Updated October 22, 2026
This restaurant profit calculator turns a month of sales and costs into the numbers operators watch: food and beverage cost, labor, prime cost, occupancy, other operating costs and the profit left. Then it separates the costs that move with sales from the ones that don't, to give your break-even sales and the covers a day you need just to break even, compared with the covers you do now.
Quick answer: Profit = sales − food and beverage cost − labor − other variable costs − occupancy − other fixed costs. Prime cost = food and beverage cost + labor. Break-even sales = fixed costs ÷ (1 − variable cost %), where fixed costs include occupancy, other fixed costs and the fixed part of labor. Break-even covers per day = break-even sales ÷ average check ÷ days open.
An estimate from the numbers you entered, not a market price. Put in your own costs for a number you can stand behind.
Owners spend about 11 to 16 hours/week on admin, and a lead reached within an hour is nearly 7 times more likely to turn into a real conversation (HBR). The math is the easy part; the money leaks out in the calls you can't take, the follow-ups nobody sends and the invoices that sit unpaid. Unmanually is a 24/7 AI Office Manager for restaurants that you run by voice from your phone:
Sources: admin hours, Time etc / Censuswide 2023 and Amex SME Barometer 2026; speed to lead, HBR audit of 2,241 US companies (2011).
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profit = sales − food and beverage − labor − other variable − occupancy − other fixedprime cost = food and beverage cost + laborfixed costs = labor × fixed share + occupancy + other fixedvariable % = food % + labor % × (1 − fixed share) + other variable %break-even sales = fixed costs ÷ (1 − variable %)break-even covers per day = break-even sales ÷ average check ÷ days open
These are assumptions for illustration, not industry benchmarks. Use your own P&L.
A restaurant doing $120,000 of sales a month with a $28 average check, open 30 days. Food and beverage cost 30%, labor 30% of which half is fixed, occupancy $9,000, other variable costs 12% and other fixed costs $4,000/month.
Food and beverage cost $36,000 and labor $36,000, so prime cost is $72,000 (60%). Other variable costs are $14,400. Profit is $120,000 − $72,000 − $14,400 − $9,000 − $4,000 = $20,600/month (17.2%). Fixed costs are $18,000 of labor + $9,000 + $4,000 = $31,000, and variable costs are 30% + 15% + 12% = 57% of sales. Break-even is $31,000 ÷ 0.43 = $72,093 of sales a month, or 85.8 covers a day against about 143 now.
Bring food cost down to 28% and profit rises by $2,400/month, while break-even drops to about 82 covers a day.
Food and beverage plus labor is the biggest block of cost in almost every restaurant, which is why operators track prime cost weekly instead of waiting for the month-end P&L. It is also the part you can change fastest: portioning, waste, menu prices and scheduling all move it within days.
Rent, insurance, loan payments and the managers' salaries are paid whether the dining room is full or empty. Food cost, card fees and most hourly labor rise and fall with sales. Splitting them is what makes a break-even number possible. Be honest about the fixed share of labor: if you staff the same minimum crew every day, that labor is fixed.
Break-even sales is a big monthly number nobody on the floor can act on. Divided by the average check and the days open, it becomes covers per day, which a manager can watch each shift. Slow days below that number cost money; the busy days have to pay for them.
Know the plate cost of every item and price it from cost, not from the restaurant down the street. Items with low cost and high popularity carry the menu; expensive, slow items are candidates to rework or remove. Review prices when supplier costs change, not once a year.
Reservations, large parties, catering inquiries and takeout orders often arrive by phone in the middle of service, when nobody can pick up. Every unanswered call is a cover or an order that went somewhere else. Track how many calls you miss on a busy night; it is sales you already paid to attract.
Most restaurants have slow months and slow days of the week. Run the calculator on your slowest month as well as your average one. If a slow month falls below break-even, plan for it: shorter hours, a lighter menu, private events or catering to fill the gap.
Diners call to book a table, a party or catering, often in the middle of service. Unmanually is an AI Office Manager that works 24/7 and that you run by voice: the AI Office Manager answers, takes the date, party size and requests, books the table or the catering quote and texts the confirmation, sends reminders, and invoices and chases catering deposits. See what Unmanually does for restaurants, or get a free website that calls every new lead back in about a minute.
What the AI Office Manager does for restaurants, from reservations to catering deposits.
What unanswered calls during service cost.
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Take sales and subtract food and beverage cost, labor, occupancy and all other operating costs. The calculator does it from percentages and monthly dollar amounts.
Food and beverage cost plus total labor, including payroll taxes and benefits. It is usually the largest share of costs and the one managers can change fastest.
Divide fixed costs by one minus the variable cost percentage. With the worked example's assumptions, $31,000 of fixed costs and 57% variable costs give $72,093 of break-even sales a month.
Divide break-even sales by the average check and the days open. In the example, $72,093 ÷ $28 ÷ 30 days is about 86 covers a day.
Lower prime cost (portioning, waste, scheduling), price the menu from plate cost, and capture the sales you are missing, including phone orders and reservations that go unanswered during service.
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