Food Prep Yield Percentages: How Much Vegetables & Meat to Buy (Waste Calculator)
Restaurant owners lose an average of 4-10% of food costs to prep waste, but most don't track it. Understanding food prep yield percentages helps you buy the right quantities and stop over-ordering. When a recipe calls for 10kg of diced onions, you can't just buy 10kg of whole onions—you'll need about 12kg to account for peels, tops, and trimmings.
Common Yield Percentages
Vegetables typically yield 65-90% usable product. Onions give you about 85%, bell peppers around 80%, and butternut squash only 65%. Meats vary even more: a whole chicken yields roughly 60% after butchering, while beef tenderloin can lose 20-30% to trimming. Fish yields range from 40% for whole fish to 100% for pre-portioned fillets.
To calculate purchasing needs, divide your recipe requirement by the yield percentage. Need 5kg of cleaned carrots (90% yield)? Buy 5.56kg whole. For proteins, factor in both trimming and cooking loss—a 200g raw steak typically becomes 140-150g cooked.
Track your actual yields for 2-3 weeks. Your prep team's skill and your suppliers' quality create unique percentages. Build a simple reference sheet and watch your food costs drop 2-4%.
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