Getting cost of goods right on a food truck
A practical explanation of cost of goods sold for a food-truck business, and how to keep it accurate as prices move.
Cost of goods sold (COGS) is what your sold products cost you in ingredients. Get it right and every other number follows. Get it wrong and you'll never know if you're really making money.
The clean definition
Opening stock + purchases − closing stock = COGS. For a period. That's it.
Do it monthly at the least
Weekly is better. Every event is best. CartFlow closes COGS per event automatically if you're on the recipe-linked flow.
Track stock at cost, not sell price
Every mistake at this step ripples through.
Update ingredient prices as they change
Milk goes up $0.20 a litre and suddenly a flat white lost 6% of its margin. If you're not updating prices, you don't know.
The reward
Once COGS is accurate, food-cost percentage becomes a real tool. And once that's real, every menu and pricing decision becomes possible.