Most food truck owners think they're profitable until they calculate their true prime cost. Prime cost combines your food expenses and labor costs - typically your two largest expenses. A sustainable food truck keeps prime cost between 55-65% of revenue.
What exactly is prime cost?
Prime cost has two main pieces:
- Food cost: every ingredient that goes into your dishes
- Labor costs: wages, payroll taxes, vacation pay for all employees
The calculation is straightforward:
Prime cost % = (Food cost + Labor costs) / Revenue × 100
? Example:
Food truck with €8,000 monthly revenue:
- Food cost: €2,400 (30%)
- Labor costs: €2,000 (25%)
- Prime cost: €4,400
Prime cost percentage: 55%
Healthy prime cost by food truck type
Your ideal prime cost depends on what you're selling:
- Fast food (burgers, fries): 50-60%
- Premium street food: 55-65%
- Specialty (sushi, lobster rolls): 60-70%
- Desserts/ice cream: 45-55%
Why such variation? High-end ingredients drive up food costs. So you'll need tighter labor control to stay under 65%. This is one of the most common blind spots in kitchen management - owners focus only on food costs while labor creeps up.
⚠️ Note:
For food trucks, count only employee wages in labor costs - not your own time as owner, unless you pay yourself a regular salary.
What happens if your prime cost is too high?
Prime cost above 65-70% spells trouble. You won't have enough left for:
- Truck maintenance and repairs
- Fuel and parking costs
- Insurance and permits
- Your own income as business owner
? Problem example:
Food truck with 75% prime cost:
- Revenue: €6,000/month
- Prime cost: €4,500
- Left for everything else: €1,500
From that €1,500, you still need: fuel (€400), insurance (€200), maintenance (€300). Remaining: €600 for the owner. That's unsustainable.
How do you improve a too-high prime cost?
You've got three main options:
1. Cut food costs
- Negotiate better purchasing: bulk orders, alternative suppliers
- Reduce waste: tighter inventory planning
- Recipe optimization: cheaper ingredients without sacrificing quality
2. Streamline labor costs
- More efficient prep and service workflows
- Adjust staffing during slow periods
- Handle more tasks yourself (if feasible)
3. Boost revenue (without adding costs)
- Strategic price increases where market allows
- Target higher-traffic locations and peak times
- Promote menu items with better margins
Tracking prime cost in practice
Monitor your prime cost monthly at minimum. Many successful truck owners check weekly so they can course-correct quickly.
You'll need these three figures:
- Total revenue (from your POS system)
- Total purchases (all supplier invoices)
- Total labor costs (wages plus payroll taxes)
Tools like KitchenNmbrs automate this tracking without manual calculations. The system computes your prime cost directly from your input data.
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How do you calculate your prime cost? (step by step)
Gather your revenue figures
Get your POS system or logbook and add up your total revenue for the past month. Only count sales, not VAT you pass through.
Add up all food costs
Collect all receipts from suppliers, supermarkets, and wholesalers from the same month. Add up everything you spent on ingredients.
Calculate your labor costs
Add up all wages you paid out, plus payroll taxes, vacation pay, and other labor costs. Only count yourself as owner if you pay yourself a fixed salary.
Calculate your prime cost percentage
Divide food cost plus labor costs by your revenue and multiply by 100. If you're above 65%, action is needed.
✨ Pro tip
Track your top 5 menu items' individual prime costs every 2 weeks. These dishes typically represent 70% of your sales, so keeping them profitable protects your overall margins.
Calculate this yourself?
In the KitchenNmbrs app you can do this in just a few clicks. 7 days free, no credit card.
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Frequently asked questions
Should I count myself as owner in labor costs?
What if my prime cost is 70% but I'm still profitable?
How often should I calculate my prime cost?
Sources consulted
- EU Verordening 852/2004 — Levensmiddelenhygiëne (2004) — Official source
- EU Verordening 853/2004 — Hygiënevoorschriften voor levensmiddelen van dierlijke oorsprong (2004) — Official source
- EU Verordening 1169/2011 — Voedselinformatie aan consumenten (2011) — Official source
- NVWA — Hygiënecode voor de horeca (2024) — Official source
- NVWA — Allergenen in voedsel (2024) — Official source
- Codex Alimentarius — International Food Standards (2024) — Official source
- FSA — Safer food, better business (HACCP) (2024) — Official source
- BVL — Lebensmittelhygiene (HACCP) (2024) — Official source
Food Standards Agency (FSA) — https://www.food.gov.uk
The HACCP standards shown in this application are for informational purposes only. KitchenNmbrs does not guarantee that displayed values are current or complete. Always consult the FSA or your local authority for the latest regulations.
Written by
Jeffrey Smit
Founder & CEO of KitchenNmbrs
Jeffrey Smit built KitchenNmbrs from 8 years of hands-on experience as kitchen manager at 1NUL8 Group in Rotterdam. His mission: give every restaurant owner control over food cost.
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