PlateCost
lead
engineer
Overview
PlateCost is a web-based food cost calculator for chefs, restaurateurs, and food business operators. Add ingredients with real supplier prices, build recipes from those ingredients, and instantly see the cost breakdown per recipe and per portion. Use the numbers to price menu items profitably and understand how ingredient price changes affect your margins. All data stays in your browser — no accounts or sign-ups needed.
Mission
What we're building
PlateCost is a web app that helps chefs, restaurateurs, and food business operators build and manage food cost control sheets. Users create ingredients with real supplier prices, compose recipes from those ingredients, and instantly see the cost breakdown per recipe and per portion — so they can price menu items profitably and track how ingredient price changes ripple through their margins.
Current focus
The MVP is a single-page web app where a user can:
- Add ingredients with a name, unit (kg, g, L, each, etc.), and a cost per unit
- Build a recipe by selecting ingredients and specifying quantities
- See the recipe's total cost and cost per portion calculated automatically
- A clean landing page that explains PlateCost's value prop and links into the app
No accounts, no database, no inventory — pure client-side calculator that proves the core concept. All data lives in the browser for now. We'll ship it, then grow from there based on real feedback.