Free · no sign-up
Waste percentage calculator
Your waste rate is the share of what you made or used that was lost before it could be sold: quantity wasted ÷ quantity made or used × 100. Value it at cost: quantity wasted × unit cost. If 4 of 24 portions go in the bin, that's 16.7%; at ₺45.00 a portion, it's ₺180.00, and about ₺5,400 a month if it happens every day.
Calculator
Result
Waste rate
- Cost of waste
- Monthly loss, roughly
It opened with example numbers; type your own and the result changes at once. Nothing is saved.
How it's worked out
Quantity wasted ÷ Quantity made or used × 100
Quantity wasted × Unit cost
Daily cost of waste × 30 · Weekly cost of waste × 52 ÷ 12 (a month averages 4.33 weeks)
How to use it
- Enter how much you made or used, and how much of it was wasted, in the same unit.
- Enter what one unit costs you: the last purchase total divided by the quantity for raw materials, the recipe cost for things you make.
- Choose whether this happened in a day, a week or a month.
- Compare the rate with your own last few weeks; the monthly loss tells you which item to work on first.
Watch out
- Don't value waste at selling price: 4 portions that cost ₺45.00 and sell for ₺120.00 are ₺180.00 lost, not ₺480.00.
- If it only happens on some days, work the month out from those days: 4 portions binned every Tuesday come to ₺720.00 over four Tuesdays.
- A short batch is hidden waste: if ingredients for 10 cheesecakes make 9, the same cost is split nine ways and each one costs 11.1% more.
- Waste you don't write down doesn't vanish; it turns up at your next stock count as a gap you can't explain.
Frequently asked questions
Do you divide waste by what you made or by what you sold?
Divide by what you made or used. Use sales instead and the rate looks bigger than it is: if 4 of 24 portions are thrown away, the waste rate is 4 ÷ 24 = 16.7%, but dividing by the 20 sold makes it look like 20%. For raw materials, divide by what you used; for goods you buy in and resell, by what you bought. Whichever you choose, stick to it so the weeks compare.
Should the cost of waste go into your prices?
If some waste can't be avoided, yes; it's part of your cost. The simple way is to divide the batch cost by what you actually sell: if 24 portions cost ₺1,080 in ingredients and you reliably sell 22, each portion costs ₺49.09, not ₺45.00. Set the price from that figure. But try cutting the waste first; you can't always raise prices.
How do you turn weekly waste into a monthly figure?
Multiply the weekly amount by 52 and divide by 12; with 52 weeks in a year, a month averages 4.33 weeks. ₺180.00 of waste a week is ₺780.00 a month; multiply by 4 and you get ₺720.00, a little less than reality. For daily waste, multiply by the days you're actually open: if you close one day a week, that's about 26, not 30.
Is waste the same as a stock count gap?
No. Waste is a loss you know about: stock thrown away, spoiled, broken or cut off. A count gap is the shortfall you can't explain between what your records say and what you count on the shelf; it may be unrecorded waste, over-generous portions or a recording mistake. Write waste down as it happens and count gaps stay small, so when a big one appears there are fewer places to look.
More tools
- Profit margin calculatorEnter cost and price to see your margin and markup, or start from a target margin and get the price to charge.
- Price increase calculatorWork out a supplier's price rise, what it adds to one product's cost, and the new selling price that protects your margin.
- Unit cost calculatorEnter the total and the quantity to get your cost per kg, gram, litre, metre or piece, by the case or the sack too.
- Recipe cost calculatorEnter your ingredients line by line to see the cost of the batch, of each slice or portion, and the price for your target margin.
- Break-even calculatorSee how many sales, or how many active members, it takes to cover your rent, bills and staff, per month and per day.
- No-show cost calculatorWork out your no-show rate and what missed appointments cost you each week, month and year, and what one more customer a week is worth.
- Class pack price calculatorSee what an 8-class or unlimited pack works out at per class, and how much of that goes to the instructor and how much stays with the studio.
Have a good day at work!
Enter what you threw away as “Something was wasted” and Çetele values it at cost; the waste report shows the week's and month's totals and the product that lost you the most.