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
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 down to the rupee 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 you reduce the 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 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.