Restaurant budget calculator

Your expected sales for a month, split into food and drink, labor, rent and other costs by RestaurantDoctorAI's targets for your type of restaurant, with what's left and your break-even, so you can plan the month before you spend it.

You'll need: Your expected sales for a month and your type of restaurant. Your rent and your own pay, if you want them in.

By Felix S. Pavel · Updated October 14, 2026 · How it's worked out

Budget line = expected monthly sales × its target share of sales

A monthly restaurant budget splits the month's sales into what each cost may take. For full service, RestaurantDoctorAI's targets are 30–34% for food and drink, 30–35% for labor, 65% at most for the two together, and 7–12% for rent and utilities.

Free calculator

Your monthly budget

Works in any currency. Nothing you type is sent to us.

Example numbers. Replace them with yours.

What kind of restaurant do you run?

Each type has its own targets: a bar's food and drink cost runs lower than fine dining's, and its labor higher than a counter's.

Expected sales for the month

Net sales, before tax and tips: last month's, or what you expect next month.

Other operating costs, % of sales

Card fees, packaging, cleaning, repairs, marketing, insurance, software, accounting and loan payments. Left blank, 20% is used: a working assumption, not a target. Put your own share in.

Your rent, property charges and utilities (optional)

A month of all three together. Left blank, the budget uses the range for your type.

Your own pay a month (optional)

What you take home each month, if it isn't on payroll. Left blank, what's left is also your pay.

With the example numbers

At 90,000 a month, RestaurantDoctorAI's targets for full service leave 2,700–11,700 after every bill, before income tax.

2,700–11,700 a month (3–13% of sales), with every line below at the top of its range, then at the bottom.

Your monthly budget, line by line
Line	% of sales	A month
Food and drink	30–34%	27,000–30,600
Labor	30–35%	27,000–31,500
Prime cost (food, drink and labor)	60–65%	54,000–58,500
Rent, property charges and utilities	7–12%	6,300–10,800
Other operating costsworking assumption	20%	18,000
Left over after every bill	3–13%	2,700–11,700

Prime cost is food, drink and labor together: both can't sit at the top of their ranges at once, so it stops at the 65% ceiling. Every target is RestaurantDoctorAI's.

Break-even

With the budget at the top of the targets, you break even at 82,286–86,143 a month: 82,286 if labor goes up and down with sales, 86,143 if it stays about the same. Your expected 90,000 is above it.

Worth a check: Your own pay isn't in. If you're not on payroll, add it: otherwise what's left is also your pay.

How we worked it out

Food and drink: 90,000 × 30–34%: 27,000–30,600
Labor: 90,000 × 30–35%: 27,000–31,500
Prime cost (food, drink and labor): 54,000–58,500
Rent, property charges and utilities: 90,000 × 7–12%: 6,300–10,800
Other operating costs: 90,000 × 20% (working assumption): 18,000
Top of the targets: labor 35% and food and drink 30%, the 65% ceiling: 58,500
Left over, top of the targets: 90,000 − 65% prime cost − 12% − 20% other: 2,700
Left over, low end: 90,000 − 60% prime cost − 7% − 20% other: 11,700
Break-even, labor rising with sales: 28,800 × 90,000 ÷ (90,000 − 58,500): 82,286
Break-even, labor as a fixed bill: 60,300 × 90,000 ÷ (90,000 − 27,000): 86,143

restaurant-budget.csv: the same lines, with how each is worked out. It opens in Google Sheets, Excel or Numbers, and it's made on this device.

How to build a monthly restaurant budget

Start from the sales you expect, then give each cost its share. Take the shares from targets for your type of restaurant, not from last month's bills, so the budget shows where a month should land.

Pick one month's expected net sales: before tax and tips.
Multiply them by the food and drink, labor and occupancy ranges for your type.
Keep food, drink and labor together under the prime cost ceiling: both can't sit at the top of their ranges.
Take off your other operating costs and your own pay. What's left is what the month leaves after every bill.

Left over

Left over = sales − prime cost − rent and utilities − other operating costs − your pay

Before income tax. It's not profit: loan payments count in full, as the break-even calculator counts them.

Example: full service, 90,000 a month

Net sales: 90,000
Prime cost, 60–65%: 54,000–58,500
Rent and utilities, 7–12%: 6,300–10,800
Other costs, 20%: 18,000

Left over a month2,700–11,700

Break-even at the top of the targets: 82,286–86,143 a month, depending on whether labor goes up and down with sales. The 20% for other costs is a working assumption, not a target.

Type	Food and drink	Labor	Prime cost	Rent and utilities
Quick service	26–32%	26–31%	60% or less	6–10%
Fast casual	28–33%	27–32%	60% or less	6–10%
Full service	30–34%	30–35%	65% or less	7–12%
Fine dining	32–38%	34–38%	70% or less	7–12%
Bar	20–26%	25–32%	57% or less	7–12%
Café	24–32%	28–34%	60% or less	6–10%

RestaurantDoctorAI's targets by type of restaurant, as a share of net sales. Rent and utilities include property charges.

Your own numbers will differ. Once a month has closed, check it against the plan with the prime cost calculator and the break-even calculator.

Common questions

What should be in a restaurant budget?

Sales first, then food and drink, labor, rent with property charges and utilities, other operating costs such as card fees, repairs, marketing and insurance, and your own pay. What's left after all of them is what the month leaves you, before income tax.

Where does the 20% for other operating costs come from?

It's a working assumption so the budget adds up, not one of RestaurantDoctorAI's targets and not a published figure. Add up a month of your own card fees, repairs, marketing, insurance, software, accounting and loan payments, divide by that month's sales, and put your share in.

Why is break-even a range?

Labor can go either way. If you add and cut shifts as sales move, it rises and falls with them; if the same team works every shift, it's a bill that stays the same. The calculator works it out both ways, as the break-even calculator does when you're not sure.

Can I use it to plan a new restaurant?

Yes: put in the sales you expect and the rent on the lease you're looking at. The page shows what the rent is as a share of those sales, against the 7–12% range for full service and the ranges for the other types.