--- title: How is my restaurant doing with sales and efficiency? - Get My FIXE description: Which metrics and efficiencies should restaurants focus on to find whether their business is succeeding? Prime cost, rent, meal parts, sales. image: https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/feature-how-is-my-restaurant-doing.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/how-is-my-restaurant-doing-with-sales-and-efficiency#main-content) [![FIXE Logo](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/FIXE-2@2x.png?width=333&height=200&name=FIXE-2@2x.png)Homepage](https://www.getmyfixe.com/) - [How FIXE Works](https://www.getmyfixe.com/how-fixe-works/) - [Restaurant Types](https://www.getmyfixe.com/restaurant-types/) - [Pricing](https://www.getmyfixe.com/pricing/) - [FAQs](https://www.getmyfixe.com/faqs/) - [Communal Table](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table) [Book a demo](https://www.getmyfixe.com/book-a-demo/) - [How FIXE Works](https://www.getmyfixe.com/how-fixe-works/) - [Restaurant Types](https://www.getmyfixe.com/restaurant-types/) - [Pricing](https://www.getmyfixe.com/pricing/) - [FAQs](https://www.getmyfixe.com/faqs/) - [Communal Table](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table) [Book a demo](https://www.getmyfixe.com/book-a-demo/) ![](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/feature-how-is-my-restaurant-doing.jpg?width=1500&height=1000&name=feature-how-is-my-restaurant-doing.jpg) Gross Income FIXE Insights # How is my restaurant doing with sales and efficiency? ![Ryan Handel](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hubfs/FIXE-mark-midnight-icon.svg) Ryan Handel October 30, 2024 **Short answer:** Start with four benchmarks. Prime cost, your cost of goods sold plus labor, should be under 60% of sales, and rent should be around 8% of sales. You should be really good at about 10 of the 21 meal parts in a week, and you should measure cost percentages against net sales after discounts, since that's the money that actually reaches your bank account. Which sales metrics and efficiencies should restaurants focus on to determine whether they’re succeeding in business? I’ve identified some metrics that all restaurants should want to live by. ## Key takeaways - Prime cost (cost of goods sold plus labor) should stay under 60% of sales, whatever your mix of food and labor costs. Really high performing restaurants run even lower. - Rent should target 8% of sales. If you're above that, look for more sales through another meal part, catering, third party delivery or marketing before raising prices. - A week has 21 possible meal parts, and a successful concept needs to be really good at about 10 of them. - Check your sales per hour in your POS before expanding your hours. The break even threshold is different for every restaurant. - Measure cost percentages against net sales, after discounts, not gross sales. ## PRIME COST Prime cost is the cost of goods sold (COGS) plus your labor costs. Prime cost should be under 60%. Whether you are a steakhouse where steak is 40% of the cost and labor is 20% of the cost, or if you’re an Italian restaurant where the pasta is only 20% food cost, but there’s more labor, those two numbers combined should be under 60%. For every dollar, 60 cents are costs, and 40 cents go to the bottom line. Really high performing restaurants are even lower than that. ## RENT With rent, the target should be 8% of sales. If sales are not at that metric, then you need to figure out a way to drive more sales to your establishment. Raising prices is probably the last option you want to do. Figure out other ways of selling your food, whether it’s adding another meal part, catering, third party deliveries, or marketing. ## MEAL PARTS In any given week, restaurants have 21 possible meal parts: breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week. In order to have a successful concept, you need to be really good at 10 meal parts. You can be really good at breakfast and lunch. You can be really good at lunch and dinner. Weekend brunch and catering can also help business, but it’s very hard to just be strictly good at one meal period and nothing else and have a successful restaurant. Decide which meal parts you’ll be open for business. If you eventually want to expand your day part, I would be very cautious of looking at your POS system to see your sales per hour. Back in the day, when I worked at Baja Fresh as an intern, if they weren’t averaging $150 an hour in sales, then it wasn’t worth it for them to be open. That’s how they tracked sales. I wouldn’t be able to recommend an average sales per hour threshold that works for every restaurant. That metric is different from restaurant to restaurant and varies based on factors like how big the restaurant is versus how small the restaurant. Once you find that sweet spot, when you get to times like holidays and can’t hit your break even point average, then you can decide whether it’s worth it to be open those days. ## PERCENTAGE OF SALES: NET INCOME VS. GROSS INCOME You should also be looking at your percentage of sales as a percentage of net income and not gross income. I know people would differ with me on this. I’m not going to say one is better than the other, but let’s say I sell a burrito for $10. I discount it by $1 and sell it for $9. Technically, to know your food cost, you would want to take your cost of goods sold and divide by the $10 number. This is how much the burrito cost me to make. However, in terms of the true cost of goods sold, I actually prefer basing it off the $9 because ultimately the $9 is what’s going into your bank account. Not $10. I think of percentages in terms of net income, not gross income. That’s what we typically try to get the FIXE customers to look at, at least on day one. Eventually, when they become more sophisticated and we want to change those percentages a little bit, we’re happy to do it, but for day one, we do it off net sales. Look at the percentage of the dollars that are going into my bank account. What’s it costing me? Otherwise it’s fake dollars. I could discount everything down to $1 and make it look like a great cost. Those percentages are only as good as the reports behind them, which is why FIXE customers get [weekly KPI reports and a timely monthly P&L](https://www.getmyfixe.com/how-fixe-works/). ## Frequently asked questions ### What is a good prime cost percentage for a restaurant? Prime cost, your cost of goods sold plus labor, should be under 60% of sales. A steakhouse might run 40% food cost and 20% labor, while an Italian restaurant runs a lower food cost and more labor, but the two combined should stay under 60%. That leaves 40 cents of every dollar for the bottom line, and really high performing restaurants do even better. ### What percentage of sales should restaurant rent be? Target rent at about 8% of sales. If you're above that, the fix is usually driving more sales, not raising prices: add a meal part, catering or third party delivery, or put more into marketing. Raising prices should be close to your last option. ### Should food cost be calculated on gross sales or net sales? People differ on this, but FIXE starts customers on net sales. If you sell a $10 burrito discounted to $9, the $9 is what goes into your bank account, so that's the number to measure your costs against. Basing percentages on gross sales can make your costs look better than they really are. ## More on Reading Your P&L and Reports This post is part of our [Reading Your P&L and Reports](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/restaurant-pl-and-reports) guide. Keep reading: - [How to read your restaurant P&L, section by section](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/how-to-read-your-restaurant-pl-section-by-section) - [Which Financial Reports Should I Look at to Understand My Restaurant Business?](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/which-financial-reports-should-i-look-at-to-understand-my-restaurant-business) - [How do I know if my Profit & Loss statement is accurate?](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/how-do-i-know-if-profit-loss-statement-accurate) Want a second set of eyes on last month's numbers? [Roast my P&L](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/roast-my-pl?src=blog). About the author [Ryan Handel](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/author/ryan) is the co-founder and CEO of FIXE. He spent more than 20 years in the restaurant industry before starting FIXE, which now does the books for 600+ restaurant locations. [Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-handel-694a9520/). ## Share this post [mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fhub.getmyfixe.com%2Fcommunal-table%2Fhow-is-my-restaurant-doing-with-sales-and-efficiency](mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fhub.getmyfixe.com%2Fcommunal-table%2Fhow-is-my-restaurant-doing-with-sales-and-efficiency) ## Keep reading ### [![The Complete Guide to Restaurant Payroll Reconciliation](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/FIXE-The-Complete-Guide-to-Restaurant-Payroll-Reconciliation.jpg?width=1672&height=941&name=FIXE-The-Complete-Guide-to-Restaurant-Payroll-Reconciliation.jpg) Tipping Bookkeeping FIXE The Complete Guide to Restaurant Payroll Reconciliation](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/the-complete-guide-to-restaurant-payroll-reconciliation) ### [![Best Restaurant Bookkeeping Firms for Multi-Unit Groups](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/FIXE-Best-Restaurant-Bookkeeping-Firms-for-Multi-Unit-Groups.jpg?width=1672&height=941&name=FIXE-Best-Restaurant-Bookkeeping-Firms-for-Multi-Unit-Groups.jpg) 3rd Party Apps Franchises Bookkeeping Best Restaurant Bookkeeping Firms for Multi-Unit Groups (2026)](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/best-restaurant-finance-partners-for-operators) [![FIXE-2@2x-1](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/FIXE-2@2x-1.png?width=150&height=90&name=FIXE-2@2x-1.png "FIXE-2@2x-1")](https://www.getmyfixe.com/) - SOLUTIONS - [How FIXE Works](https://www.getmyfixe.com/how-fixe-works/) - [Fresh Financial Reports](https://www.getmyfixe.com/how-fixe-works/#reports) - [A/P Automation](https://www.getmyfixe.com/how-fixe-works/#automation) - [3rd Party App Intelligence](https://www.getmyfixe.com/how-fixe-works/#3rd-party-intelligence) - RESOURCES - [Restaurant Types](https://www.getmyfixe.com/restaurant-types/) - [Pricing](https://www.getmyfixe.com/pricing/) - [Book a demo](https://www.getmyfixe.com/book-a-demo/) - [Glossary](https://www.getmyfixe.com/fixe-restaurant-bookkeeping-glossary/) - COMPANY - [FAQs](https://www.getmyfixe.com/faqs/) - [Communal Table](https://www.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/) - [Sign in](https://www.fixebookkeeping.com/) - [Contact us](https://www.getmyfixe.com/contact-us/) © 2026 FIXE. All rights reserved.   [Privacy policy](https://www.getmyfixe.com/privacy-policy/) --- {{ footer\_js() }} {{ js\_integration\_body\_end() }} ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Ryan Handel", "url" : "https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/author/ryan" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-28T22:07:45.969Z", "datePublished" : "2024-10-30T07:18:35.000Z", "headline" : "How is my restaurant doing with sales and efficiency? - Get My FIXE", "image" : [ "https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/feature-how-is-my-restaurant-doing.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/how-is-my-restaurant-doing-with-sales-and-efficiency", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hubfs/FIXE-2@2x.png" }, "name" : "Fixe Inc." } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "FAQPage", "mainEntity" : [ { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Prime cost, your cost of goods sold plus labor, should be under 60% of sales. 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