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Restaurant revenue is loud; restaurant profit is quiet. Full-service restaurants typically keep 3–9% of sales after everything — a good month on $45,000 of sales is $1,400–$4,000 to the owner. That thinness is normal, and it is exactly why small cost leaks matter so much.
The calculator splits your month into the five buckets that matter: food and beverage, labor, occupancy, and everything else. If the result is red or thin, the order of attack is prime cost first (food + labor), then the lease conversation — in that order, because prime cost moves in weeks, not lease cycles.
Keep going with these tools — they build on this calculation: Break Even Calculator, Prime Cost Calculator, Food Cost Percentage Calculator and Labor Cost Calculator. When your prices look right, print the menu with the Menu Maker — free templates, PDF & PNG. Want us to set the whole system up for you? Ask about concierge setup.
Full-service restaurants typically net 3–9%; quick-service can run 6–15%. Independent operators often land under 5%. Margins above 12% put you in the top tier of the trade.
The cost stack is heavy by nature: roughly 30% food, 30% labor, 15–20% occupancy, 10% overhead. What separates survivors is prime cost discipline, not a magic revenue number.
Both — monthly for steering, annually for truth. Restaurants are seasonal: a strong June can hide a losing January. The calculator annualizes your current run rate as a rough reality check.