{
  "slug": "prime-cost-calculator",
  "title": "Prime Cost Calculator",
  "heading": "Restaurant Prime Cost Calculator",
  "category": "financial",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/prime-cost-calculator",
  "summary": "Combine food cost and labor cost into the single number that predicts survival.",
  "description": "Prime cost is food cost plus total labor cost (wages, taxes, benefits, management) as a percentage of sales, and it is the most reliable single indicator of restaurant health because it captures the two biggest controllable expense buckets in one figure. Rent, utilities, and other overhead are mostly fixed and hard to move quickly, but food and labor respond to daily decisions. Industry benchmark: healthy full-service restaurants run prime cost at 60-65% of sales, quick-service can push toward 55-60% due to lower labor need, and anything consistently over 70% signals a business that will struggle to cover rent, debt service, and profit. This calculator adds your food cost dollars and total labor dollars, divides by sales, and flags where you sit against the standard bands so you know whether to focus on menu pricing, purchasing, or scheduling first.",
  "formula": "Prime cost % = (total food & beverage cost + total labor cost) ÷ net sales × 100.",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-30",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=prime-cost-calculator",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "foodCost",
      "label": "Food & beverage cost (period)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 13500,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "laborCost",
      "label": "Total loaded labor cost (period)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 14200,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "netSales",
      "label": "Net sales (same period)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 42000,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 1,
      "max": null
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "primePct",
      "label": "Prime cost %",
      "format": "percent",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "prime",
      "label": "Total prime cost",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "remaining",
      "label": "Sales left for rent, overhead, profit",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "health",
      "label": "Health flag",
      "format": "raw",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Food & beverage cost (period): 13500 $",
      "Total loaded labor cost (period): 14200 $",
      "Net sales (same period): 42000 $"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Prime cost %: 66.0%",
      "Total prime cost: $27,700",
      "Sales left for rent, overhead, profit: $14,300",
      "Health flag: Watch closely"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter food & beverage cost (period) ($).",
      "Enter total loaded labor cost (period) ($).",
      "Enter net sales (same period) ($).",
      "Read your prime cost % on the right — it updates as you type.",
      "Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone."
    ]
  },
  "scenarios": [
    {
      "name": "Conservative",
      "description": "Lower-end numbers — what if things land soft?",
      "values": {
        "foodCost": 8000,
        "laborCost": 8500,
        "netSales": 25000
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "foodCost": 13500,
        "laborCost": 14000,
        "netSales": 42000
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "foodCost": 21500,
        "laborCost": 22500,
        "netSales": 67000
      }
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.",
    "Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.",
    "This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant."
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "What's a healthy prime cost target?",
      "a": "Most full-service restaurants aim for 60-65%. Quick-service and fast casual can run 55-62% with lower labor need per transaction. Above 70% consistently means there is little left to cover rent, debt payments, and owner profit even before other overhead."
    },
    {
      "q": "Why is prime cost better than watching food cost and labor cost separately?",
      "a": "The two trade off against each other constantly — cheaper ingredients that need more prep labor, or convenience products that cost more but save labor hours. Prime cost captures the net effect of those trade-offs in one number, so you don't optimize one at the expense of the other."
    },
    {
      "q": "How fast can prime cost change month to month?",
      "a": "It can swing 3-5 points quickly from a bad scheduling week, a spike in commodity prices, or a slow sales period that doesn't get matched by lower staffing fast enough. Weekly tracking catches problems before a full month locks in a bad number."
    },
    {
      "q": "What should I fix first if prime cost is too high?",
      "a": "Check which side moved: if food cost jumped, look at portioning, waste, and vendor pricing first since it's usually the faster fix. If labor jumped, review the schedule against actual sales curves before assuming you need fewer people overall."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/food-cost-percentage",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/labor-cost-percentage",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/break-even-covers"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Prime Cost Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/prime-cost-calculator)"
}