Calculator

Commissary / Central Kitchen Cost & Breakeven Model

Interactive worksheet to capture capital, operating and variable inputs for a central kitchen, plus step-by-step formulas, a worked example, and guidance to compute per-portion cost, breakeven volume, and basic sensitivity scenarios. Saves input sets for later comparison.

Interactive Tool

Commissary / Central Kitchen Cost & Breakeven Model

When a central kitchen helps — and when it doesn't

This interactive worksheet helps you capture the practical numbers you need to evaluate whether a commissary or central kitchen will reduce your unit costs and support growth. Enter your capital, monthly fixed costs, labor, transport and per-portion variables. The form saves your inputs so you can compare scenarios.

Below the inputs you'll find clear, copy-ready formulas and a worked example you can paste into a spreadsheet. The platform currently saves input sets; see CapabilityNotes for ideas to add automatic calculations and sensitivity charts in future versions.

Enter the one-time capital cost you expect to spend on the central kitchen. We'll show how to amortize this over time in the formulas section.
Number of years to spread the capital cost over (typical 5–15 years depending on equipment).
Fixed monthly facility costs (rent, insurance, utilities) for the central kitchen. If you already have a building and are reallocating space, enter the incremental cost.
Any other fixed monthly costs not included above.
Sum of all staff hours the commissary requires each month (e.g., 4 staff x 160 hours = 640).
Use a weighted average if you have mixed pay rates. We'll add benefits as a percentage on top.
Include payroll taxes, benefits, workers comp, etc. Enter e.g., 25 for 25%.
Estimate the cost of one outbound delivery trip from the commissary to customers/locations. If you use a third party, include their charge here.
How many delivery trips does the commissary make each operating day?
Typical range 22–30. Use your actual operating days. Default is business days per month.
Cost of the container, label, disposables allocated per portion prepared in the commissary.
Ingredient cost per final portion if there were no yield loss. We'll adjust for yield below.
Enter expected product loss percentage between receiving and finished portion (e.g., trim loss, cooking shrink, spoilage).
Company overhead you want to allocate to the commissary's direct costs (management, corporate, shared services). For initial runs, 10–25% is common.
Number of portions the commissary will produce per month at the target operating level. This is the denominator for per-portion calculations.
Enter the estimated current cost per portion when prepared at the location(s) (ingredients + labor + packaging + direct overhead).
Useful to estimate margin impact after centralization.
Use this to run a manual sensitivity check (e.g., +10% fuel). The worksheet explains how to apply this.
Use this to run a manual sensitivity check on labor (e.g., +5%).
Enter any assumptions, number of locations served, distance bands, or special constraints (cold chain, rework, HACCP steps).
You can explore this tool now. Sign in or create an account to save your responses and return to them later.
Sign In to Save Create an Account
Make this tool part of your work

Save a personal copy, bring it to your team, or tailor the questions and workflow to fit what you are hungry to improve.

Member customization and team collaboration are coming soon.
Discuss Ask the Librarian

Discussion

Comments and conversation will live here.