Fried Chicken (3-piece plate) Cost Calculator
Three pieces of buttermilk fried chicken with coleslaw and a biscuit. Foodservice ingredient cost per plate against a typical restaurant price. 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 Fried Chicken (3-piece plate)?
About $2.73 of ingredients for a three-piece fried chicken plate with coleslaw and a biscuit at foodservice prices, against a typical $13 plate, a 21.0% food cost. The chicken is $1.68 of it; the frying oil only 21 cents.
Where the money goes
| Bone-in chicken pieces | 61.5% · $1.68 | |
|---|---|---|
| Coleslaw | 11.7% · $0.32 | |
| Biscuit | 9.2% · $0.25 | |
| Frying oil (share) | 7.7% · $0.21 | |
| Buttermilk | 5.5% · $0.15 | |
| Seasoned flour | 4.4% · $0.12 |
What 50 of them return at different prices
| Your price | Food cost % | Over ingredients, each | Over ingredients, 50 |
|---|---|---|---|
| $9.75 | 28.0% | $7.02 | $351.00 |
| $13.00 US average | 21.0% | $10.27 | $513.50 |
| $16.25 | 16.8% | $13.52 | $676.00 |
Ingredients only. Labor, packaging, fuel, and stall or platform fees come out of these figures.
Fried chicken is sold by the piece and bought by the pound, and the two do not line up. A bird cut eight ways gives two breasts, two thighs, two drumsticks, and two wings, and a bone-in breast can weigh close to three times a wing. This plate costs out three average pieces, 14 oz of bone-in chicken, at $1.68. Three breasts are more chicken than that and three wings far less, at the same menu price unless the menu says otherwise.
That is why chicken shops price by the mix. White-meat plates carry an upcharge, breasts get cut in half to even out the pieces, and boxes come as fixed mixes of dark and white. Without that, the customers who ask for white meat buy the expensive end of every bird, and the kitchen is left with thighs and wings to move. Thighs and drumsticks are the better business anyway: cheaper per ounce, juicier after frying, and slower to dry out under a heat lamp.
The rest of the plate is cheap and steady. Coleslaw and a biscuit are 57 cents; buttermilk, seasoned flour, and the oil share 48 cents. A commercial fryer's oil is filtered and topped up daily, so per plate it is small. What moves the food cost in fried chicken is the price of the bird, which swings through the year, and hold time, since chicken left too long under the lamp ends up in the bin.