Beef Burger with Fries Cost Calculator
6 oz ground beef patty with brioche bun, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a side of fries. Typical casual-dining food cost. Prefilled with US average ingredient costs. Edit any quantity or price to match what you actually pay, and the math updates as you type.
How much does it cost to make Beef Burger with Fries?
About $4.54 to make at typical 2026 US prices, and $3.00 of that is the 6 oz beef patty ($1.92) and the fries ($1.08). Every ounce of patty moves the cost 32 cents, so portion weight, not the bun or the cheese, sets the margin.
Where the money goes
| Ground beef 80/20 | 42.3% · $1.92 | |
|---|---|---|
| French fries | 23.8% · $1.08 | |
| Brioche bun | 15.4% · $0.70 | |
| American cheese | 7.7% · $0.35 | |
| Condiments + wrap | 5.5% · $0.25 | |
| Lettuce/tomato/onion | 5.3% · $0.24 |
What 60 of them return at different prices
| Your price | Food cost % | Over recipe cost, each | Over recipe cost, 60 |
|---|---|---|---|
| $11.25 | 40.4% | $6.71 | $402.60 |
| $15.00 US average | 30.3% | $10.46 | $627.60 |
| $18.75 | 24.2% | $14.21 | $852.60 |
Ingredients and packaging (the Condiments + wrap line). Labor, fuel, and stall or platform fees come out of these figures.
At a $15 menu price, the $4.54 plate runs a 30.3% food cost, right in the range casual restaurants aim for on a burger. Two ingredients make up most of that. The 6 oz patty of 80/20 ground beef is $1.92, 42.3% of the plate, and the fries are $1.08, another 23.8%. The brioche bun ($0.70) costs more than the cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion together, and condiments and the paper wrap add 25 cents.
Beef costs 32 cents an ounce, so every ounce of patty is about two points of food cost at $15. A 5 oz patty brings the plate to $4.22 and 28.1%; a half-pound patty takes it to $5.18 and 34.5%. Hand-formed patties drift, and they drift up: a cook who forms them half an ounce heavy adds 16 cents a burger, which at 60 burgers a day is $9.60 a day, close to $290 a month. A patty press pays for itself within weeks; pre-portioned patties from your supplier cost more per pound but take the drift out entirely. The 6 oz on the menu is raw weight: 80/20 beef loses roughly a quarter of its weight on the griddle, so the guest eats about 4.5 oz.
The fries are the part of the plate you can price on their own. Without them the burger costs $3.46. Many places sell the burger at $12 and fries as a $4 side: the burger then runs 28.8%, the fries 27%, and the guest pays $16 for the same plate that sells for $15 with fries included. Fries are also the easiest line to over-portion, because they go onto the plate by the handful. A fixed-size fry boat, checked on a portion scale now and then, keeps the $1.08 at $1.08. Put your own beef and fry prices into the calculator above to see where your plate lands.