Leftovers at teardown
Enter what is left directly in the teardown list. That is what makes actual consumption calculable.
After the event
Food cost per event, from actual consumption
The day was busy, the register adds up — and still nobody knows whether the festival paid off. Mobistro derives food cost from what was actually used: loaded quantity minus leftovers minus reported losses, valued with your own purchase prices.
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For operators who want to know which events carry themselves
Food trucks, market vendors and caterers running many small events rather than a few large ones. If you trade at three locations every week, without numbers you will not notice that one of them has been losing money for months.
From day-to-day operations
Revenue is known, cost is not
- The register says what came in; what went out sits on delivery notes in a box.
- Leftovers from the festival go back into storage and never appear in any calculation again.
- Breakage and shrinkage get noticed but not recorded.
- The accountant sees the whole picture at year end — far too late to decide whether that market is worth booking again.
Consumption, price, result
Food cost is not an estimate here. It comes from what the vehicle took out and did not bring back.
Losses with a reason
Breakage, loss, theft or other — kept separate from normal consumption so the number does not tell the wrong story.
Valued with your prices
The purchase price sits on the item, gross and per stocked unit. If one is missing, Mobistro names the item instead of quietly calculating too low.
A result per event
Revenue, recorded costs and what was left after them — per event in one table, and for the period against the one directly before it.
What you can judge after wrap-up
- 01
Did the festival carry itself?
Revenue, booth fee, staff, food cost and travel sit in one place instead of four.
- 02
Which market performs better?
Set the period against the one before it: this month against last, this season against the previous. A trend surfaces before it is a year old.
- 03
Where is too much coming back?
Leftovers and losses per item show where you routinely load more than you sell.
- 04
What will this event cost?
While planning, Mobistro derives an expected food cost from your recipes and planned servings.
A clear boundary
A money view, not a set of books
Mobistro works with the gross amounts you record. Sales tax is not deducted, depreciation and fixed costs do not appear, and nothing here is a filing for the tax office. What you see is what was left after the costs you recorded — a basis for decisions, not a balance sheet.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the revenue figure come from?
You enter it yourself at wrap-up. Mobistro is not a POS and does not read sales from yours — your checkout stays exactly where it is.
How is food cost calculated?
From the loaded quantity, less leftovers and reported losses, valued at the item’s purchase price. If an item is missing its leftover figure or its price, no amount is shown — what is missing is named instead.
Is the result my profit?
No. It is what was left after the costs you recorded — gross, without deducting sales tax, without fixed costs and without depreciation. Enough to answer “is this market worth it?”, not enough for a tax return.
Do I have to maintain purchase prices?
For food cost, yes — otherwise there is nothing to value consumption against. The price sits on the item and applies per stocked unit; for items stocked by the case, Mobistro also shows the price per content unit.
Can I compare planned against actual?
Both figures exist — the planned food cost comes from kitchen planning, the actual one from wrap-up. An automatic side-by-side comparison is not available today.
Close out the next event with usable numbers.
Try Mobistro free during beta — wrap-up, food cost and analysis without changing your POS.