Prime cost calculator
Add up food, beverage and labor as a share of sales and see what each point of prime cost is worth to you. Nothing to sign up for, and nothing you enter leaves your browser.
Enter your total monthly sales in dollars, for example 120,000 or 120k.
Drag a slider, or type a percentage (31.5%) or a dollar amount from your P&L ($31,240).
$31,000 a month
$32,000 a month
$12,000 a month
- Each point of prime cost is worth
- $1,000 a month$12,000 a year
- Getting prime cost to 60%
- +$36,000 a yearif prime cost came down 3 points
- Prime cost
- $63,000
- Left after these costs
- $25,000
Track it month by month
Save each month's numbers to see which way prime cost is heading. Saved months stay in this browser only, until you clear them.
Prefer a spreadsheet? Download the prime cost tracker template (Excel, also opens in Google Sheets and Numbers).
No months saved yet. Set this month's numbers above, then save them.
| Month | Sales | Food & bev | Labor | Prime cost | Remove |
|---|
Illustration only, not advice. Bands are common rules of thumb (under 60% strong, 60-65% on target, 65-70% watch, over 70% needs attention) and vary by concept. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere, and nothing is stored unless you save a month (then only in this browser).
How prime cost works
Prime cost is the two biggest costs a restaurant controls week to week, added together: what you spent on food and drink, and what you spent on people. It is the largest share of sales most operators can actually move, which is why it is worth checking every month.
Prime cost % = (food and beverage cost + labor cost) ÷ sales × 100
What to include
- Food and beverage cost: what you actually used in the period, meaning opening inventory plus purchases minus closing inventory. Purchases alone can hide waste or stock building up on the shelves.
- Labor cost: everyone's pay, including salaried managers, plus payroll taxes and benefits.
- Sales: net sales for the same period, before sales tax and tips.
A worked example
The calculator opens on an example month: $100,000 in sales, food and beverage at 31% ($31,000) and labor at 32% ($32,000).
($31,000 + $32,000) ÷ $100,000 × 100 = 63%
So $63,000 of the month's sales went to prime cost. With other controllable costs at 12%, about $25,000 is left for rent, other overheads and profit. At these sales, each point of prime cost is worth $1,000 a month, or $12,000 a year.
Reading the result
The calculator labels a result using common rules of thumb: under 60% strong, 60 to 65% on target, 65 to 70% worth watching and over 70% needing attention. Healthy ranges differ by concept, since a counter-service café, a full-service dining room and a bar run very different mixes of food and labor, so the trend in your own numbers from month to month usually says more than any single benchmark. Save each month under the calculator to see that trend build up; saved months stay in your browser.
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