Recipe Costing for Bakeries · UK

Recipe costing software for bakeries — know exactly what every bake costs

FoodCore calculates the cost per portion of every recipe automatically. Update a supplier price and every recipe recalculates. See your margins at a glance — no spreadsheet maintenance required.

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Pricing baked goods is harder than it looks. The ingredients are only part of the cost — you also need to account for packaging, energy, your time, and a margin that makes the business sustainable. Most bakery owners start with a rough calculation: add up the main ingredients, multiply by a factor, and hope the price is competitive. It works until ingredient prices change, which they do constantly.

Flour, butter, eggs, chocolate — commodity prices shift with seasons, supply chains, and market conditions. A recipe costed in January may be significantly more expensive to produce by March. If you're not tracking this, you may be selling products at a loss without realising it. The bakeries that stay profitable are the ones that know their costs precisely and reprice when costs change.

FoodCore makes this automatic. You enter your ingredients with their purchase price and pack size. FoodCore calculates the cost per gram. When you build a recipe, FoodCore calculates the total cost and cost per portion automatically. Update a supplier price and every recipe that uses that ingredient recalculates instantly — no manual formula updates, no hunting through spreadsheet tabs.

The result is a live view of your margins across your entire product range. You can see immediately which products are most profitable, which are marginal, and which need repricing. For a small bakery, this kind of visibility is the difference between growing sustainably and gradually eroding your margins without noticing.

What FoodCore does for bakery recipe costing

Accurate costs, live margins, automatic updates.

Cost per portion, automatically

FoodCore calculates the cost per portion of every recipe based on your ingredient prices and quantities. No manual formulas. No spreadsheet tabs. Just accurate costs, always up to date.

Instant price updates

Update a supplier price and every recipe that uses that ingredient recalculates automatically. You always know your current cost of production — not what it was six months ago.

Margin visibility

See the cost, selling price, and margin for every product at a glance. Identify which products are most profitable and which are being sold below a sustainable margin.

Recipe scaling

Scale any recipe up or down and FoodCore recalculates all ingredient quantities and costs automatically. Useful for batch production, wholesale orders, or adjusting for different tin sizes.

Allergen tracking included

Recipe costing and allergen tracking are part of the same system. Every recipe has its allergens tracked automatically — no separate spreadsheet required.

Food labels from the same recipe

Generate Natasha's Law compliant PPDS labels directly from the same recipe you've costed. One system for costs, allergens, and labels.

Who is this for?

FoodCore is built for small UK food businesses — not enterprise kitchens with IT teams.

High-street bakeries

Managing a full product range with daily production means you need accurate costs across everything you make. FoodCore keeps costs current as ingredient prices change.

Home bakeries

Knowing your true cost of production is essential for pricing your products sustainably. FoodCore makes this straightforward even for a one-person operation.

Wholesale bakeries

Supplying cafés, delis, or retailers requires accurate, defensible pricing. FoodCore gives you the cost data to price confidently and renegotiate when costs change.

Cake businesses

Custom cake orders with variable components need accurate per-order costing. FoodCore lets you cost each order based on your recipe library.

FoodCore vs Spreadsheet costing

Why small food businesses switch from manual methods to FoodCore.

Feature Spreadsheet costing FoodCore
Cost calculation ✗ Manual formulas, break with price changes ✓ Automatic, updates with ingredient prices
Price change impact ✗ Must update every recipe manually ✓ One update, all recipes recalculate
Margin visibility ✗ Must calculate separately ✓ Built in — see margin for every product
Recipe scaling ✗ Manual recalculation ✓ Automatic — quantities and costs scale
Allergen tracking ✗ Separate spreadsheet ✓ Built in, same system
Food labels ✗ Separate Word/Canva file ✓ Generated from same recipe

Common questions

How do I calculate the cost of a cake recipe?

In FoodCore, you enter each ingredient with its purchase price and pack size (e.g. 500g butter for £2.50). FoodCore calculates the cost per gram. When you build your cake recipe with ingredient quantities, FoodCore calculates the total ingredient cost automatically. You can then add a selling price to see your margin.

Does FoodCore include packaging costs in recipe costing?

You can add packaging as an ingredient in FoodCore with a cost per unit. This lets you include packaging in your total cost per product.

What food cost percentage should a bakery target?

A common target for bakeries is 25–35% food cost (ingredient cost as a percentage of selling price), though this varies by product type and business model. FoodCore shows you your food cost percentage for every product so you can see where you stand.

Can I use FoodCore for a cake business as well as a bakery?

Yes. FoodCore works for any small food business that makes products from recipes — bakeries, cake businesses, caterers, meal prep operations. The recipe costing, allergen tracking, and labelling features work the same way regardless of what you make.

How often should I update my ingredient prices?

Ideally whenever you receive a new invoice from a supplier. In FoodCore, updating a price takes seconds and every recipe recalculates automatically — so there's no reason not to keep prices current.

Related features & guides

Bakery management software →Cake business costing →Recipe management →Food labelling →Home bakery software →

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