Restaurant math, done right.
16 free calculators for everyday restaurant math. No accounts. No paywalls. The formula shown underneath every result so you can trust it and teach it.
Most used
All 16 calculators
Food and menu
- Food Cost Percentage Compare food cost to revenue to spot menu margin issues.
- Recipe & Plate Cost Build plate cost from ingredient quantities and prices.
- Menu Pricing Reverse-engineer menu price from cost and target margin.
- Menu Engineering Star / Plowhorse / Puzzle / Dog matrix. Classify items by margin and popularity.
- Inventory Variance Spot theft, waste, or counting errors in food inventory.
- Catering Pricing Per-head price + service charge + suggested gratuity. Operator margin protected.
Bar
Staff and business
- Labor Cost Percentage Track labor as a share of revenue across shifts.
- Tip Pool & Tip Out Split tips fairly across roles by hours or points.
- Prime Cost Food + beverage + labor as % of revenue. The single number every operator should track weekly.
- Break-Even Revenue Find revenue needed to cover fixed and variable costs.
- Delivery True-Profit DoorDash, UberEats, GrubHub commission stack vs your real cost. Net per platform order.
- Employee Turnover Cost Annual cost of replacement hires. Industry runs 75-130% turnover.
- No-Show & Deposit Cost of empty reserved seats. Suggested deposit, break-even no-show rate, annual recovery.
No calculator matches that. Try "food", "labor" or "tips".
RESTAURANTCALCS
CALCULATOR OF THE DAY · TICKET #0756
"Good price. The plate pays for itself and then some."
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Five years behind the bar. Same site that serves you.
I started as a bartender in California and worked my way up to general manager. Ran the bar program and the nightclub for five years solid. Every calculator on this site was built around math I was running every week with a spreadsheet that crashed on phones, and every operator-story section is grounded in something I actually watched happen on the floor.
No accounts. No email. No upsells. No catch. Just the answer with the math underneath, so you can teach it to your sous chef in thirty seconds.
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All postsCommon questions
Are these calculators really free? What's the catch?
Free, no signup, no email gate, no upsell. The site runs on display advertising, you scroll past an ad placeholder. Every calculator runs in your browser; nothing is sent to a server. Close the tab and your inputs disappear.
Who built RestaurantCalcs and why should I trust the math?
Built by Brock Markarian, who spent 5 years behind a bar in California, bartender to GM. Every formula was audited against authoritative industry sources, Toast, Restaurant365, MarginEdge, the National Restaurant Association, the Department of Labor, BinWise, BevSpot, the Culinary Institute of America. Sources are cited inline on each calculator page.
Why these calculators specifically? What's missing?
These are the metrics every indie restaurant runs every week: food cost %, recipe cost, labor cost % (with shift-by-shift mode), tip pool distribution, menu pricing, liquor pour cost, draft beer / keg cost, break-even revenue, inventory variance, prime cost, no-show deposit math, and menu engineering. They cover the full prime cost equation, the bar program, and the menu-strategy side. Catering pricing and schedule optimizer are next.
Can I use these for my restaurant's actual books?
Use them for sanity checks, weekly tracking, and quick decisions. They are educational tools, not a replacement for accounting software, payroll providers, or a labor attorney. The disclaimer on every page is real. Consult qualified professionals before making business decisions.
How accurate are the industry benchmark thresholds?
Benchmarks (e.g. food cost 28–32% healthy for full-service, labor cost 25–35% by concept type, liquor pour cost 18–24% for a full liquor program) are pulled from the most recent published industry sources. They're directional, not absolute. Your local market, vendor mix, and concept type all shift the right target for you.
Why does the tip pool calculator have legal warnings?
Because tip-pool violations carry six-figure FLSA penalties and the rules change. Federal law prohibits managers and supervisors from receiving pooled tips (FLSA §3(m)(2)(B), 2018). Tip-credit states restrict the pool to FOH only. The 2021 DOL final rule and the August 2024 Fifth Circuit vacatur of the 80/20/30 rule also matter. We surface the rules inline so operators can run the math without accidentally building an illegal policy.