Restaurant finance, worked out.
Contents
Food cost Food cost is what left the shelf: beginning inventory, plus purchases, minus what is still there, divided by food sales for the same days. A delivery can make the week look expensive until the count is in. The page has the formula, a worked week at 28.1 percent, and what the 2024 association medians actually measure.
Labor cost Labor cost adds wages, payroll taxes, and benefits, then divides by the sales those hours produced. A wage-only percentage will not match the payroll register. The worked week here is 11,400 over 42,800, or 26.6 percent.
Prime cost Prime cost adds food, beverage, and labor, then divides by sales. Those are the costs that still move when a week is slow. The illustration is 25,740 over 42,800, or 60.1 percent. The 2024 limited-service median is filed beside it as a median, not a target.
Restaurant P&L A restaurant profit and loss runs from sales through the cost of what was served and the labor that served it, then the costs that do not flex with the week. Prime cost sits in the middle, where the number can still change. The template uses those same lines.
Cash flow The deposit and the sales report describe different things. Tips, sales tax, card fees, and the timing of vendor bills sit between a busy Friday and the cash the restaurant can spend. The page keeps those amounts apart, and watches the week as well as the month.
Month-end close A month is closed when sales, inventory, payroll, payables, and the bank all describe the same days, and a person has signed off. Software can hold the entries. The signature is still a person's. The vendor pages separate a product that stores the books from a firm that finishes them.
Multi-unit reporting Each location needs the same chart of accounts, and a profit and loss that can be read store by store before the group is added up. A single company total hides the store carrying the others. Shared costs, such as an area manager, need a written rule for how they land on a store.
Guides
A restaurant month is closed when sales, delivery payouts, inventory, payables, payroll, and every bank account describe the same days, the clearing accounts are at zero or explained, and a person has signed off. Work in the order below, because each step feeds the next.
Restaurant P&L The weekly restaurant P&L: what it shows and how to build oneA weekly restaurant P&L shows net sales, food and beverage cost, labor, and prime cost for one week by location, within a few days of the week ending. It uses actual sales and payroll and an estimate for cost of goods until inventory is counted. The month-end close then replaces the estimates.
Food cost What is a good food cost percentage?A useful food cost percentage is the one you can tie to a count, not a number borrowed from another dining room. The National Restaurant Association's 2024 median for food and nonalcoholic beverages was 32.4 percent of sales at limited-service restaurants and 32.0 percent at full-service restaurants, and the association says those medians are not targets.
Prime cost How to calculate prime costAdd food cost, beverage cost, and labor, then divide by total sales. In the worked week on this page that is 25,740 over 42,800, or 60.1 percent. The association's 2024 limited-service median was 65 percent of sales, and it is a median, not a target.
Restaurant P&L Restaurant P&L template, explainedRead a restaurant P&L from sales down to prime cost before you look at rent. The template on this site follows that order so a weekly report and the monthly statement use the same lines.
Comparisons
These are firms whose people run the books, not software you run yourself. Two publish prices: The Fork CPAs starts at 950 USD a month and Kit by KitchenSync at 1,500 USD per location per month. The biggest difference between them is the ledger they work in: QuickBooks Online, Restaurant365, or the firm's own platform.
Best Restaurant accounting firms for multi-unit groups, 2026For a multi-unit group the questions are reporting by location, a close that does not slip as units are added, and how price scales. Kit by KitchenSync publishes 1,500 USD per location per month. Paperchase says its fee is under 1% of monthly revenue. FORCS states groups through 58 units.
Best Best restaurant accounting softwareSoftware that holds a ledger and a firm that closes the month are different purchases. The table lines them up on the same fields. A ranked winner is not assigned on this version of the page.
Versus Kit by KitchenSync vs Harmony GroupBoth firms publish close timing, which most firms do not. Kit by KitchenSync says weekly P&Ls are finalized within 36 hours and publishes prices from 1,500 USD per location per month. Harmony Group publishes a 10-day hard close every month, works in QuickBooks Online with MarginEdge, and does not publish a price.
Versus Restaurant365 vs QuickBooksRestaurant365 is a restaurant system with a general ledger, inventory, and scheduling. QuickBooks Online is a general ledger your accountant may already close. In both cases, someone still has to close the month.
Versus Restaurant365 vs MarginEdgeRestaurant365 can be where the books live. MarginEdge publishes 350 USD per location per month for invoices and food cost, then connects to QuickBooks, Xero, or Sage. The month is still closed by a person.
Versus Paperchase vs The Fork CPAsThe Fork CPAs publishes its prices: 950 USD a month for The Bookkeeper plan, 1,800 USD for The Controller, and 400 USD for pre-opening concepts. Paperchase does not publish a price but says its flat per location fee comes to under 1% of monthly revenue. Paperchase is built for large groups on Restaurant365.
Versus xtraCHEF vs MarginEdgextraCHEF is the Toast path, with Essentials published at 179 USD per location per month and Pro at 279. MarginEdge is 350 USD per location per month and names Toast, Square, NCR Aloha, and SpotOn. Neither one closes the books.
Alternatives Restaurant365 alternatives, 2026Restaurant365 combines a restaurant ledger with inventory and scheduling, and its pricing page lists no price. The alternatives fall into two groups: QuickBooks Online plus a restaurant tool such as MarginEdge at 350 USD per location per month, or a firm that runs the books so you do not buy the ledger decision at all.