Sweet chilli sauce: how much it costs to make, per portion
This one comes straight out of a working chef's kitchen book, not a cookbook: a kilo of sugar, a litre of water and a litre of red wine vinegar reduced by half, then the diced chilli, red pepper and garlic dropped in and finished with fish sauce and black pepper. Makes about 1.5 litres, costed here as thirty 50 ml pots from wholesale prices dated 7 September 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.
Open in ChefSums — edit, cost, scale →
Ingredients and cost, 30 portions
| Ingredient | Pack price | Pack size | Used | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caster sugar | £21.49 | 12000 g | 1000 g | £1.79 |
| Water | £0.00 | 1000 ml | 1000 ml | £0.00 |
| Red wine vinegar | £1.49 | 1000 ml | 1000 ml | £1.49 |
| Long red chillies | £14.99 | 3000 g | 60 g | £0.30 |
| Red peppers | £13.99 | 5000 g | 320 g | £0.90 |
| Garlic | £3.49 | 1000 g | 29 g | £0.10 |
| Fish sauce | £2.29 | 725 ml | 45 ml | £0.14 |
| Ground black pepper | £15.99 | 1000 g | 7 g | £0.11 |
| Batch total | £4.83 | |||
| Per portion (÷ 30) | £0.16 | |||
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 | £0.16 |
| Waste allowance, 5% (trim, ends, the odd one binned) | £0.01 |
| Staff time: 20 min hands-on for the batch of 30 at £12.71/hr + 25% on-cost | £0.18 |
| Food, waste and staff per portion | £0.35 |
At the lowest price (£0.50 ex VAT) that is 70% 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
- Put the sugar, water and vinegar in a wide pan and reduce by half.
- Finely dice the red peppers, chillies (seeds in) and garlic.
- Add the diced vegetables to the reduced liquid and boil briefly, a minute or two, so they soften but keep their colour.
- Take off the heat, stir in the fish sauce and the ground black pepper.
- Bottle hot into sterilised bottles or a lidded container; label and date. Keeps chilled for weeks.
Costing notes
Under a fiver for a litre and a half, and the sugar and vinegar are two-thirds of it. Four chillies are costed at 60 g and two peppers at 320 g; weigh yours and change the row. The tap water line is there so the recipe reads as written, costed at zero. A 50 ml pot is the portion here; if you sell it as a dip, that pot is the whole ingredient cost of the side.
Prep loss is costed in: each fresh vegetable line is the weight you buy, not the prepared weight that goes in the pan. Garlic: 25 g peeled is 29 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.
- Caster sugar: Tate & Lyle Caster Sugar 6x2kg (SPI083), 6 x 2 kg, £21.49 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Water: Tap water, costed at zero, 1 L, £0.00 — n/a, accessed 2026-09-07
- Red wine vinegar: Red Wine Vinegar 1x1L (SAU315), 1 L, £1.49 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Long red chillies: Red Chilli Peppers 1x3kg (VEG751), 3 kg, £14.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Red peppers: Loose Red Peppers 1x5kg (VEG703), 5 kg, £13.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Garlic: Fresh Garlic 1x1kg (VEG784), 1 kg, £3.49 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Fish sauce: Squid Fish Sauce 1x725ml (SAU980), 725 ml, £2.29 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Ground black pepper: Ground Black Pepper 1x1kg (SPI293), 1 kg, £15.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
More costed dishes: pub and restaurant classics
- Roast beef dinner — £3.45 a portion
- Sausage and mash with onion gravy — £1.60 a portion
- Macaroni cheese — £0.76 a portion
- Spaghetti bolognese — £1.82 a portion