You don’t have to be a math genius to read the interesting investigation by Ristorazione Italiana Magazine, in collaboration with the Accademia Pizzaioli, on the cost of a Margherita pizza . Let’s start from the base, that is, the Food Cost , the real cost of the raw materials alone: in this case we’ll talk about the ball, tomato, mozzarella and basil.
THE COST OF A MARGHERITA PIZZA
Starting from a dough with 1 Kg. of flour – and adding water, dry yeast or fresh yeast, fine salt and oil – you get about 8 pizza balls with a Food Cost of 0.26 euros using high quality products. On the contrary, if the quality decreases, the price will be 0.125 euros.
Adding 100 grams of tomato, mozzarella (also an average of 100 grams) and 5/6 basil leaves we can draw the first conclusions: the difference between the Food Cost of a Margherita pizza prepared with high quality ingredients and one prepared with lower quality ingredients is just over 60 cents per pizza.
THE COSTS OF A PIZZERIA
For a commercial activity that produces pizzas, you definitely need a mixer, various plastic boxes, sink, steel benches, refrigerators, oven, peels and various tools. The average expense reaches 30,000 euros with a depreciation to be calculated over 5 years. Then dividing the working days and the daily pizzas, you get a cost of 0.24 euros per pizza.
But the numbers don’t end there. There’s the cost of electricity per month, around 700 euros, whatever oven you use, bringing the cost to 0.34 euros per pizza. And then the rent costs – it goes from a minimum of 800 euros upwards – with a bill of 0.48 euros per pizza, and those of an accountant who follows the accounting. Don’t underestimate the cost of personnel – for a pizza chef you need to calculate the basic salary from the contract, the installment of the additional monthly salary, holidays and permits, severance pay, INAIL premium, contributions on salary, contributions on additional monthly salary and so on, while for a waiter you count the actual working days – and then various costs such as the tax for signs and advertising, that on waste, maintenance of fire extinguishers, cleaning of the premises, insurance and the cost of advertising. We’re talking about a monthly total that’s around 400 euros, bringing it to 0.187 euros per pizza.
LET’S FIND OUT THE COST OF A MARGHERITA PIZZA
So what is the cost of a Margherita pizza when it comes out of the oven ? Ristorazione Italia Magazine sums it all up with this chart:
Cost of Margherita Pizza for Takeaway
• Previous total cost with low-level products
3,792 + 0,15 (cost of pizza box) = 3,942 Euro
• Cost with high quality products
4,457 + 0,15 (cost of pizza box) = 4,607 EuroCost of Margherita pizza at the table
• Previous total cost with low-level products
3,792 + 1,81 (waiter cost) = 5,602 Euro
• Cost with high quality products
4,457 + 1,81 (waiter cost) = 6,267 Euro
