Why Does a $44 Main Cost What It Does? A Head Chef Breaks Down Restaurant Pricing in NZ

 

You look at the menu, see $44 next to a piece of chicken, and think — that's a lot for chicken.

Fair enough. From the outside, it looks like a markup. From inside the kitchen, it's closer to a math problem with very little room for error.

Let me break it down the way I actually break it down when I'm pricing a menu.

Food Cost Is Only the Start

The rule of thumb in this industry is that food cost should sit around 28-33% of the menu price. So if that main costs $44, the raw ingredients — the protein, the veg, the sauce components, the garnish — should cost somewhere around $12-14 to plate.

That already surprises people. Where does the rest go?

Labour Isn't Just "The Chef Cooking It"

That $44 main was touched by more people than you'd think:

Someone butchered or portioned the protein

Someone made the stock or sauce base, probably days in advance

Someone prepped the veg and garnish

The chef who fired it on the pass

The person who plated it

The waiter who carried it

The dishwasher who's about to clean four pans it was cooked in

Wages, in a country with one of the higher minimum wages in the hospitality world, eat a huge chunk of that price. And that's before you count the people training, managing rosters, and covering shifts when someone calls in sick.

Rent Doesn't Care How Busy You Are

A site in a good location — where people can actually find you — costs real money whether the restaurant is full or empty on a Tuesday night. That fixed cost gets spread across every dish sold, which means slower nights make every plate a little more expensive to serve, not less.

The Stuff Nobody Thinks About

Gas and power to run ovens, grills, and fridges all day

Insurance

Compliance and food safety costs

Breakages — plates, glasses, equipment

Waste — trim, off-cuts, and the dish that comes back because the customer changed their mind

GST

None of this is on the plate. All of it is in the price.

What's Actually Left Over

After food cost, labour, rent, and overheads, the margin on that $44 main is often thinner than people assume — sometimes single digits as a percentage. Restaurants aren't quietly pocketing half your bill. Most are working hard to stay above break-even on a good week.

I broke down the same kind of math on the drinks side too —  if you are curious why a cocktail costs $22,that one's just as eye-opening.

So Is It Overpriced?

Not usually. It's priced to survive.

The next time a main looks expensive, it's worth remembering it's not just food on a plate — it's rent, wages, waste, and risk, all boiled down into one number that still has to make sense to someone deciding whether to come back next week.

— The Chef