The money
Food cost typically runs around 25-32% and labour around 25-35%, together forming prime cost of roughly 55-65% of sales. Rent typically sits at around 8-15% of turnover depending on location. Profit margins at site level are often in the 10-20% range before central costs, and much lower after them. Table turns, average spend and delivery mix decide whether a site works. Pre-pandemic over-expansion left many chains paying rents agreed in better times.
Numbers that matter
- Prime cost %
- food plus labour as a share of sales
- Table turns
- how many seatings each table hosts
- Average spend per head
- revenue per guest
- Like-for-like sales
- growth at sites open more than a year
- Site EBITDA
- operating profit at restaurant level
- Labour hours per cover
- staffing efficiency
What keeps owners up
- National Living Wage increases and employer NICs
- Rent and long leases
- Delivery commissions eating margin
- Discounting culture and voucher dependency
- Staff turnover in entry-level roles
- Competition from fast casual
What we talk about
- What a CVA means for the people working in the restaurant
- Tronc and service charge: who really gets it
- Rota design as an act of care or neglect
- The first-job sector: careers that start on the floor
- Why menus got shorter
- Chain versus independent: different kinds of good