Actual GP % = (ex-VAT price − plate cost) ÷ ex-VAT price × 100

At £12.50 menu price, ex-VAT is £10.42, so GP = (£10.42 − £2.96) ÷ £10.42 = 71.6%. Comfortably on target.

Step 5: Don't forget VAT

UK hospitality food is standard-rated at 20% VAT. Your GP is always calculated on the ex-VAT figure, never the menu price. A common and costly mistake is calculating GP on the VAT-inclusive price, which flatters your margin by roughly 20% and hides losses. Menu price is what the customer pays; ex-VAT is what your GP maths uses.

Step 6: Sense-check against the market and the plate

The formula gives you a floor, not a ceiling. Before it goes on the board:

• Does the price fit the room? A £16 special in a wet-led pub may not sell, killing the margin regardless of the maths.
• Can you charge more? Specials carry a scarcity premium. If the dish is a genuine treat, the market may bear a higher price and a fatter GP.
• Is the portion right? If the price feels high, cut the plate cost by adjusting portion or garnish rather than dropping the price and the GP.

Step 7: Re-cost specials constantly

The whole point of a specials board is agility. Prices on fish, game, and seasonal produce move weekly, sometimes daily. A special that hit 70% GP last Tuesday can slip to 58% by Friday if your supplier's fish price jumps. Build a five-minute re-costing habit whenever delivery prices change, and adjust the board price the same day.

Common mistakes that quietly kill your specials GP

• Costing on the fly and guessing instead of using actual pack prices.
• Ignoring garnish, oil, and seasoning — they add 20–40p per plate and vanish from most costings.
• Forgetting yield loss on whole cuts and unprepped veg.
• Running GP on VAT-inclusive prices.
• Never updating as supplier prices move.
• Over-portioning because there's no fixed spec — every plate is different.

The bottom line

A specials board should be your highest-margin, most flexible profit driver — but only if every dish is costed to a real number and priced to a real GP target. Get the plate cost right, apply yields, use the ex-VAT formula, add VAT, and re-cost whenever prices shift. Do that daily and your board stops being a gamble and starts being your best margin tool.

If you'd rather not run these numbers by hand every service, try the free food cost calculator at getprepsheet.com/calculator to price a dish to your target GP in seconds — and grab the ready-made Excel costing templates in the shop to keep your whole specials board costed and consistent.