FREE CALCULATOR

Restaurant Break-Even Calculator

Find out how many customers you need per day to cover your costs and start making money.

Need to estimate startup costs first? Use our startup calculator.
Startup Calculator →

How to Use This Calculator

Enter your monthly fixed costs (rent, insurance, loan payments, utilities), your average ticket size, and your variable costs as a percentage of sales. The calculator will tell you exactly how much you need to make each day to break even.

Fixed costs are expenses you pay regardless of sales: rent, insurance, loan payments, base salaries, utilities, software subscriptions.

Variable costs are expenses that scale with sales: food costs (typically 28-35%), hourly labor (typically 25-35%), and credit card fees (typically 2-3%).

Frequently Asked Questions

Most restaurants aim to break even at 60-70% of their seating capacity during typical service hours. If your break-even requires more than 80% occupancy, your cost structure may be too high for sustainable profitability. Restaurants that break even at 50-60% occupancy have more cushion for slow periods and can achieve stronger profit margins during busy times.
Target food cost percentages vary by restaurant type: Full-service restaurants typically aim for 28-32%, fast casual runs 30-35%, fine dining can be 35-40% due to premium ingredients offset by higher prices, and food trucks usually target 30-35%. Going above these ranges significantly impacts profitability, while going too far below may indicate portion sizes that disappoint customers.
There are three main levers to lower your break-even point: 1) Reduce fixed costs by negotiating rent, refinancing loans at lower rates, or reducing management salaries temporarily; 2) Increase average ticket through menu engineering, upselling training, and strategic pricing; 3) Reduce variable costs through portion control, better vendor negotiations, efficient labor scheduling, and reducing waste.
Yes, absolutely include a reasonable owner salary in your fixed costs. Many new restaurant owners make the mistake of not paying themselves during startup, which masks the true break-even point and isn't sustainable long-term. Include what you would need to pay a general manager to run the restaurant if you weren't there.
Contribution margin is the percentage of each sales dollar that remains after paying variable costs (food, hourly labor, credit card fees, supplies). For example, if your variable costs total 65% of sales, your contribution margin is 35%. This means 35 cents of every dollar goes toward covering fixed costs and profit. Most restaurants have contribution margins between 30-40%.
Total labor costs (including management salaries, hourly wages, payroll taxes, and benefits) typically run 25-35% of revenue for most restaurants. Quick-service restaurants often achieve 20-25% due to simpler operations, while full-service restaurants typically run 30-35%. The combination of food cost and labor cost (called prime cost) should ideally stay below 60-65% of revenue.

Need Financing for Your Restaurant?

Get pre-qualified in minutes. See your options without affecting your credit.

Get Pre-Qualified →
POS USA Logo

POSUSA.com provides point of sale solutions for restaurants, retailers, and small businesses. Since 2011, we’ve helped thousands of businesses choose the right POS system with trusted reviews, expert comparisons, and direct connections to leading providers.

POS USA Spotlight on RSPA
POSUSA
Logo
Compare items
  • Total (0)
Compare
0