Free restaurant financial tool

Restaurant Prime Cost Calculator

See how much of your net sales is being consumed by food, beverage, and fully loaded labor costs. Use numbers from the same week, month, or accounting period.

Enter your numbers

Use net sales before sales tax and tips.

Net sales

Food sales *

Alcoholic beverage sales *

Nonalcoholic beverage sales *

Cost of goods sold

Food cost of goods sold (COGS) *

Beverage cost of goods sold (COGS) *

Fully loaded labor (total employer cost)

Front-of-house (FOH) wages *

Back-of-house (BOH) wages *

Management wages *

Employer payroll taxes *

Employee benefits *

Your information is not saved or sent to TrueCount Services.

Your prime cost percentage

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Enter your numbers to see your result.

Prime cost is food and beverage cost of goods sold plus total employer labor cost. Restaurant concepts, service models, and accounting choices differ. Use the result to spot changes and ask better questions.

Food cost %

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Beverage COGS % of beverage sales

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Beverage cost of goods sold for the period divided by alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverage sales.

Total cost of goods sold %

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Labor cost %

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Gross margin % (before labor)

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Sales minus food and beverage COGS, divided by sales. Labor and overhead are not deducted.

Net sales

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The percentage tells you what. The details tell you why.

TrueCount helps independent restaurant owners connect bookkeeping, payroll, POS, and operating data so the numbers are useful before month-end becomes ancient history.

Explore Prime Cost Reporting Setup

What is restaurant prime cost?

Restaurant prime cost combines cost of goods sold with fully loaded labor cost. That generally includes food and beverage COGS plus wages, employer payroll taxes, workers’ compensation and employee benefits. Fully loaded labor means the total employer cost of labor. For a useful comparison, use sales and costs from the same period and be consistent about what you include each time. This calculator is an educational tool, not accounting or tax advice.

Need one of the components first? Use the Restaurant Labor Cost Calculator or Restaurant Actual Food Cost Calculator. For beverage serving costs, use the Beverage Cost & Pour Calculator.