Restaurant prime cost calculator.
Food cost + labor cost as a % of revenue. The single most-watched number in restaurant operations. Target: under 60%.
Period totals
Use a full week or month. Defaults assume a small café.
Prime cost ratio
Prime cost is the one number every restaurant operator watches.
Prime cost combines your two biggest expenses — food and labor — into a single ratio. Hit it weekly. It's the leading indicator of whether the operation is profitable, and you'll see drift in prime cost two weeks before it shows in P&L.
The formula
Prime cost = food cost + labor costPrime cost % = prime cost ÷ revenue
The 60% rule
Under 55%: exceptional. You have real pricing power, lean staffing, tight ordering. 55-60%: healthy. Normal range for well-run independents. 60-65%: attention needed. Look at portion control, shift scheduling, waste tracking. Over 65%: emergency. Either prices are too low, payroll is too heavy, or COGS is leaking somewhere (theft, spoilage, over-pouring).
Why labor includes everything
Wages alone underestimates labor cost by 25-40%. Include payroll taxes, social contributions, paid leave accrual, training time, your own hours. The number is what it actually costs to staff the shop — anything less and you'll think you're more profitable than you are.
The trade-off owners forget
Food and labor trade off against each other. Cheap convenience food = high food cost, low labor (no prep). Made-from-scratch = low food cost, high labor (cooks + time). Prime cost normalizes both. If you're high on one and low on the other, the total ratio is what counts.