Recipe Scaling Calculator
Enter your recipe ingredients and original serving size, then set your target guest count. Quantities and costs are recalculated instantly. Free, no signup required.
Recipe details
Scale factor: 10.0x
Ingredients (original recipe)
How recipe scaling works for caterers
Scaling a recipe from 4 servings to 40 guests is not always a straight multiply-by-ten. Most ingredients scale linearly, but seasoning, leavening agents, and gelatine often need less than a proportional increase. Cooking times and temperatures also change at scale.
This calculator handles the maths for the ingredient quantities and costs. For non-linear ingredients, adjust the scaled quantities manually after generating the output — the calculator gives you the baseline to work from.
Why accurate scaling matters for margins
Scaling errors are one of the biggest margin killers for micro-caterers. Over-ordering creates waste. Under-ordering means emergency purchases at full retail price instead of your wholesale rate. A recipe that costs £2 per serving at 4 portions may not cost exactly £20 per serving at 40 — bulk purchasing discounts, different packaging sizes, and supplier minimums all affect the real cost at scale.
Use this calculator alongside the catering cost per head calculator to price your events accurately.
Save your scaled recipes for every event
This calculator scales one recipe at a time. CaterCost stores all your recipes, scales them to any guest count, and aggregates costs across your full event menu — with allergen tracking built in.