---
title: "Pay Your Investors Back On Time: 10 Restaurant Numbers"
description: Will you pay your investors back on time? Ten restaurant numbers decide it. Here's the math for each one, the healthy range and the first fix to make.
---

[FIXE Communal Table](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table)

# [Pay Your Investors Back On Time: 10 Restaurant Numbers](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/pay-investors-back-on-time)

 Written by [Ryan](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/author/ryan) | Oct 12, 2026, 5:46:46 PM

If you're in your first two or three years, there's a question that rides home with you most nights: will I pay my investors back on time? Maybe it's investors. Maybe it's a lender, or your own savings. Somebody put money in, and they're waiting to see it come back.

*By Ryan Handel, FIXE founder. October 2026.*

The answer isn't in your sales. Busy and profitable aren't the same thing. It's in ten numbers: food cost, labor, prime cost, rent, delivery commissions, card fees, beverage cost, your cash cushion, any POS loan, and your margin vs last year. Plenty of owners know a few of them cold and guess at the rest.

## Why payback comes down to a few numbers

Your investors get paid out of what's left after everything else gets paid. Every point you lose to food, labor, rent, fees or debt is a point that doesn't go back to them.

That's why we look at each number as a share of sales, not in dollars. A percentage tells you if the restaurant works at any volume, and it's how most investors read your numbers. For their side of the math, here's [how to tell if a restaurant investment is working](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/how-am-i-doing-with-my-restaurant-investment).

## The big one: food, labor and prime cost

Food and labor are most of what you control. Add them together and you get prime cost. I've been a partner in three concepts and ten locations, and prime cost is still my main number. If you only track one, track this one.

- **Food cost %** = what you spent on food so far in 2026 ÷ your 2026 sales × 100. Example: $90,000 in food on $300,000 in sales = 30%. Healthy: under 30%.
- **Labor %** = (wages + payroll taxes + benefits) ÷ total sales × 100. Example: $92,800 in all-in labor on $320,000 in sales = 29%. Include salaried managers, and yourself if you're on payroll. Healthy: under 30%.
- **Prime cost %** = (food cost $ + all-in labor $) ÷ total sales × 100. Example: $96,000 in food + $92,800 in labor = $188,800 on $320,000 in sales = 59%. Healthy: under 60%.

**The fix:** Track prime cost weekly, not monthly. Food purchases plus labor, divided by sales, every Monday. What gets watched weekly gets fixed weekly. If food runs hot, cost out your top five sellers at today's supplier prices and re-price or re-portion what's slipped. If it's labor, trim the shifts with the lowest sales per labor hour.

## The fixed one: rent

**Rent %** = monthly rent (plus CAM or triple-net charges if you pay them) ÷ monthly sales × 100. Example: $6,000 in rent on $80,000 in monthly sales = 7.5%. Healthy: under 8%.

**The fix:** You can't cut rent overnight, so grow into it. Find your slowest day part and give people a reason to come in. And put your lease renewal date on the calendar now, with time to negotiate.

## The quiet leaks: delivery, card fees and the bar

These don't send you a bill. They just deposit less, or pour a little more. What you don't reconcile, you donate.

- **Delivery commission %** = everything the app kept (commissions, marketing fees, adjustments) ÷ the gross sales it reports × 100. Example: $1,100 kept on $5,000 in orders = 22%. Healthy: under 20%.
- **Card processing effective rate** = total processing fees for the month ÷ total card sales for the month × 100. Example: $2,700 in fees on $90,000 in card sales = 3%. Both numbers are on your processor's monthly statement.
- **Beverage cost %** = what you spent on beer, wine and liquor ÷ what those drinks sold for × 100. Example: $4,400 in beer purchases on $20,000 in beer sales = 22%.

**The fix:** Pull each app's payout statement, figure your real commission, and ask for a better rate or drop the paid marketing add-ons. For cards, get a competing quote, then call your processor and ask for a better rate. At the bar, do a weekly inventory for a month and compare what you used to what you sold. The gap is your over-pours, comps and walk-offs.

## The cushion and the debt: cash in the bank and POS loans

This pair decides what happens when a week goes sideways. Without a month of expenses in the bank, one slow week or one broken walk-in turns into a crisis. That's how good restaurants end up taking expensive money.

- **Cash cushion:** add up one normal month of everything going out: payroll, rent, food, utilities, loan payments, the works. Then check today's bank balance. Healthy: at least one month in the bank.
- **POS loan or cash advance true cost** = the total you'll pay back minus what you received. Divide that by what you received to get the cost as a %. Example: take $50,000, pay back $65,000. That's $15,000, or 30%, often over just a few months.

**The fix:** Open a separate savings account and auto-transfer a small, fixed amount after every deposit. The habit matters more than the amount. Before you take a loan, ask: is this money building something, or covering a hole? If it's to stay afloat, it ain't gonna be the help you need. Fix the hole first. Our guide to [restaurant costs and cash flow](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/restaurant-costs-and-cash-flow) goes deeper.

## The trend: your margin vs last year

**Profit margin %** = net profit ÷ total sales × 100. Do it for January through last month of 2026, then the same months of 2025. Compare the percentages, not the dollars. Busier doesn't always mean better. Healthy: the same or better than 2025.

**The fix:** Put this year's P&L next to last year's, same months, every line as a % of sales. The lines that grew the most are your first three calls. If your months don't line up cleanly, here's [why calendar months can mislead you](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/13-period-accounting-for-restaurants-why-your-calendar-months-are-lying-to-you).

## How to use this with your investors

- **Bring the numbers to your next investor update.** Prime cost, cash cushion and margin vs last year tell most of the story on one page.
- **Track prime cost weekly.** A monthly number shows up too late to fix a bad week.
- **Name what you don't know.** "We're pulling that number this week" beats a guess.
- **Start with your weakest number.** Fix one for real before you move to the next.

## See where you stand in 3 minutes

We built the Profit Check to make this easy. Ten questions, about 3 minutes, and "I don't know" is always an answer. You get a score out of 100, your weakest number with the fix that matches it, and all 10 Math Tips so you can find any number you don't know.

[Take the free Profit Check](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/profit-check?src=blog-payback). 600+ restaurant locations trust us with their books.

I hope this helps.

## FAQ

### How do I know if I'll pay my investors back on time?

Watch the numbers that decide what's left after costs: prime cost, rent, delivery and card fees, beverage cost, your cash cushion, any POS loan, and your margin vs last year. The free Profit Check scores all ten in about 3 minutes.

### What's a healthy prime cost for a restaurant?

Under 60% of sales. Prime cost is food cost plus all-in labor, divided by total sales. Over 60%, there isn't much left for rent, fees and you.

### How much cash should a restaurant keep in the bank?

At least one full month of expenses: payroll, rent, food, utilities and loan payments. Less than that, and one slow week can push you toward expensive money.

### How do I figure out the true cost of a POS loan or merchant cash advance?

Subtract what you received from the total you'll pay back, then divide by what you received. Take $50,000 and pay back $65,000, and the cost is $15,000, or 30%, often over just a few months.

## More on Costs, Inventory and Cash Flow

This post is part of our [Costs, Inventory and Cash Flow](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/restaurant-costs-and-cash-flow) guide.

Keep reading:

- [How Am I Doing With My Restaurant Investment?](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/how-am-i-doing-with-my-restaurant-investment)
- [Is It Time for a CFO? 5 Signs It's Time to Bring in the Big Guns at Your Restaurant](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/is-it-time-for-a-cfo)
- [You Shouldn't Have to Read Your P&L Alone: Why Restaurant Owners Need a Second Set of Eyes](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/you-shouldnt-read-your-pl-alone)

[View full post](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/pay-investors-back-on-time)

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