Eleven numbers you should see every morning

Most restaurants do not suffer from a lack of data. They drown in it. Many reports, few decisions.

Here are eleven numbers that genuinely earn your time, grouped by what they tell you.

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Sales numbers

1. Net sales

net sales = gross sales − discounts − refunds − tax

Always compare against the same weekday last week, never against yesterday. Thursday does not compare to Tuesday.

2. Transaction count

This separates two very different causes of a sales drop: fewer guests, or the same guests spending less. The remedy differs completely.

3. Average check

average check = net sales ÷ transaction count

The cheapest number to improve. Ten more per check across 300 checks a day is 90,000 a month without a single new customer. The main lever is structured upselling: a side, a size upgrade, a drink.

4. Sales by hour

Reveals your real peak, and it is the basis of shift scheduling. A restaurant staffing identically from noon to midnight is paying wages during hours that do not sell.

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Cost numbers

5. Food cost percentage

(opening + purchases − closing) ÷ net food sales

The full method is in the food cost article — the common error is calculating from purchases alone.

6. Labour cost percentage

total labour cost ÷ net sales

Including wages, incentives and any employer-side charges. A common range is 25% – 35% depending on service style.

7. Prime cost

prime cost = (food cost + labour cost) ÷ net sales

If you track one number, track this one. It is the two biggest lines you can actually influence — rent will not change this month, portions and scheduling will.

8. Sales per labour hour

net sales ÷ total paid hours

A sharper productivity measure than labour percentage alone, because it is not distorted by pay differences between staff.

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Integrity and quality numbers

9. Discounts, voids and refunds

Track three things: the value, the percentage of sales, and who did it.

A sudden rise in voids by one cashier on specific shifts is a pattern that deserves a question — it may be missing training, and it may not be. A system that records the void with a username and a timestamp is what makes the question possible.

10. Average prep time

Measures kitchen health, and it correlates directly with ratings and repeat rate.

11. Repeat customer rate

customers who ordered more than once in 90 days ÷ total customers

The most important long-term number. Winning a new customer costs several times more than keeping an existing one.

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Running these in practice

Daily (5 minutes): net sales, transactions, average check, discounts and voids.

Weekly (30 minutes): food cost, labour cost, prime cost, sales per labour hour, prep time.

Monthly (2 hours): menu engineering, repeat rate, branch comparison, supplier review.

One last rule

A number without context is decoration. Give every metric three things: its value, its comparison, and its threshold. “Food cost 34.2% (+1.8 vs last month, target 32%)” produces a decision. “34.2%” on its own produces nothing.

When sales, inventory, recipes and staff live in one system, these metrics come from a single source instead of being assembled from four files whose numbers disagree.