Roast tomato soup: how much it costs to make, per portion
Fresh tomatoes roasted for depth, tinned for body, finished with cream. Ten 300 ml portions costed from wholesale case prices dated 7 September 2026. Bread is not costed.
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
| Ingredient | Pack price | Pack size | Used | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomatoes (fresh) | £16.99 | 6000 g | 2500 g | £7.08 |
| Chopped tomatoes (tinned) | £19.99 | 17700 g | 1200 g | £1.36 |
| Onions | £6.99 | 10000 g | 667 g | £0.47 |
| Garlic | £3.49 | 1000 g | 34 g | £0.12 |
| Carrots | £6.99 | 10000 g | 244 g | £0.17 |
| Celery (head) | £13.99 | 12 each | 1 each | £1.17 |
| Vegetable oil | £8.50 | 5000 ml | 60 ml | £0.10 |
| Stock (bouillon powder) | £10.99 | 1000 g | 30 g | £0.33 |
| Double cream | £3.79 | 1000 ml | 200 ml | £0.76 |
| Unsalted butter | £31.99 | 5000 g | 50 g | £0.32 |
| Caster sugar | £2.25 | 1000 g | 15 g | £0.03 |
| White vinegar | £5.49 | 5000 ml | 20 ml | £0.02 |
| Batch total | £11.92 | |||
| Per portion (÷ 10) | £1.19 | |||
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 | £1.19 |
| Waste allowance, 5% (trim, ends, the odd one binned) | £0.06 |
| Staff time: 20 min hands-on for the batch of 10 at £12.71/hr + 25% on-cost | £0.53 |
| Food, waste and staff per portion | £1.78 |
At the sample restaurant menu price (£6.25 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
- Halve the fresh tomatoes, toss with the oil and salt, roast at 200 °C (390 °F) for 35-40 minutes until the edges catch.
- Sweat the onion, carrot, celery and garlic in the butter without colour, 10 minutes.
- Add the roasted tomatoes with their juices, the tinned tomatoes and 1 litre of stock (30 g bouillon). Simmer 25 minutes.
- Blend smooth and pass. Season, balance with the sugar and vinegar, and finish with the cream.
- Serve 300 ml a portion. Bread and butter, croutons or basil oil are not costed.
Costing notes
Fresh tomatoes are more than half the cost of a soup most people assume is nearly free; in winter, moving the ratio toward tinned halves the plate cost with little loss. Stock is costed as bouillon; vegetable trim stock costs almost nothing but takes a pan and an hour.
Prep loss is costed in: each fresh vegetable line is the weight you buy, not the prepared weight that goes in the pan. Onions: 600 g peeled is 667 g as bought at 90% (onion yield); Carrots: 200 g peeled is 244 g as bought at 82% (carrot yield); Garlic: 30 g peeled is 34 g as bought at 87% (garlic yield).
Where the prices came from
JJ Foodservice collection prices as shown on its public search pages on 7 September 2026 (delivery prices run about £1-2 a case higher). The site does not label VAT on most lines: raw food is zero-rated in the UK, while oil, vanilla and alcohol carry standard-rate VAT. Where JJ had no line that day, a Tesco retail price is used and marked. Your supplier's price is the one that matters: open the recipe and type it in.
- Tomatoes (fresh): Loose Tomatoes Class I 1x6kg (VEG007), 6 kg, £16.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Chopped tomatoes (tinned): JJ Chopped Tomatoes 6x2.95kg (VGT028), ex VAT, 6 x 2.95 kg, £19.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Onions: Brown Cooking Onions 1x10kg (VEG655), 10 kg, £6.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Garlic: Fresh Garlic 1x1kg (VEG784), 1 kg, £3.49 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Carrots: Carrots 1x10kg (VEG760), 10 kg, £6.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Celery (head): Celery 1x12 (VEG377), 12 heads, £13.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Vegetable oil: Tesco Vegetable Oil 5 Litre (list price, not the Clubcard promo), 5 L, £8.50 — Tesco (retail), accessed 2026-09-07
- Stock (bouillon powder): Gomo Chicken Bouillon 1x1kg (MIS111); no dedicated beef bouillon listed that day, 1 kg, £10.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Double cream: Meadowland Double Cream 1x1L (CRE039), 1 L, £3.79 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Unsalted butter: Lakeland Unsalted Butter 20x250g (DAI186), 20 x 250 g, £31.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Caster sugar: Silver Spoon Caster Sugar 1kg, 1 kg, £2.25 — Tesco (retail), accessed 2026-09-07
- White vinegar: Golden Mountain Distilled White Vinegar 1x5L (SAU896), 5 L, £5.49 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
More costed dishes: pub and restaurant classics
- Sweet chilli sauce — £0.16 a portion
- Roast beef dinner — £3.45 a portion
- Sausage and mash with onion gravy — £1.60 a portion
- Macaroni cheese — £0.76 a portion