Why wait months to discover your restaurant is bleeding money? Most owners get P&L statements from their accountant long after problems started. You can build your own daily tracking system that gives you real-time insights while staying compatible with your accountant's format.
What is a P&L statement for restaurants?
A P&L statement shows you revenue minus expenses = profit. For restaurants, the main categories are:
- Revenue: Everything you sell (food, drinks, extras)
- Cost of Goods Sold (COGS): Your purchase of ingredients
- Labor costs: Wages, payroll taxes, temporary staff
- Operating costs: Rent, utilities, insurance
- Net profit: What's left over
💡 Example P&L restaurant (monthly):
- Revenue: €45.000
- COGS (food cost): €13.500 (30%)
- Labor costs: €15.750 (35%)
- Rent: €4.500 (10%)
- Utilities & other: €2.250 (5%)
Net profit: €9.000 (20%)
Why daily tracking matters
Your accountant works with last month's invoices and receipts. By the time you see their P&L, you can't fix what's already broken. Daily tracking shows you immediately:
- If your food cost is spiraling out of control
- If you're overstaffing for slow days
- Which shifts actually make money
- If you'll hit your monthly targets
Build your daily P&L structure
Track these numbers every single day:
💡 Daily P&L template:
REVENUE
- Food revenue: €X
- Beverage revenue: €X
- Total revenue: €X
EXPENSES
- Ingredient purchases: €X
- Labor costs (day): €X
- Fixed costs (day): €X
Daily profit: €X
Breaking down fixed costs per day
Your rent, insurance and utilities hit monthly. But you need daily numbers. Convert them by dividing by operating days:
Fixed costs per day = Monthly costs / Number of operating days
💡 Example calculation:
- Rent per month: €4.500
- Utilities per month: €800
- Insurance per month: €300
- Open 26 days per month
Fixed costs per day: €5.600 / 26 = €215
Calculate daily labor costs accurately
Add up what you spend on staff each day. Don't forget:
- Gross wages of all employees that day
- Payroll taxes (approximately 25% of gross wage)
- Temporary staff (freelancers, temp agencies)
- Your own salary (as owner)
⚠️ Watch out:
Many owners forget to include their own salary. Even if you don't take it out, your time has value. Calculate at least €150-200 per day for yourself.
From daily tracking to monthly reports
At month's end, you add up all daily figures. This creates a complete P&L statement your accountant will recognize:
- Revenue: Sum of all daily revenues
- COGS: Sum of all purchases
- Labor costs: Sum of all daily labor costs
- Other costs: Fixed costs × number of days
Choose your tracking method
You can track this in:
- Excel: Works, but you'll create formulas yourself
- Notebook: Simple, but no automatic calculations
- Restaurant management apps: Automatically calculate your daily P&L based on revenue and purchases
The most important thing is doing it every single day. From years of working in professional kitchens, I've seen consistency beat perfection every time.
Turn data into action
Daily P&L tracking reveals patterns:
- Slow days: Schedule fewer staff
- High food cost: Adjust portions or purchases
- Low revenue: Take action (marketing, menu changes)
- Good days: Repeat what worked
💡 Real example:
Restaurant discovers Thursdays always lose money:
- Revenue: €800
- Staff: €400
- Purchases: €280
- Fixed costs: €215
Loss: €95
Solution: Schedule one fewer person on Thursday (-€100) = day becomes profitable.
How do you set up a daily P&L routine?
Calculate your fixed costs per day
Add up all monthly fixed costs (rent, utilities, insurance, depreciation). Divide this by the number of days you're open per month. This is your daily 'break-even' for fixed costs.
Record daily revenue and expenses
Note each evening: total revenue from your POS system, purchases from that day, and labor costs (gross wage + 25% payroll taxes). Do this consistently, even on slow days.
Calculate your daily profit and percentages
Subtract all costs from your revenue for your daily profit. Also calculate your food cost percentage (purchases / revenue × 100) and labor percentage. This way you see immediately which cost items are getting out of hand.
✨ Pro tip
Set aside exactly 12 minutes every Wednesday morning to compare this week's food cost percentage against last week's. If it jumps more than 3 percentage points, dig into your purchasing records that same day.
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 include VAT in my P&L calculation?
Always work excluding VAT for your P&L. You calculate your revenue and purchases excl. VAT, otherwise your percentages won't add up. VAT is money you pass on to the tax authority, not your own revenue.
What if my daily figures don't match my accountant's?
Small differences are normal due to timing of invoices and receipts. Make sure you're comparing the same period and work excl. VAT. Large differences indicate missing costs or incorrectly recorded revenue.
What is a healthy profit margin for a restaurant?
A net profit margin of 15-25% is considered healthy. Less than 10% is concerning, more than 25% is excellent. This depends on your concept, location and price level.
How do I prevent my food cost percentage from getting too high?
Check your purchases vs. revenue weekly. A food cost above 35% is usually too high. Check if your portions aren't too large, or if suppliers have raised their prices without your menu following.
📚 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.
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