Tip: variable cost is everything that scales with covers — ingredients and hourly kitchen/floor labour. Keep salaried staff and rent in fixed costs.
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With $320,000 of fixed costs a month and $160 of contribution per cover, you need about 78 covers a day across 26 trading days to break even.
Estimates only. This is an operational break-even on contribution vs fixed costs — it doesn't include tax, loan repayments or owner drawings. Pair it with your full P&L.
How to read your number.
How to use it
- Add up your fixed costs for the month — rent, salaried staff, utilities, software. Anything that doesn't move with covers.
- Enter the average spend per cover and the variable cost per cover as a % (ingredients + hourly labour).
- Read the covers per day: fixed costs ÷ contribution per cover ÷ trading days. Contribution is what each cover leaves after variable cost.
- Compare it to the covers you actually do. The gap is your profit — or the work to do.
Fixed vs variable, quickly
The split is what makes break-even work. Get it roughly right:
- Fixed — rent, salaried managers, insurance, software, base utilities. Paid whether you do 10 covers or 200.
- Variable — ingredients and hourly kitchen/floor labour. Scales with every cover you serve.
- Contribution — average spend minus variable cost. It's what each cover puts toward fixed costs and profit.
A higher contribution per cover means fewer covers to break even.
Know the number, then beat it.
Break-even is the floor. The real work is lifting covers and contribution above it, week after week. Here's where to go next.
Food cost calculator
Variable cost starts in the kitchen. Check the food cost % on your top dishes to lift contribution.
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The numbers behind the number — and where this calculator stops.