Prime cost check
Put in a week's sales, what the food and drinks cost and everyone on staff, and see prime cost as a share of sales, with vacation pay, CPP and EI on top of wages. See which days ran heavy on staff, three ways to get to your own target, every week side by side, and print a report for the week.
Help and background Back to the tool
How it works
- 1 Put in the week's food and drink sales, before tax and tips, and the prime cost you aim for if you have one.
- 2 Put in what the food and drinks cost: what you bought, your stock counts, or your usual share when you're planning ahead.
- 3 Add everyone on staff with their hours and wage, or their weekly pay. Vacation pay, CPP and EI go on top, with starting rates you can change.
- 4 See prime cost as a share of sales, where each dollar went, and what's left for rent, fees and profit.
- 5 Put in each day to see which ran heavy on staff, see three ways to reach your target, print a report, and start next week from this one.
Free, with no account. Everything is worked out on this page: your sales, staff, wages and weeks are never sent to us or put in a link. Remember keeps them on this device, and only while it's on.
Good to know
- What is prime cost?
- What the food and drinks you sold cost you, plus everything your staff cost you, as a share of sales. It's most of what a restaurant, café or bar spends, and the part you can change from one week to the next: portions, waste, prices, suppliers and the schedule.
- Why count vacation pay, CPP and EI?
- Because you pay them. An hour at $18.75 costs you more than $18.75 once vacation pay and your share of CPP and EI are on top, and workers' comp and benefits add more. Leave them out and staff look cheaper than they are. The rates are starting points for 2026; your payroll has the real ones.
- What's the right number?
- There isn't one. A bakery, a bar and a fine-dining room run very differently, and so do rents. The ready-made targets are only starting points. Your own weeks side by side are the best guide: what changed when a week went well?
- What does it leave out?
- Tips, which belong to your staff. Payroll taxes some provinces charge on bigger payrolls, unless you put them in with benefits. What you take as the owner, unless you count your own hours. And rent, card fees and everything else, which come out of what's left. Guidance, not financial, tax or payroll advice.
Where it fits in a restaurant
Every week Prices in, margins checked, the counts against the sales, and next week's pars.
Every week
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