Restaurant Analytics 101: Key Metrics for Food Service Success

A practical guide to tracking revenue, guests, operations, and growth

Running a restaurant is a game of tight margins, fast feedback loops, and constant tradeoffs. The difference between “busy” and “profitable” usually comes down to measurement—knowingwhat to track,how to interpret it, andwhat action to take.

This guide covers the core restaurant analytics you should monitor weekly (and sometimes daily), grouped into five areas:

1. Sales & profitability
2. Guests & retention
3. Menu performance
4. Operations & labor
5. Marketing & channels

At the end, you’ll find a simple “starter dashboard” you can copy.

1) Sales & profitability metrics (the money)

Total Sales (Revenue)

What it tells you: Your overall demand and performance trend.

Track it: Daily, weekly, and by daypart.

Pro tip: Always compare revenue with guest counts—revenue can rise while traffic falls (higher prices), or vice versa.

Gross Profit & Gross Margin

What it tells you: Whether your sales are actually profitable after food costs.

Formula:

• Gross Profit = Revenue − COGS (food + beverage costs)
• Gross Margin = Gross Profit / Revenue

Why it matters: A restaurant can grow revenue and still lose money if margins are deteriorating.

Net Profit & Net Margin

What it tells you: True profitability after labor, rent, utilities, fees, etc.

Track it: Weekly or monthly, but monitor drivers daily (labor, COGS, waste).

Average Check (Average Ticket)

What it tells you: How much the average guest spends per visit.

Formula: Revenue / Number of transactions.

Levers: Bundles, upsells, pricing strategy, menu design, add-ons, beverage program.

Revenue per Available Seat Hour (RevPASH)

What it tells you: How efficiently you’re turning seating capacity into revenue.

Formula: Revenue / (Seats × Hours available)

Best for: Dine-in operations, especially peak hour optimization.

2) Guests & retention metrics (the demand engine)

Guest Count (Covers) / Transactions

What it tells you: Core volume trend.

Track it: Daily + by weekday + by daypart.

Use it to diagnose:

• Revenue down + guest count flat → pricing/AOV issue
• Revenue flat + guest count down → AOV up but demand weakening

Repeat Rate (Returning Guests %)

What it tells you: Whether guests are coming back.

How to measure: Loyalty program data, reservation system, POS customer profiles.

Why it matters: Retention is cheaper than acquisition, and repeat guests stabilize cash flow.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV/LTV)

What it tells you: How valuable a customer is over time.

Best use: Making smarter decisions on promo spend and loyalty incentives.

3) Menu performance metrics (what to sell more of)

Item Sales Mix (Top items by volume and revenue)

What it tells you: What sells and what doesn’t.

Track it: Weekly; review after menu updates.

Contribution Margin per Item

What it tells you: The profit per item after direct costs.

Formula: Selling price − ingredient cost.

Important: The best-selling item isn’t always the most profitable.

Menu Engineering (Stars / Plowhorses / Puzzles / Dogs)

A classic way to categorize items:

• Stars: High popularity + high margin → feature prominently
• Plowhorses: High popularity + low margin → adjust portion/cost/pricing
• Puzzles: Low popularity + high margin → better placement or renaming
• Dogs: Low popularity + low margin → remove or replace

Waste & Void Rate

What it tells you: Where profit is leaking via mistakes, spoilage, comps, theft.

Track it: Daily/weekly.

4) Operations & labor metrics (how efficiently you run)

Labor Cost % (Prime Cost)

What it tells you: Your biggest controllable cost.

Formula: Labor cost / Revenue.

Benchmark note: Target varies by concept, but “prime cost” (COGS + labor) is often the #1 profitability lever.

Sales per Labor Hour (SPLH)

What it tells you: Productivity of your staffing.

Formula: Revenue / total labor hours.

Use it: Staffing schedule tuning and daypart optimization.

Table Turn Time / Service Time

What it tells you: Speed and capacity utilization.

Where it helps: Peak hours, reducing wait times, boosting RevPASH.

5) Marketing & channel metrics (how you grow)

Channel Revenue (Dine-in vs Delivery vs Takeout)

What it tells you: Where sales actually come from.

Why it matters: Delivery may add revenue but reduce margin due to platform fees.

Marketing ROI / ROAS (if you run ads)

What it tells you: Whether paid campaigns generate profitable incremental sales.

Track it: Weekly; tie back to reservations/orders.

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

What it tells you: How much you spend to get a first-time customer.

Best paired with: LTV and repeat rate.

The most common analytics mistakes restaurants make

1. Tracking revenue without margin
2. Looking at totals, not trends by weekday/daypart
3. Ignoring menu profitability (only looking at “top sellers”)
4. Growing delivery volume without understanding fees and labor impact
5. Running promos without measuring repeat behavior

A simple “Restaurant Starter Dashboard” (copy this)

If you want to keep it lean, start with these 12 metrics:

Daily

• Total Sales
• Guest Count / Transactions
• Average Check
• Labor Cost %
• Top 10 items by revenue
• Void/Comp/Waste amount

Weekly

• Gross Margin %
• Channel mix (dine-in / delivery / takeout)
• Sales per labor hour
• Repeat guest rate
• Contribution margin by top items
• Complaints/refunds rate

How to use this in real life (quick workflow)

Every morning (5 minutes):

• Check Sales, Guest Count, Avg Check
• Scan labor % and waste/voids
• Note anomalies (spikes/drops)

Every week (30 minutes):

• Diagnose changes by channel + daypart
• Review menu engineering
• Decide 1–2 actions: adjust staffing, update promo, push a high-margin item