10 Restaurant KPIs Every Operator Should Track Weekly

Last updated July 30, 2026.

Ten restaurant KPIs, in order of what actually predicts profitability: prime cost, food cost percentage, labor cost percentage, sales per labor hour, contribution margin per menu item, table turnover, RevPASH, breakeven sales, cash cycle days, and comparable sales. Track these weekly. A monthly P&L is too slow to fix anything.

The 10 KPIs, ranked by use

#	KPI	Target range	Why it matters
1	Prime cost	55-65% of sales	The single number that most predicts survival. Combines food and labor into one control point.
2	Food cost percentage	28-35% (concept dependent)	Where waste, portioning, and menu pricing all show up.
3	Labor cost percentage	25-35% (concept dependent)	Where scheduling discipline and wage inflation show up.
4	Sales per labor hour	$65-$120 (concept dependent)	The productivity number. Rising SPLH means you scheduled well.
5	Contribution margin per menu item	Item-specific	Menu engineering foundation. Not every top seller is a top earner.
6	Table turnover	1.5-3x per meal period	Full-service capacity metric. Tells you if your dining room is working.
7	RevPASH	$30-$80 (concept dependent)	Revenue per available seat hour. The hospitality equivalent of RevPAR.
8	Breakeven sales	Restaurant-specific	The minimum weekly revenue below which you lose money.
9	Cash cycle days	15-30 days	Time from paying for inventory to collecting the sale. Where “profitable but broke” happens.
10	Comparable sales	Positive, driven by traffic	Long-term health signal. Positive is good. Positive from traffic (not price) is great.

1. Prime cost

Formula: (Cost of goods sold + Total labor cost) / Sales.

Target range: 55% to 65% of sales, depending on concept. Full-service leans higher, quick-service leans lower.

Why it matters: Prime cost is the two biggest lines on any restaurant P&L combined. When it drifts above 65%, there is almost no path to a healthy bottom line even with perfect execution on the other lines. Our prime cost primer covers the mechanics.

2. Food cost percentage

Formula: (Beginning inventory + Purchases – Ending inventory) / Food sales.

Target range: 28-32% for casual dining, 30-35% for QSR with heavy protein, 25-30% for pizza and pasta concepts.

Why it matters: Food cost is the fastest-moving cost line. Beef prices swing weekly. Portioning drift compounds daily. The food cost by concept guide has the concept-specific benchmarks.

3. Labor cost percentage

Formula: Total labor cost (wages + taxes + benefits) / Sales.

Target range: 25-30% for QSR, 30-35% for full-service, 28-32% for fast casual.

Why it matters: Labor is the biggest lever an operator controls in-week. Overshooting labor by two points on a $30K sales week costs you $600. Over a year, that is $30K straight off the bottom line.

4. Sales per labor hour (SPLH)

Formula: Total sales / Total labor hours worked.

Target range: $65 to $80 for QSR, $80 to $120 for full-service, higher for upscale concepts.

Why it matters: SPLH is the productivity number. It normalizes labor across weeks with different sales volumes. Rising SPLH means you scheduled well. Falling SPLH means you either overstaffed or lost traffic. Our SPLH framework covers targets by concept and daypart.

5. Contribution margin per menu item

Formula: Menu price – Food cost per portion.

Target range: Item-specific. Aim for the top 20% of items to have contribution margins at least 1.5x the menu average.

Why it matters: Not every top seller is a top earner. A high-volume item with a 45% food cost may generate less contribution than a lower-volume item at 25%. Menu engineering starts here. Our menu engineering guide walks through the four-quadrant analysis.

6. Table turnover

Formula: Total covers / Number of tables, per meal period.

Target range: 1.5x for upscale dining, 2-2.5x for casual dining, 3x or higher for high-volume brunch and casual.

Why it matters: Turnover is your capacity constraint. If you are at 1.2 turns on a Saturday night, either your service pace is too slow or your reservation policy is leaving money on the floor.

7. RevPASH (Revenue per Available Seat Hour)

Formula: Total revenue / (Seats x Hours open).

Target range: $30-$50 for casual, $50-$80 for upscale, higher for high-check concepts.

Why it matters: RevPASH is the hospitality version of hotel RevPAR. It captures both check average and turnover in one number. Two restaurants can have the same revenue and very different RevPASH if one is bigger. See our RevPASH deep dive.

8. Breakeven sales

Formula: Fixed costs / Contribution margin percentage.

Target range: Restaurant-specific. The important thing is knowing yours, weekly.

Why it matters: Breakeven tells you the minimum revenue below which you lose money. Most operators do not know theirs to within $5K. That means they do not know if a slow week was a P&L win or a P&L loss until the month closes. Our breakeven guide has the mechanics.

9. Cash cycle days

Formula: Days inventory + Days receivables – Days payables.

Target range: 15-30 days for most restaurants. Cash-only concepts can push negative.

Why it matters: Cash cycle is where “profitable but broke” happens. A restaurant with a 45-day cash cycle needs 50% more working capital to run than one at 20. See why profitable restaurants run out of cash.

10. Comparable sales

Formula: This week’s sales / Same week last year’s sales, minus one.

Target range: Positive. Ideally driven by transactions, not price.

Why it matters: Comp sales are the long-term health signal. Positive comps mean your customer base is growing or spending more. But watch the driver. Comp growth from price hikes runs out fast. Comp growth from transactions is real.

Track these weekly, not monthly

The single biggest mistake independent operators make is reviewing P&L data monthly. By the time you see a bad number in the March P&L, April is halfway gone. Every one of these KPIs can be tracked on a weekly cadence with data you already have. See our weekly KPI review framework for the exact process.

Frequently asked questions

What is the single most important restaurant KPI?

Prime cost. It combines the two largest cost lines (food and labor) into one control number. When prime cost drifts above 65% of sales, there is almost no path to a healthy bottom line.

How often should I review these KPIs?

Weekly at minimum. Prime cost, labor percentage, and SPLH should be tracked daily by shift once you have a system in place.

What is a good food cost percentage for a restaurant?

Depends on concept. Casual dining generally targets 28-32%, QSR with heavy protein runs 30-35%, and pizza and pasta concepts can hit 25-30%. Full concept-by-concept ranges in our food cost guide.

What is the difference between labor cost and sales per labor hour?

Labor cost is expressed as a percentage of sales. SPLH is expressed in dollars per hour worked. SPLH normalizes across weeks with different sales volumes and is the better productivity signal.

Can a restaurant be profitable and still fail?

Yes. This is where cash cycle days matter. A restaurant with a 45-day cash cycle needs significantly more working capital to fund operations than one at 20. Profitability on the P&L does not equal solvency on the balance sheet.

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Written by The Pragmatic CFO. 15+ years running restaurant P&Ls.