How to price pizza: dough, cheese, toppings by size, and the slice

To price a pizza, cost the dough, sauce, cheese and box for one size, scale the food cost to every other size by its area, then divide each cost by your target food cost percentage. A 14-inch cheese pizza that costs $2.98 including the box, at a 25% target, needs $11.92, so $11.99. Toppings scale the same way: an 18-inch pizza has 2.25 times the surface of a 12-inch, so the same topping costs 2.25 times as much to cover it.

The formula

Pizza price = (dough + sauce + cheese + toppings + box) ÷ target food cost %

• Dough: flour, water, oil, salt and yeast for one dough ball, priced by weight.
• Sauce and cheese: weigh what your pizza maker actually puts on, for each size.
• Toppings: by weight per size, from your portion chart.
• Box: a real cost on every pickup and delivery pie.
• Target food cost %: the share of the price spent on food and packaging. There's no official figure; many pizzerias aim for the mid-20s to around 30%. See food cost percentage.

Step 1: cost a 14-inch cheese pizza

Flour is the BLS US average retail price for September 2026; your distributor's price will be lower. BLS doesn't publish mozzarella or canned tomatoes, so those are stated assumptions; use your invoices.

At 25%: $2.98 ÷ 0.25 = $11.92, so $11.99. Fresh tomatoes instead of canned would cost more: at the BLS average of $1.99 a pound for field-grown tomatoes, 5 oz is $0.62 before you cook it down.

Step 2: scale to every size by area

A pizza's cheese, sauce and dough grow with its surface, which is π × radius². That's why a size up costs more than it looks.

Box prices are assumptions. Two things show up. The 18" gives a customer 2.25 times the pizza of a 12" for 2.2 times the price, a good deal that still holds your percentage. And if you priced sizes by diameter (12, 14, 16, 18 as even $2 steps), the large sizes would run well over your target.

Step 3: price toppings by size

Portions are a 14" chart scaled by area; use your own. A flat $2 topping charge on every size earns $1.22 on bacon on a 12" and only $0.25 on an 18". Price toppings by size instead, for example:

Specialty pizzas avoid the problem, because their toppings are in each size's price. Cost each specialty pie from its recipe for each size; the recipe cost calculator for pizza restaurants keeps one recipe per size.

Step 4: price the slice

Slices sell at lunch and late at night, and the ones left at close are a cost.

Slices carry a premium for the convenience, and for the waste. Track how many you throw away for a week and put your real figure in place of the one in five.

Step 5: labor, then the channel price

The food cost method leaves labor out, so check it. BLS put the median wage for restaurant cooks at $17.98 an hour in May 2025. If one cook makes 20 pizzas an hour at the rush, that's about $0.90 a pizza; on a 14" at $11.99, $11.99 − $2.98 − $0.90 leaves $8.11 for everything else.

Then price each channel. Delivery apps take a commission, so:

App price = (your price + packaging) ÷ (1 − commission %)

The box is already in the $11.99, so the app price is $11.99 ÷ 0.75 = $15.99. A typical $30 delivery order on your own page costs $1.17 in Stripe fees, against $7.50 at 25%. More on the rates: DoorDash and Uber Eats. The menu price calculator works this out for each channel in US dollars.

Sell at the price you set

Menuthere gives a pizzeria its own ordering page with 0% commission: sizes with their own prices, crust and sauce as required choices, toppings with a limit, and cards paid into your own Stripe account (Lite, $17 a month). One limit to know: an add-on costs the same on every size, so for toppings priced by size, set up a build-your-own pizza per size, each with its own toppings group. The details are on online ordering for pizza. Want your own app? See the pizza ordering app.

Your pizza at your price, 0% commission.

Create your free ordering page

How to price your pizza menu, step by step

1. Weigh one pizza per size. Dough ball, sauce and cheese, as your pizza makers actually top it.
2. Price each part. Use your invoices: flour, cheese, tomatoes, oil and the box.
3. Cost the base size. Add it up for your best-selling size, such as the 14".
4. Scale by area. Multiply food cost by each size's area ratio, then add that size's box.
5. Divide by your target. Use your food cost percentage and round to a clean price.
6. Price toppings by size. Scale each topping's portion by area and set a charge per size.
7. Set slice and channel prices. Allow for slice waste, and raise app prices by the commission.