Methodology & Sources

Last updated: July 27, 2026 · Formula engine version

Every number on this site traces back to one of two places: a public, government-sourced dataset, or a number you typed in yourself. This page documents which is which, exactly what those datasets cover, and — just as important — where we don't yet have enough real data to make a comparative claim, so we don't fake one.

One calculation engine, every calculator

All 40 single-purpose calculators, the combined Ultimate Calculator, and every embeddable widget call the same shared calculation engine (currently version ). The formulas for cost per unit, food cost percentage, contribution margin, break-even units, labor cost per unit, and yield-adjusted cost are written once, in one place, and every calculator on the site calls into that same code. This matters because it rules out the most common failure mode of multi-tool calculator sites: the simple calculator and the "advanced" one quietly disagreeing on how a percentage is computed. When a formula is updated, the version number changes and every calculator that uses it updates together — never one first and the rest later.

Ingredient & yield data

USDA FoodData Central

Raw commodity ingredient data (nutrition, standard unit weights, and reference yield information for unprocessed ingredients) is sourced from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's public-domain food composition database. It's the same category of source professional nutrition and food-cost software cites, and it's free and public, so you can verify any figure yourself.

USDA Table of Cooking Yields for Meat and Poultry, Release 2

Meat and poultry cooking-yield figures — how much a cut of meat shrinks during cooking from moisture loss and fat loss — come from the USDA Agricultural Research Service's Table of Cooking Yields for Meat and Poultry, Release 2 (Ag Data Commons), a public-domain, CC0-licensed dataset covering cooking yield percentage, moisture change, and fat change for specific cuts under defined cooking protocols.

Prices and prepared/purchased ingredients

What you pay for an ingredient — and any ingredient that isn't a raw commodity (a purchased pre-made crust, a branded packaging item, a specialty vendor product) — is entered by you at the time of calculation. This isn't a data gap; it's correct behavior for a cost calculator, since your actual vendor pricing is something no public dataset can know. Every calculator makes clear which fields are "looked up" versus "entered by you."

Business-cost benchmarks — sourced per niche, not all at once

Where a calculator shows a comparative "industry range" (for example, "your food cost is 36.9% — typical range for this niche is X–Y%"), that range has to be backed by real, documented data before it appears. We don't publish an "ideal" number for a niche just because a competitor site does. The table below is the current, honest status per niche:

The Food Truck niche is ahead of the other seven in one respect: a real data source exists. Operating history from Mama's Cheesecake & Pretzels' own food truck — labor %, waste %, and packaging cost as a share of total cost — is the intended basis for this niche's benchmark ranges, corroborated where possible against published industry association reports. That data hasn't yet been formalized into specific published ranges, and no calculator on this site currently shows a comparative "this is typical" claim for any niche, food truck included — every calculator performs its cost and profit math correctly (you'll always see your food cost percentage, your margin, your break-even point) without a benchmark comparison layered on top until one is actually ready. When Food Truck's ranges are finalized and published, this table and the relevant calculators update the same day — and the other seven niches remain exactly where they are, with no data source identified yet, until their own methodology work begins.

How insights and recommendations are generated

Result panels sometimes show a plain-language insight next to a number — for example, flagging that packaging cost is unusually high, or that a particular ingredient dominates total cost. These are never AI-generated guesses. Every insight traces to one of four fixed rule categories:

1. Cost concentration — the input(s) responsible for the largest share of total cost are flagged when they cross a stated threshold (for example, over 35% of total cost).
2. Margin health — your result is compared to a niche's benchmark range only where that range is sourced per the table above; otherwise this insight is simply omitted for that niche.
3. Structural flags — plain arithmetic checks that don't depend on any benchmark (for example, flagging that packaging cost exceeds 15% of total cost, which is true or false regardless of niche).
4. Scenario prompts — "what-if" buttons recompute your numbers live using the same shared engine described above. These are calculations, not advice, and are labeled that way.

Editorial review

Formula logic and benchmark content are reviewed by the team behind Mama's Cheesecake & Pretzels, an operating food truck — see the About page for why we credit the business rather than a single named reviewer. No content on this site is published as AI-generated filler; AI-assisted drafting is checked by that review process before it goes live.

Questions about a specific number?

If a formula, source citation, or benchmark range looks wrong on any page, tell us — use the Contact page and mention which calculator and which figure.