Portion of chips: how much it costs to make, per portion
A regular takeaway portion: 225 g of frozen 3/8-inch chips, fried and salted. Costed from JJ Foodservice wholesale prices dated 9 October 2026. The oil is an absorption and top-up allowance; the vinegar and salt at the counter are a few pence more.
The menu price is the one ChefSums uses for this dish on its sample takeaway 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.
Open in ChefSums — edit, cost, scale →
Ingredients and cost, 10 portions
| Ingredient | Pack price | Pack size | Used | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frozen chips, 3/8-inch | £13.99 | 9080 g | 2250 g | £3.47 |
| Vegetable oil (fryer top-up allowance) | £8.50 | 5000 ml | 300 ml | £0.51 |
| Table salt | £10.99 | 6000 g | 15 g | £0.03 |
| Batch total | £4.00 | |||
| Per portion (÷ 10) | £0.40 | |||
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 | £0.40 |
| Waste allowance, 5% (trim, ends, the odd one binned) | £0.02 |
| Staff time: 2 min hands-on for the batch of 10 at £12.71/hr + 25% on-cost | £0.05 |
| Food, waste and staff per portion | £0.47 |
At the sample takeaway menu price (£2.92 ex VAT) that is 16% 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
- Fry from frozen at 175 °C for 3-4 minutes, to the pack time, in baskets no more than half full so the oil temperature holds.
- Drain, salt straight away and serve.
Costing notes
Frozen 3/8-inch chips work out at about £1.54 a kilo. Fresh-cut chips from a 25 kg sack of chipping potatoes (£16.99, about 68p a kilo) look cheaper, but you lose 20-30% in peeling and trimming, so usable chips come to roughly 90p-£1 a kilo before the labour, the blanching fry and the extra oil. Run your own trim test with the free yield calculator before you switch.
Chips are the highest-margin item on most takeaway menus: even at a £3 regular, the food cost is a small fraction of the price.
Where the prices came from
JJ Foodservice collection prices as shown on its public search pages on 9 October 2026 (delivery runs about £1-2 a case higher). A few lines JJ did not list in that day's searches reuse the dated prices already on our other starter recipes (7 September 2026, JJ Foodservice or Tesco retail, marked on each line). 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.
- Frozen chips, 3/8-inch: JJ Blue Label 3/8 Chips 4x2.27kg (CHP007), 9.08 kg, £13.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-09
- Vegetable oil (fryer top-up allowance): Tesco Vegetable Oil 5 Litre (list price, not the Clubcard promo), 5 L, £8.50 — Tesco (retail), accessed 2026-09-07
- Table salt: DP Table Salt Tub 1x6kg (SPI277), 6 kg, £10.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-09
More costed dishes: takeaway
- Southern fried chicken burger — £1.56 a serve
- Buffalo chicken wings — £1.72 a portion
- Margherita pizza (12-inch) — £2.01 a portion
- Lamb doner kebab in pitta — £2.62 a serve