Free tool
Prime cost calculator
Add a month's sales, stock movement and labour costs to see prime cost as a share of sales.
Prime cost
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Food and beverage cost—
Labour cost—
Prime cost—
A widely used rule of thumb puts prime cost around 60–65% of sales, but the right target depends on your format, rent and pricing.
The formula
Food cost = opening stock + purchases − closing stock
Prime cost % = (food cost + labour cost) ÷ net sales × 100
Prime cost combines the two largest costs you can control day to day. Watching them together stops savings in one from hiding overspending in the other.
Track prime cost every day
DeepRestaurantAI combines food cost from stock and recipes with labour cost from rosters and payroll, per outlet.