Cooked Yield Shrinkage Calculator
Measure raw-to-cooked kitchen yield, shrinkage, portion cost, and next-batch purchase weight from AP, trim, cooked, and portion weights.{{ summaryHeading }}
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{{ formattedJson }}Introduction
Kitchen yield is the difference between what a kitchen buys and what it can actually serve. A case, primal, roast, bird, or vegetable batch may arrive at one weight, lose trim before cooking, lose moisture or fat during cooking, then end as a smaller amount of edible product. Menu costing goes wrong when the invoice weight is priced as if every gram reaches the plate.
Restaurants, caterers, institutional kitchens, and production kitchens use yield tests to turn a supplier price into a cooked cost. The test does not need to be complicated, but it has to be consistent. Weigh the same stages each time: as-purchased weight, trim waste, finished cooked edible weight, and the cooked portion size used for service.
The same yield percentage can have different causes. Trim loss is often bones, rind, peel, stems, fat cap, or damaged product removed before cooking. Cooking loss is usually moisture, rendered fat, drippings, resting loss, draining, or slicing loss. Sometimes cooked weight is higher than ready-to-cook weight because brine, sauce, or cooking liquid is intentionally part of the served product.
Yield tests are most useful when they match the way the kitchen sells or portions the item. If pulled pork is weighed after resting and pulling, measure the cooked edible weight that way. If vegetables are served with cooking liquid or sauce, decide whether that liquid belongs in the edible yield before comparing batches. A clean test creates a better cost per cooked kilogram, cost per portion, and purchase plan for the next production run.
How to Use This Tool:
Use one completed batch as the yield test, then use the purchase plan for the next batch.
- Select a Yield test preset for a starting pattern, such as roast beef, smoked brisket, roasted poultry, or cooked vegetables. Editing any weight turns the test into a custom batch.
- Enter As-purchased weight before trimming or cooking. This is the denominator for Cooked Yield.
- Enter Trim waste weight for bones, peel, rind, fat cap, stems, unusable ends, or other pre-cook waste. Use zero when no separate trim step exists.
- Enter Cooked edible weight after cooking, resting, draining, pulling, slicing, or panning in the same way service will portion it.
- Choose Cost entry. Use cost per as-purchased unit for supplier price per kg or lb, or Total batch cost when the invoice line is already known.
- Add Cooked portion size and Target portions to plan. Portion Cost shows the measured batch cost, while Purchase Plan back-solves raw purchase weight for a future run.
- Open Advanced for a batch label, currency symbol, purchase reserve, pack-size round-up, or target food cost percentage.
If a validation message appears, fix the weight sequence first. The as-purchased weight must be above zero, trim waste must be less than as-purchased weight, cooked edible weight must be above zero, portion size must be above zero, and cost cannot be negative.
Interpreting Results:
Cooked yield is the main production number. It tells you what share of the as-purchased batch remains as finished edible product. Total shrink is the inverse view: as-purchased weight that did not become cooked edible product.
Do not treat a yield band warning as proof that the batch is wrong. The preset bands are review cues. A smoked meat batch may legitimately shrink more than a vegetable side, and a sauced or brined item may show less shrink or even a gain. The corrective check is the Yield Ledger: verify whether trim, cooking change, or cooked edible weight explains the result.
- True cooked cost per unit rises as yield falls because the raw purchase cost is spread across fewer cooked units.
- Cost per cooked portion depends on cooked portion size, not raw portion expectation.
- Recommended AP purchase uses measured yield plus reserve and optional pack-size rounding.
- Menu price at target food cost is a rough menu-price check before labor, overhead, packaging, fees, tax, and channel costs.
Technical Details:
All weight entries are converted to grams before calculation, then displayed back in the selected units. This keeps mixed-unit tests consistent, such as buying in kilograms, weighing portions in grams, and checking cooked cost per kilogram.
Formula Core:
Yield and shrinkage are both anchored to the as-purchased weight. Cost per cooked unit carries the full raw batch cost into the smaller finished weight.
| Output | Mechanism | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Trim loss percent | Trim waste divided by as-purchased weight | Checks pre-cook waste and prep quality |
| Cooking change percent | Ready-to-cook weight minus cooked edible weight, divided by ready-to-cook weight | Separates cooking loss or gain from trim loss |
| Total shrink percent | As-purchased weight minus cooked edible weight, divided by as-purchased weight | Shows total disappearance from purchase to service |
| Recommended AP purchase | Target cooked need divided by measured cooked yield, plus reserve and optional round-up | Plans the next raw purchase quantity |
For the roast beef preset, 10 kg as purchased with 0.8 kg trim leaves 9.2 kg ready to cook. A final cooked edible weight of 6.2 kg gives a 62.0% cooked yield and 38.0% total shrink. At $12 per kg as purchased, the $120 batch cost becomes about $19.35 per cooked kg.
The purchase plan reverses the same yield. Eighty 170 g portions need 13.6 kg cooked product. At 62.0% cooked yield, that requires about 21.94 kg as purchased before reserve. A 5% purchase reserve raises the recommendation to about 23.03 kg before any pack-size round-up.
Kitchen Yield Notes:
Yield tests are practical production records, not food-safety instructions. Cooking temperature, cooling, holding, allergen control, and local food code requirements must be handled outside the arithmetic.
- Use the same weighing points across tests, especially after resting, draining, pulling, or slicing.
- Do not compare raw and cooked costs across suppliers unless the same cut, trim spec, fat level, and portioning method are used.
- Reserve is applied only to the future purchase plan. It does not change the measured yield from the completed batch.
Worked Examples:
Roast beef production test
A 10 kg raw roast batch with 0.8 kg trim and 6.2 kg cooked edible product returns Cooked yield of 62.0%. With a 170 g cooked portion, Cooked portions from test is about 36.5 and Cost per cooked portion is about $3.29 when the raw cost is $120.
Yield below a preset band
A smoked brisket test that falls below the preset yield band should not be discarded automatically. Check Trim waste and Cooking change in the Yield Ledger; heavy fat trimming, long hold time, or separating drippings can explain the lower cooked yield.
Planning more portions than the test produced
If the measured batch makes 36 portions but Target portions to plan is 80, the warning simply means the next run is larger than the test. Use Recommended AP purchase from Purchase Plan rather than scaling from raw weight by instinct.
FAQ:
What does AP mean?
AP means as purchased. It is the raw purchase weight before trimming, peeling, deboning, cooking, draining, or portioning.
Should bones or peel count as trim waste?
Yes, if they are removed before the finished edible weight is measured. Put them in Trim waste weight so Cooking change stays focused on the cooking step.
Why is cooked cost higher than supplier cost?
The full raw batch cost is spread across the cooked edible weight. Lower Cooked yield means fewer cooked units carry the same purchase cost.
What should I fix when no result appears?
Enter positive as-purchased, cooked edible, and portion weights. Make sure Trim waste weight is less than As-purchased weight and the cost entry is not negative.
Glossary:
- As-purchased weight
- The raw purchase weight before trim, cooking, or yield loss.
- Trim waste
- Pre-cook waste removed before the product is ready to cook.
- Cooked edible weight
- The finished usable product after cooking and the kitchen's normal finishing step.
- Cooked yield
- Cooked edible weight divided by as-purchased weight.
- Total shrink
- The share of as-purchased weight that does not remain as cooked edible product.
References:
- About the Food Buying Guide, USDA Food and Nutrition Service.
- Meats/Meat Alternates, USDA Food and Nutrition Service.
- Prices Database Report, USDA Food and Nutrition Service.