Tip pool · Friday
Server A$184.20
Server B$201.50
Bar$98.40
Bussers$62.10
100% free · no signup · no upsells
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.
Built by an operator. No email required, ever.
Food cost percentage Healthy
0.0 percent food cost
Industry benchmark 28–32%
Built for the line, not the boardroom Free forever No signup Mobile-friendly
Twelve calculators
Every number a kitchen runs. Nothing it doesn't.
Pick a tool. Plug the numbers in. The math is shown underneath every result so you can trust it, and teach it to your sous in thirty seconds.
Most used
Food Cost Percentage
Compare food cost to revenue to spot menu margin issues.
Recipe & Plate Cost
Build plate cost from ingredient quantities and prices.
Labor Cost Percentage
Track labor as a share of revenue across shifts.
Popular
Tip Pool & Tip Out
Split tips fairly across roles by hours or points.
Menu Pricing
Reverse-engineer menu price from cost and target margin.
Liquor Pour Cost
Calculate pour cost % and benchmark against industry.
Break-Even Revenue
Find revenue needed to cover fixed and variable costs.
Inventory Variance
Spot theft, waste, or counting errors in food inventory.
Prime Cost
Food + beverage + labor as % of revenue. The single number every operator should track weekly.
New
Draft Beer / Keg Cost
Pour cost, cost per pour, profit per keg. Fixes the leakiest line item in any bar.
New
No-Show & Deposit
Cost of empty reserved seats. Suggested deposit, break-even no-show rate, annual recovery.
Menu Engineering
Star / Plowhorse / Puzzle / Dog matrix. Classify items by margin and popularity.
New
Delivery True-Profit
DoorDash, UberEats, GrubHub commission stack vs your real cost. Net per platform order.
New
Catering Pricing
Per-head price + service charge + suggested gratuity. Operator margin protected.
New
Employee Turnover Cost
Annual cost of replacement hires. Industry runs 75-130% turnover.
New
Fountain Drink / BIB Cost
BIB yield + ice + free refills + cup cost. Real pour cost on soda.
16 Free calculators
30+ Industry sources cited
5 Years of GM experience behind every formula
0 Signups required
Built by an operator
Five years behind the bar. Same site that serves you.
I started as a bartender at Cosmos Taverna 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.
Read the full storyField notes from the line.
All posts →
01 Tips
How to Calculate a Tip-Out (Servers, Bussers, Bartenders)
How tip-outs actually get calculated, standard percentages by role, and a worked shift example. The math, not the legal guide. From a 5-year GM.
Read the piece
02 Menu
The 7 Highest-Margin Items on a Restaurant Menu
The seven items that carry the most margin, ranked by a GM who ran the numbers, with the food cost percentage on each. From a 5-year GM.
Read the piece
03 Food cost
Food Cost Went Up But Sales Didn't: 6 Things to Check
When food cost climbs but sales stay flat, the cause is rarely the menu. Six things to check first, in the order that finds it fastest. From a 5-year GM.
Read the pieceCommon questions
Before you ask.
01 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.
02 Who built RestaurantCalcs and why should I trust the math?
Built by Brock Markarian, a 5-year bartender-to-GM at Cosmos Taverna in California. 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.
03 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.
04 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.
05 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% on spirits) 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.
06 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.
Why we built this
Most restaurant calculators are lead-gen forms in disguise.
Ours are actually free.
RestaurantCalcs is one site for every operations math problem you'll hit on a Tuesday lunch rush. 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.
Built by an operator who got tired of spreadsheets that crash on phones.
Read the manifesto