Guides · Money

The five numbers every restaurant owner should know by heart

You don’t need an accountancy course to run a profitable restaurant. You need five numbers, checked often enough that a wrong one feels like a wrong note in a song you know.

1. Net position — the only score that matters

Money in minus money out, this month. Not turnover — plenty of busy restaurants lose money loudly. If you know just one number, know whether the month is up or down today, not six weeks later when the accountant calls.

2. Food cost percentage

What you spend on ingredients as a share of takings. Full-service restaurants typically run 28–35%; a couple of points of drift on £15,000 of monthly takings is £300–£450 quietly leaving the building. Drift comes from supplier price creep, portion creep and waste — all fixable, none visible without the number.

3. Labour percentage

Wages as a share of takings, target around 25–30% for most independents. The skill isn’t cutting hours — it’s matching them to demand: your quiet Tuesday and your slammed Friday shouldn’t share a rota.

4. Average spend per head

Takings divided by covers (or orders). It’s the number menu design, upselling and pricing all move. A 30p rise across 1,000 weekly orders is £15,600 a year — found, not earned.

5. Your busiest day — next week, not last week

Every owner knows Friday was busy. The valuable version is knowing next Friday will be — with a number attached — so the prep, the staff and the fish order are already right when the rush arrives.