Ever wonder why your monthly profits keep missing the mark? Suppliers bump prices, portions creep larger, and suddenly you're earning less than expected. A simple variance report shows you each month where your margin's bleeding and lets you fix it fast.
Why your planned margin always deviates
Start of the year, you calculate a target 65% margin. Food cost stays at 35% max. But reality has other plans:
- Suppliers bump prices while you don't pass them on
- Your chef serves slightly bigger portions
- Seasonal products spike in cost
- You sell different dishes than planned
Without tracking, you're flying blind. A monthly variance report shows immediately what's happening.
The basics: planned vs actual margin
You need two numbers:
💡 Example:
Restaurant De Smaak, March 2024:
- Planned margin: 65% (food cost 35%)
- Actual margin: 61% (food cost 39%)
- Difference: -4 percentage points
- Impact on €25,000 revenue: €1,000 less profit
This 4 percentage point gap costs €1,000 monthly. That's €12,000 annually - a mistake that costs the average restaurant EUR 200-400 per month. That's why this simple report matters.
How do you calculate your actual margin?
Calculate your actual margin afterward, using that month's numbers:
Actual margin % = ((Revenue - Actual purchases) / Revenue) × 100
💡 Example calculation March:
- Revenue March: €25,000
- Purchases March: €9,750
- Actual margin: ((€25,000 - €9,750) / €25,000) × 100 = 61%
Planned was 65%, so 4 percentage point difference.
⚠️ Note:
Only count purchases from that month. Not existing inventory. Otherwise your calculation won't be accurate.
Setting up a simple variance report
Build a basic table with these columns:
- Month: January, February, March...
- Revenue: Total revenue that month
- Planned margin %: Your target
- Actual purchases: What you actually bought
- Actual margin %: What you actually achieved
- Difference: Actual minus planned
- Impact €: Difference × revenue
💡 Example reporting Q1:
| Month | Revenue | Planned | Actual | Difference | Impact |
| Jan | €22,000 | 65% | 63% | -2% | -€440 |
| Feb | €24,000 | 65% | 59% | -6% | -€1,440 |
| Mar | €25,000 | 65% | 61% | -4% | -€1,000 |
Total loss Q1: €2,880
This table immediately reveals your biggest losses. February was brutal: 6 percentage point drop.
What do you do with the results?
A variance report only works if you act on it:
With consistent losses (negative every month):
- Check if suppliers raised prices
- Measure whether portions haven't grown too large
- Analyze if your menu mix shifted
With wild swings (one month +2%, another -6%):
- Check if you're using seasonal products with volatile pricing
- Review if purchases are spread evenly through the month
- Verify if large batches got wasted
⚠️ Note:
A 1-2 percentage point difference is normal. Only act when you consistently see more than 3% variance.
Digital vs. Excel
You can build this report in Excel, but many operators use tools like KitchenNmbrs. The advantage:
- Revenue data flows in automatically (with POS integration)
- Purchase amounts get totaled automatically
- Variance reports generate themselves
- You immediately see which dishes deviate from plan
But the fundamentals stay the same: compare planned margin with actual margin, and convert the difference to euros.
How do you create a variance report? (step by step)
Gather your monthly figures
Note your total revenue from last month and add up all purchases you made that month. Note: only purchases from that month, not your inventory value.
Calculate your actual margin
Subtract your purchases from your revenue, divide by revenue and multiply by 100. Formula: ((Revenue - Purchases) / Revenue) × 100. This is your actual margin percentage.
Compare with your plan
Subtract your planned margin from your actual margin. A negative number means you earned less than planned. Multiply this difference by your revenue for the impact in euros.
✨ Pro tip
Track variance by individual dish category (appetizers, mains, desserts) within your monthly report. Focus your fixes on the category with the biggest 3-month negative trend first.
Calculate this yourself?
In the KitchenNmbrs app you can do this in just a few clicks. 7 days free, no credit card.
Was this article helpful?
Frequently asked questions
How often should I create this variance report?
Monthly hits the sweet spot. Weekly creates too much noise from daily fluctuations, quarterly means you can't course-correct in time.
What's an acceptable difference between planned and actual?
1-2 percentage points is normal business. But consistently seeing more than 3% variance means you're hemorrhaging money and need to act fast.
Should I include VAT in this calculation?
No, always calculate excluding VAT. Count both revenue and purchases without VAT, otherwise your margin percentage gets distorted.
What if my actual margin beats my planned margin?
Great news, but investigate why. Maybe portions shrunk too much or you under-purchased and you're burning through existing inventory.
How do I prevent large fluctuations in my margin?
Spread purchases throughout the month, monitor supplier prices regularly, and watch for seasonal price swings with fresh products.
What's the minimum revenue size where this report makes sense?
Any restaurant doing €15,000+ monthly revenue benefits from variance tracking. Below that, focus on basic food costing first.
Can I use this method for beverage margins too?
Absolutely. The same formula works for drinks, but expect tighter margins since beverage costs are typically more stable than food costs.
📚 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
- Warenwetbesluit Bereiding en behandeling van levensmiddelen (2024) — Official source
- WHO — Foodborne diseases estimates (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.
Automate your daily kitchen controls
Manual controls take time and miss errors. KitchenNmbrs automates temperature logging, inventory management, and HACCP checks. Try it free for 14 days.
Start free trial →