COGS plus labor as a percentage of sales — the single number that tells you whether the restaurant works, and the one to run weekly rather than monthly.
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| Line | Amount | % of sales |
|---|---|---|
| COGS | — | — |
| Labor | — | — |
| Prime cost | — | — |
| Occupancy | — | — |
| Other operating | — | — |
| Operating profit | — | — |
Prime cost is COGS plus fully loaded labor, as a percentage of sales. It matters more than food cost or labor cost alone because the two trade against each other: buying pre-portioned proteins raises food cost and lowers labor, prepping in house does the reverse. Managed separately you can "improve" one while quietly making the restaurant worse. Prime cost is the only view that catches that.
The benchmark for full service is 60–65%; quick service can run to 60% or below. Above about 70% almost no independent survives, because rent, utilities, insurance, marketing and debt service still have to come out of what is left — and there is not enough left.
Calculate it weekly, not monthly. Monthly prime cost tells you what happened after you can no longer do anything about it; weekly prime cost lets you change next week's schedule and next week's order. Operators who move to a weekly cadence usually find one to three points inside a quarter, which on $3.7M of annual sales is $37,000 to $111,000 a year.
The Restaurant Cost Control Pack is the four sheets this site's maths is built on, ready to use: a recipe costing sheet with yield and waste built in, a menu engineering matrix that sorts every dish into stars / plowhorses / puzzles / dogs, a weekly inventory and waste log, and a prime cost tracker that charts the trend by week.
One-off $19 — instant access, no subscription.
Get the Cost Control Pack — $19Prime cost is cost of goods sold plus fully loaded labor, expressed as a percentage of total sales. It captures the two largest and most controllable costs in one number.
60–65% for full service; quick service can run at or below 60%. Above roughly 70%, very few independents survive, because occupancy, utilities, insurance and debt service still have to be paid from what is left.
Because food cost and labor trade against each other. Buying pre-portioned proteins raises food cost and cuts labor; prepping in house does the reverse. Tracked separately you can improve one while making the restaurant worse.
Weekly. A monthly figure only tells you what already happened; a weekly one lets you change next week's schedule and orders. Operators who switch to weekly typically find one to three points within a quarter.