Your truffle risotto makes €18 profit but sells only twice weekly, while your basic burger earns €6 yet flies out 40 times per week. A profitability score reveals which dish actually drives your bottom line by weighing both margin and sales volume. You'll discover your menu's hidden winners and costly mistakes.
What is a profitability score?
A profitability score rates each dish using two critical metrics: profit per portion (margin) and weekly sales volume (popularity). High-scoring dishes become your menu's profit engines.
💡 Example:
You have two dishes:
- Pasta carbonara: €8 margin, 50× sold per week
- Wagyu steak: €15 margin, 5× sold per week
Which brings in more? Pasta: €8 × 50 = €400/week. Wagyu: €15 × 5 = €75/week.
The pasta is the real winner.
The profitability score formula
Multiple calculation methods exist, but this one works best:
Profitability score = (Margin per dish × Number sold per week) / 100
Dividing by 100 creates manageable numbers between 1 and 50. Higher scores mean greater restaurant value.
💡 Example calculation:
Steak with fries:
- Selling price: €28.00 incl. VAT = €25.69 excl. VAT
- Ingredient costs: €9.50
- Margin: €25.69 - €9.50 = €16.19
- Sold: 35× per week
Score: (€16.19 × 35) / 100 = 5.7
The 4 dish categories
Margin and popularity create four distinct groups:
- Stars (score 8+): High margin + popular. These are your goldmines.
- Plowhorses (score 4-8): Low margin but popular. Try to increase the margin.
- Puzzles (score 2-4): High margin but not popular. Promote more or adjust.
- Dogs (score below 2): Low margin + not popular. Consider removing them.
⚠️ Note:
Food cost percentages don't tell the whole story. A dish with 35% food cost selling 100× weekly often outperforms one with 25% food cost selling just 10× weekly.
How often should you update this?
Review profitability scores monthly minimum. Dish popularity shifts with seasons, food trends, and menu changes. I've seen restaurants miss a mistake that costs them EUR 200-400 monthly simply because they weren't tracking these numbers regularly enough.
Price increases from suppliers also change your margins instantly. Recalculate scores immediately to identify which dishes remain profitable.
💡 Practical example:
Restaurant with 20 dishes after analysis:
- 4 Stars: promote these extra on social media
- 6 Plowhorses: raise portion price by €1-2
- 5 Puzzles: feature them prominently on the menu
- 5 Dogs: replace with new dishes
Result: 15% higher average margin per dish.
Track automatically with software
Manual margin and sales tracking consumes hours weekly. Systems like KitchenNmbrs calculate dish margins automatically and integrate with POS sales data.
You'll instantly see which dishes drive profits without spreadsheet calculations.
How do you calculate a profitability score? (step by step)
Calculate the margin per dish
Subtract ingredient costs from your selling price (excl. VAT). This is your margin in euros per dish. For example: €25.69 - €9.50 = €16.19 margin.
Count how many you sell per week
Check your POS system or manually count how many portions of each dish you sell per week. Take an average of 4 weeks for a reliable picture.
Calculate the score
Multiply margin × number sold and divide by 100. Dishes with a score above 8 are your stars, below 2 are candidates for removal.
✨ Pro tip
Track your top 15 dishes for 6 weeks, then create a weighted score using both weekly sales and weekend performance. Weekend dishes often show different profitability patterns than weekday favorites.
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 all dishes in the analysis?
Focus first on your 10 best-selling dishes. They determine 80% of your profit. You can add the rest later.
What if a dish is seasonal?
Calculate the score only for the months it's on the menu. You don't need to evaluate an asparagus dish in December.
Can a dish with low margin still be valuable?
Yes, if it sells a lot. A pasta with €3 margin that sells 100× per week brings in €300. That's more than a steak with €15 margin that sells 5× per week.
What do I do with dishes that score low?
Puzzles (high margin, low volume) you can promote more. Dogs (low margin, low volume) you're better off replacing with new dishes.
📚 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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