# Restaurant Bottom Line Restaurant financial guidance for operators, from a CFO with 15+ years in restaurant P&L management. ## Key articles - [What Percentage Should Labor Cost Be in a Restaurant?](https://restaurantbottomline.com/restaurant-labor-cost-percentage/). Labor cost benchmarks by service type with a plain-English diagnosis of what a healthy percentage looks like. - [How to Calculate 4-Wall EBITDA](https://restaurantbottomline.com/how-to-calculate-4-wall-ebitda/). Unit economics from the restaurant CFO perspective. - [Menu Engineering: Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles, Dogs](https://restaurantbottomline.com/menu-engineering-which-items-are-stars-plowhorses-puzzles-and-dogs/). Classic menu profitability analysis for operators. - [Prime Cost: The One Number Every Operator Should Watch](https://restaurantbottomline.com/prime-cost-the-one-number-that-tells-you-if-your-restaurant-is-profitable/). Prime cost management. - [How to Read a Restaurant P&L Statement](https://restaurantbottomline.com/how-to-read-restaurant-pl-statement/). P&L literacy for restaurant owners and operators. - [Restaurant Break-Even Analysis](https://restaurantbottomline.com/restaurant-break-even-analysis-know-exactly-when-your-location-starts-making-money/). Break-even math for restaurants. - [Restaurant Cash Flow](https://restaurantbottomline.com/restaurant-cash-flow-why-profitable-restaurants-still-run-out-of-money/). Cash management for profitable-but-cash-poor restaurants. - [Restaurant KPIs: 12 Numbers Every Operator Tracks Weekly](https://restaurantbottomline.com/restaurant-kpis-12-numbers-every-operator-tracks-weekly/). The one-page weekly scorecard. - [Sales Per Labor Hour](https://restaurantbottomline.com/sales-per-labor-hour-restaurant/). The productivity metric that beats labor cost percentage. ## About Restaurant Bottom Line is written by The Pragmatic CFO, a former chain CFO with 15+ years managing restaurant P&Ls. Content targets restaurant operators, finance staff, and aspiring restaurateurs, not investors or dealmakers.