Many restaurant owners think gut feeling beats data, but the numbers tell a different story. Smart operators know which reports to check before making crucial decisions about menu, pricing, and staff. The wrong dashboard can cost you thousands.
The basics: these 5 figures you always check
Before you make a decision about your menu, prices, purchasing, or staff, you look at these core metrics:
- Food cost per dish - Which dishes generate the most profit?
- Revenue per day/week - Are you trending up or down?
- Number of covers - How many guests do you serve on average?
- Average check value - Are guests spending more or less per visit?
- Total costs (food + labor + other) - What's left over as profit?
💡 Example:
You're considering raising the price of your popular pasta carbonara:
- Current price: €16.50 (food cost 28%)
- Sales: 120 portions per week
- At €18.50: food cost becomes 25%
- Risk: fewer sales due to higher price
Decision: Test 2 weeks with new price and monitor sales numbers
Weekly analysis for major decisions
For decisions that affect your entire business (new dishes, staff expansion, renovation), you need longer trends:
- Revenue trend last 3 months - Are you growing structurally or was it a fluke?
- Seasonal patterns - How did the same period look last year?
- Cost ratio - Are food/labor/other costs staying within normal range?
- Cash flow - Do you have enough buffer for investments?
⚠️ Watch out:
Never make big decisions based on one good or bad week. Always examine at least 4-6 weeks of data for a reliable picture.
Menu changes: this data you need
Before you add, modify, or remove dishes, you gather this information:
- Popularity per dish - How many times do you sell each dish per week?
- Profitability per dish - What food cost does each dish have?
- Complaints and compliments - What do guests say about specific dishes?
- Preparation time - How much time does each dish take in the kitchen?
💡 Example menu analysis:
You're considering replacing your least popular dish:
- Current dish: sold 8 times per week, 32% food cost
- New dish: expected 15 times per week, 28% food cost
- Extra revenue: (15-8) × €22 = €154 per week
- Extra profit: €154 × 72% = €111 per week
ROI: €5,772 extra profit per year
Staff decisions: which figures matter
For decisions about staff (hiring, firing, more/fewer hours), you examine:
- Labor costs as % of revenue - Standard: 25-35% for restaurants
- Revenue per hour per employee - How much does everyone contribute?
- Peak hours vs. quiet hours - Are you overstaffed or understaffed?
- Sick leave and turnover - What do replacements cost?
Most kitchen managers discover too late that they've been checking labor percentages monthly instead of weekly. By then, a bad hire has already cost them thousands in lost efficiency.
Purchasing and suppliers: data for better deals
Before you switch suppliers or buy new products:
- Average purchase price per product - What are you really paying now?
- Quality differences - Does cheaper also mean lower quality?
- Delivery reliability - What % of deliveries arrive on time?
- Payment terms - What does this mean for your cash flow?
💡 Example supplier comparison:
New supplier offers 8% lower prices:
- Current monthly purchases: €8,000
- Savings: €640 per month
- But: 15% more waste due to lower quality
- Extra waste: €8,000 × 15% = €1,200
Net effect: -€560 per month (worse off!)
Digital dashboards vs. Excel
Many entrepreneurs try to track this in Excel, but that creates problems:
- Time-consuming - Spending hours every week entering figures
- Error-prone - Wrong formulas lead to wrong decisions
- Not real-time - Your data is always outdated
- Hard to share - Your chef can't follow along
Food cost calculators like KitchenNmbrs bring all your important figures together in one dashboard. You immediately see your food cost per dish, revenue trends, and most popular items. That saves hours of Excel work while making faster, smarter decisions.
How do you build your decision-making routine? (step by step)
Put together your standard dashboard
Choose 5-7 figures you always want to see: food cost top 5 dishes, revenue last 4 weeks, number of covers, average check. Make sure you can pull these up within 2 minutes.
Create a weekly check routine
Schedule 15 minutes every Monday morning to review your figures. Compare with last week and the same week last year. Note any significant differences.
Set your decision thresholds
Decide in advance: at what figures will you take action? For example: food cost above 35% = adjust prices, revenue decline 2 weeks = investigate cause.
✨ Pro tip
Check your 3 highest-volume dishes' food costs every Tuesday at 9 AM for 8 weeks straight. You'll spot cost creep patterns that monthly reports miss completely.
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
How much data do you need for a good decision?
For small adjustments (price change, dish replacement) 4-6 weeks of data works fine. For major decisions (staff, renovation) examine at least 3 months of trends plus seasonal comparison.
Which figures are most important for a starting entrepreneur?
Start with the basics: food cost of your 5 best-selling dishes, weekly revenue, and total monthly costs. Once these are dialed in, you can expand to more detailed analyses.
How often should you update your dashboards?
Revenue and sales numbers daily, food cost weekly, costs monthly. Updating too often wastes time, updating too little means decisions based on stale information.
What if your figures contradict each other?
High revenue but low profit? Then you dig deeper: check your food cost per dish, labor costs, and waste. Often the problem hides in one specific area.
Should you track competitor pricing in your reports?
Yes, but monthly is enough unless you're in a price war. Track 3-5 direct competitors' prices for your top dishes. Price gaps over 15% usually signal opportunity or trouble.
Can you also make decisions based on gut feeling?
Gut feeling matters for atmosphere, service, and creativity. But for financial decisions (prices, purchasing, staff) numbers beat intuition every time.
📚 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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