Covers per day
to clear the table.
Every operator should know this number cold. Move the sliders to see how rent, wages, ticket size, and variable cost combine into a daily-covers target.
Fixed monthly costs
Monthly base rent (exclude variable common-area charges)
Salaries + payroll taxes — kitchen, FOH, manager
Utilities, software, accounting, license renewals, maintenance
Per-cover economics
Total revenue ÷ total covers, last 30 days
Food cost + packaging + DSP commission (if delivery-heavy) — % of menu price
What you need to clear the table
Sum of rent + wages + other fixed expenses
Avg ticket $28 − variable cost $9 (32%)
304 per week · 1,314 per month
Total topline you must hit before profit starts
Marker shows the 120 covers/day stretched line (scale: 0–180 covers/day)
Realistic
44 covers/day is achievable for most independent operators. The gap above that becomes your profit. Now check whether your current daily count matches.
For a sense of profit math: every cover above the breakeven number contributes the per-cover number above directly to your bottom line.
The covers-per-day target is the only number that matters.
Most operators we talk to know their rent to the dollar but couldn’t quickly tell you their daily breakeven covers number. That’s the wrong way around. Rent is a sunk decision; covers per day is what you can actually influence tomorrow.
If the number above feels unreachable, the answer isn’t to try harder — it’s to change one variable. Either reduce fixed costs (re-negotiate rent on renewal, restructure shifts), raise ticket size (menu engineering, upsells, combos), or lower variable cost % (better ingredient sourcing, less DSP-funded discounting).
The most common gap we see: operators model breakeven assuming 25–28% variable cost (food only), then run delivery-heavy at 50%+ (food + packaging + DSP commission), and wonder why the monthly P&L is in the red even though they’re busy. Move the variable cost slider above honestly.
Want this dashboard live for your real numbers?
Restronaut builds custom operator dashboards — daily covers vs. breakeven, channel mix, ticket trends — wired directly to your POS.
Frequently asked questions
What formula does the breakeven calculator use?+
Covers needed per month = monthly fixed costs (rent + wages + other fixed costs) ÷ contribution per cover (average ticket minus variable cost per cover). The daily figure divides the monthly number by 30; the weekly figure divides it by 4.33.
What counts as a fixed cost versus a variable cost in this calculator?+
Fixed costs are rent, wages, and other fixed costs like utilities, software, and license renewals — they don't change with covers served. Variable cost is entered as a percentage of average ticket, covering food cost, packaging, and DSP commission if you're delivery-heavy.
What's a realistic covers-per-day target?+
The calculator flags 60 covers/day or fewer as realistic, 60–120 as demanding, and above 120 as stretched. These are the tool's own bands, not a universal industry standard — they're meant to give you a quick read on how achievable your current numbers are.
What happens if variable cost is higher than my average ticket can support?+
If contribution per cover (average ticket minus variable cost) is zero or negative, the calculator can't compute a breakeven cover count and shows a dash — it means variable cost exceeds ticket price, so no volume of covers would break even.
How is monthly revenue at breakeven calculated?+
Monthly revenue at breakeven is the covers needed per month multiplied by average ticket — the total topline you need to hit before the restaurant starts contributing profit above its fixed and variable costs.