ChefSums: Recipe Costing & GP

Beef lasagne with garlic bread: how much it costs to make, per portion

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A ten-portion tray of beef lasagne: a beef and tomato ragù, pre-cooked pasta sheets, a white sauce and a mature cheddar top, served with two slices of garlic bread. Costed from JJ Foodservice prices dated 10 October 2026.

Slice of lasagne on a plate
Photo: Lasagne - stonesoup by jules / stonesoup, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped and resized. A licensed photo of the dish, not the exact costing below.
Ingredients per portion£2.27
Batch of 10£22.69
Menu price · ChefSums' sample restaurant menu£14.95 inc VAT (£12.46 ex) · 82% GP
Lowest price · 68% GP£8.51 inc VAT (£7.09 ex)

The menu price is the one ChefSums uses for this dish on its sample restaurant menu, a realistic UK menu price. The lowest price is the one that just reaches 68% GP, the UK food GP benchmark (UKHospitality × Christie & Co, 2022: 65.9–69% food GP across every segment). It covers the ingredients at a normal margin, not staff, rent or energy, and most cafés, pubs and takeaways charge more for simple dishes. Check what places near you charge. GP is worked out on the ex-VAT price.

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Ingredients and cost, 10 portions

IngredientPack pricePack sizeUsedCost
Beef mince, 10% fat£14.992000 g1500 g£11.24
Onions£7.4910000 g444 g£0.33
Carrots£7.4910000 g244 g£0.18
Celery (head)£13.9912 each0.5 each£0.58
Garlic£3.491000 g23 g£0.08
Vegetable oil£26.9920000 ml30 ml£0.04
Chopped tomatoes (tinned)£19.9917700 g1600 g£1.81
Tomato paste£7.493000 g60 g£0.15
Dried oregano£8.99800 g5 g£0.06
Stock (vegetable bouillon powder)£10.991000 g15 g£0.16
Lasagne sheets, pre-cooked£16.996000 g500 g£1.42
Unsalted butter (white sauce)£30.495000 g100 g£0.61
Plain flour (white sauce)£12.4916000 g100 g£0.08
Whole milk (white sauce)£1.692000 ml1200 ml£1.01
Mature cheddar, grated£11.992000 g300 g£1.80
Garlic bread slices, part-baked£22.99150 each20 each£3.07
Table salt£10.996000 g10 g£0.02
Ground black pepper£15.991000 g3 g£0.05
Batch total£22.69
Per portion (÷ 10)£2.27

Cost per line is pack price × (amount used ÷ pack size), the same sum the tool runs. Change one pack price and every line that uses it moves.

What it really costs: waste and staff time

Ingredients£2.27
Waste allowance, 5% (trim, ends, the odd one binned)£0.11
Staff time: 40 min hands-on for the batch of 10 at £12.71/hr + 25% on-cost£1.06
Food, waste and staff per portion£3.44

At the sample restaurant menu price (£12.46 ex VAT) that is 28% of the price, before rent, energy and everything else. Many UK sites aim to keep food plus staff (prime cost) at or under 60–65% of sales. The staff line counts hands-on prep only, not unattended cooking, and uses the April 2026 National Living Wage; put your own rate, minutes and waste in the calculator's real cost section or the prime cost calculator. Every dish side by side: the UK dish cost index.

Method

  1. Soften the diced onion, carrot, celery and garlic in the oil, add the mince and brown it.
  2. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano and about 300 ml of stock; simmer for 45 minutes and season.
  3. Make a white sauce: melt the butter, cook the flour in it for a minute, whisk in the hot milk and simmer until thick.
  4. Layer ragù, sheets and white sauce in a deep tray, three layers, finishing with white sauce; top with the cheddar.
  5. Bake at 180 °C for 40-45 minutes, rest for 15 minutes, cut into ten. Bake the garlic slices to order.

Costing notes

Mince is £11.24 of the £22.69 batch. Half the remaining cost is the white sauce and cheese, which is where lasagnes drift: weigh the cheddar for the top once so the tray matches the costing. Two garlic slices add £0.31 a portion; if you serve a side salad instead, swap the line.

Resting the tray before cutting is not only about presentation. A lasagne cut hot slumps, portions come out uneven, and the last two plates from the tray end up small or get topped up.

Prep loss is costed in: each fresh vegetable line is the weight you buy, not the prepared weight that goes in the pan. Onions: 400 g peeled is 444 g as bought at 90% (onion yield); Carrots: 200 g peeled is 244 g as bought at 82% (carrot yield); Garlic: 20 g peeled is 23 g as bought at 87% (garlic yield).

Where the prices came from

JJ Foodservice collection prices as shown on its public search pages on 10 October 2026 (delivery runs about £1-2 a case higher; one line JJ listed on delivery only is marked). JJ does not label VAT on most lines: raw food is zero-rated in the UK, while soft drinks, alcohol, confectionery and some ingredients carry standard-rate VAT. Your supplier's price is the one that matters: open the recipe and type it in.

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