Roast turkey crown: how much it costs to make, per portion
Roast turkey crown costs £2.68 a portion in ingredients (£26.83 for a batch of 10), from UK pack prices dated 25 October 2026. To reach 68% GP, the UK food benchmark, it needs to sell for at least £10.06 including 20% VAT (£8.38 without).
The centre of a UK Christmas menu: a frozen, basted bone-in turkey crown, roasted with butter and thyme and carved into ten portions of breast meat. Costed at the 2.4 kg minimum weight of the 2.4 to 2.8 kg band, from prices read on 25 October 2026.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey breast crown, basted, frozen (2.4-2.8 kg) | £26.00 | 2400 g | 2400 g | £26.00 |
| Salted butter | £29.99 | 5000 g | 100 g | £0.60 |
| Fresh thyme | £1.79 | 100 g | 10 g | £0.18 |
| Table salt | £8.99 | 12500 g | 15 g | £0.01 |
| Ground black pepper | £22.99 | 1750 g | 3 g | £0.04 |
| Batch total | £26.83 | |||
| Per portion (÷ 10) | £2.68 | |||
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 | £2.68 |
| Waste allowance, 5% (trim, ends, the odd one binned) | £0.13 |
| 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 | £3.34 |
At the lowest price (£8.38 ex VAT) that is 40% 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
- Defrost the crown fully in the fridge, which takes about two days for a 2.4 kg crown.
- Rub with softened butter, thyme, salt and pepper, and cover loosely with foil.
- Roast at 180 °C until the thickest part reaches 75 °C, uncovering for the last 30 minutes to colour.
- Rest, covered, for at least 30 minutes, then carve off the bone into ten portions.
Costing notes
Carved yield. A bone-in crown loses bone, skin and roasting juices before it reaches the plate. USDA figures for young turkey put bone and handling loss at about 29% of the raw bird and roasting loss at about 28% (turkey yield), so carved breast usually comes to about half the raw crown weight: roughly 120 g a portion from a 2.4 kg crown cut ten ways. Weigh one of yours; for bigger portions, cut eight.
Retail line. JJ Foodservice listed no turkey crown on 25 October 2026, so the crown is a Morrisons shelf price. Wholesale festive lines usually arrive later and cheaper, so treat this as a cautious figure.
Where the prices came from
JJ Foodservice collection prices (single-unit price, no multi-buy tiers) and Morrisons shelf prices, read on 25 October 2026. Morrisons lines are used where JJ Foodservice listed no equivalent that day; wholesale is usually lower, so treat those lines as cautious. Prices are as listed; JJ does not label VAT on most lines, and most raw food is zero-rated in the UK while alcohol and some ingredients carry standard-rate VAT. Your supplier's price is the one that matters: open the recipe and type it in.
- Turkey breast crown: Morrisons Frozen Large Basted Turkey Crown 2.4-2.8 kg (retail; costed at the 2.4 kg minimum), 2.4-2.8 kg, £26.00 shelf price — Morrisons (retail), accessed 2026-10-25
- Salted butter: Lakeland salted butter, 20 x 250 g (DAI185), 5 kg, £29.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-25
- Fresh thyme: Fresh thyme (VEG962), 100 g, £1.79 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-25
- Table salt: JJ table salt (SPI019), 12.5 kg, £8.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-25
- Ground black pepper: JJ ground black pepper (SPI596), 1.75 kg, £22.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-25
More costed dishes: seasonal
- Roast potatoes — £0.22 a portion
- Pigs in blankets — £0.77 a portion
- Brussels sprouts with bacon — £0.36 a portion
- Sage and onion stuffing — £0.14 a portion