12 oz Ribeye Steak Cost Calculator
Steakhouse entrée - 12 oz USDA Choice ribeye with sides. Steak entrées typically run a 33-38% food cost, among the highest on a menu. 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 12 oz Ribeye Steak?
A 12 oz USDA Choice ribeye costs a restaurant about $14.40 at 2026 foodservice prices; with mashed potato, a vegetable, and butter the plate is $17.07. At a $45 menu price that is a 37.9% food cost, and the steak is 84.4% of it.
Where the money goes
| USDA Choice ribeye | 84.4% · $14.40 | |
|---|---|---|
| Mashed potato or fries | 8.4% · $1.44 | |
| Vegetable side | 5.2% · $0.88 | |
| Butter + herbs + finishing salt | 2.1% · $0.35 |
What 30 of them return at different prices
| Your price | Food cost % | Over ingredients, each | Over ingredients, 30 |
|---|---|---|---|
| $33.75 | 50.6% | $16.68 | $500.40 |
| $45.00 US average | 37.9% | $27.93 | $837.90 |
| $56.25 | 30.3% | $39.18 | $1175.40 |
Ingredients only. Labor, packaging, fuel, and stall or platform fees come out of these figures.
The steak is almost the whole cost. Twelve ounces of USDA Choice boneless ribeye, the grade most steakhouses and supermarkets sell, is $14.40 bought as pre-cut steaks from a distributor: $1.20 an ounce, $19.20 a pound. That is the low end for portioned steaks, since the uncut boneless ribeye traded at around $15-15.80 a pound at the meatpacker in mid-September 2026, before trimming, cutting, and the distributor's margin. The mashed potato or fries ($1.44), the vegetable (88 cents), and the butter, herbs, and salt (35 cents) add $2.67 between them. Each ounce of steak is about 2.7 points of food cost at $45, and each $1 a pound on the beef price is 75 cents a plate.
37.9% is high next to pasta or pizza, and steakhouses live with it. Steak entrées often run 33-38%, and steakhouses as a whole about 32-36% (Texas Roadhouse reported 35.3% for food and beverage in the first half of 2026), against the 28-32% typical for restaurants overall. Getting this plate to 28% would take a $61 price, and guests compare steak prices between restaurants. So the menu decides where the rest is earned. Bundled, as here, the sides are paid for inside the $45 but add nothing to the check. Sold à la carte, each side priced on its own, the ribeye with its butter costs $14.75, a 32.8% food cost at $45, while a $12 side of mashed potato runs 12.0% and the vegetable 7.3%. Add both sides and the check is $69 for $17.07 of food, a 24.7% food cost. In practice à la carte sides are often shared bowls, so count on fewer than two per guest.
The 12 oz on the menu is the raw weight, and it is the weight to cost by. A ribeye cooked to medium loses roughly a fifth to a quarter of it, mostly water and some rendered fat, and more on a very hot grill or toward well-done, so the guest eats about 9 to 9.6 oz. A home cook pays about what the restaurant pays for the steak: supermarket specials on boneless ribeye averaged $19.38 a pound in mid-July 2026, about $14.50 for 12 oz. What the $45 buys beyond the food is the cook, the grill, the room, and the service.