Restaurant types
Restaurant cost targets by type of restaurant
Updated
What's healthy depends on how you serve. A counter needs fewer paid hours per dollar of sales than a dining room with servers, and a bar's drinks call for a different cost target than a kitchen's food. Here are the targets RestaurantDoctorAI uses for each type, the published medians beside them, and how to tell which type you are.
Targets by type of restaurant
| Type | Prime cost | Food and drink | Labor | Rent and utilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quick service | 60% or less | 26–32% | 26–31% | 10% or less |
| Fast casual | 60% or less | 28–33% | 27–32% | 10% or less |
| Full service / casual dining | 65% or less | 30–34% | 30–35% | 12% or less |
| Fine dining | 70% or less | 32–38% | 34–38% | 12% or less |
| Bar, taproom or lounge | 57% or less | 20–26% | 25–32% | 12% or less |
What the typical restaurant reported for 2024
The National Restaurant Association (NRA) surveyed more than 900 restaurants for its 2025 Restaurant Operations Data Abstract. It splits them two ways: full service, and limited service, which counts quick service and fast casual together. It publishes no free figures for fine dining or bars.
| NRA 2024 median | Full service | Limited service |
|---|---|---|
| Pretax income | 2.8% | 4.0% |
| Prime cost | Not published free | 65% |
| Food and soft drinks | 32.0% | 32.4% |
| Labor, benefits in | 36.5% | 31.7% |
| Occupancy | 5.7% | 5.2% |
The typical restaurant misses some of our targets, and the type pages say where. The ceilings are healthy lines, not typical ones: the median full-service restaurant kept 2.8% of sales before taxes.
Which type are you?
Go by how guests order and are served, then check the drinks. The free check describes each type like this, and assumes the share of sales drinks make up shown here.
| Type | How it works | Drinks |
|---|---|---|
| Quick service | Counter or kiosk, fast turnover | 5% |
| Fast casual | Order at the counter, food brought to the table | 8% |
| Full service / casual dining | Servers, moderate check | 20% |
| Fine dining | Chef-driven, higher check | 30% |
| Bar, taproom or lounge | Drinks are about half of sales or more | 55% |
- Guests order and pay at a counter or kiosk and take the food themselves: quick service.
- Guests order at a counter and staff bring the food to the table: fast casual.
- Servers take the order at the table: full service. If the menu is chef-driven and the check is high, fine dining.
- Drinks bring in about half of sales or more: a bar, taproom or lounge, whatever the kitchen serves.
Cafés, pizzerias and food trucks
These have no separate targets yet. Here's the closest type, and what to watch.
| Type | Closest type |
|---|---|
| Café or coffee shop | Quick service |
| Takeout and delivery pizzeria | Quick service |
| Pizzeria with servers | Full service |
| Food truck | None: the check isn't built for trucks |
- Cafés. The check grades a café as quick service, which assumes drinks are about 5% of sales. A café sells mostly drinks, so treat its food and drink grade as a rough guide and lean on the plate cost calculator for each drink's cost.
- Pizzerias. Go by service: counter and delivery is quick service, servers at the table is full service. If apps bring in a real share of orders, see what delivery commissions cost you.
- Food trucks. The free check asks about a dining room and rent, so it isn't built for trucks. The break-even and prime cost calculators still work with a truck's numbers.
Pages by type
Each has its targets beside the medians, an example month, where the money goes, and the free check set to that type.
- Full service / casual diningFull-service restaurant costs: targets and 2024 mediansTargets for full service and casual dining beside the NRA's 2024 medians, an example month, where the money goes, and tipped wages.
- Quick service · Fast casualQuick-service restaurant costs: targets and 2024 mediansTargets for quick service and fast casual beside the NRA's 2024 medians, an example month, where the money goes, and California's chain wage.
Fine dining and bars have no page yet. Their targets are in the table above. For a bar, start with bar pour cost.
Start with your type already picked: Quick service · Fast casual · Full service / casual dining · Fine dining · Bar, taproom or lounge