Prime Cost Calculator
Prime cost is food cost plus labor cost — the two biggest controllable expenses in any restaurant. Enter your numbers below.
What is prime cost?
Prime cost combines your cost of goods sold and your total labor cost, then expresses the total as a percentage of sales. It's considered the single most important number in restaurant finance because food and labor together typically make up 60-70% of every dollar you take in.
What's a good prime cost percentage?
Most full-service restaurants aim for 60-65%, quick-service often targets closer to 55-60%, and anything above 70% usually signals a cost or pricing problem that needs attention. Unlike food cost or labor cost alone, prime cost gives you room to balance the two — a slightly higher labor cost is fine if food cost is well controlled, and vice versa.