About Tablecost

Tablecost is for the people who run independent kitchens: the owner who prices the menu at the end of a long shift, the bar manager counting pours, the food truck operator deciding whether a new event is worth the fee. It turns costing, pricing, labor and tip questions into calculators and short, checked answers.

Who's behind it

Tablecost is a small independent project, edited by one person who isn't a chef, an accountant or a lawyer. It has no owner in the restaurant software, delivery, payroll or food distribution business, and nobody pays to be mentioned. Because the editor isn't a professional in your field, every rule on the site links to the agency or law it comes from, so you can check it.

How the pages are made

• Topics come from what restaurant owners search for and ask in trade forums.
• Calculators use the standard formulas of the trade (food cost, pour cost, labor percentage), written out on the page with a worked ticket.
• Text is drafted with help from AI writing tools. Every rule, rate and dollar amount in a draft is then checked by hand against the agency or law it comes from before the page goes up, and the check date is printed at the top.
• Sample plates, menus and payrolls are invented to show the arithmetic and are labeled as samples.

Spotted a mistake?

Email desk@tablecost.com with the page and what's wrong. A link to the rule helps. Confirmed errors are fixed and the page's "last checked" date moves.