Restaurant Cost & Margin Benchmark
Target food-cost percentages by restaurant type and region.
Disclaimer: This tool is for general informational and estimation purposes only and is not professional financial, tax, accounting or legal advice. All figures are estimates — verify with a qualified professional before making decisions. Read the full disclaimer.
Running a restaurant or café? Check target food-cost percentages for your format and region to protect the biggest controllable cost in hospitality.
About Restaurant Cost & Margin Benchmark
Food cost is the single biggest controllable expense in hospitality, and a few percentage points decide whether a venue is profitable. This benchmark shows target food-cost percentages by restaurant type and region.
How to use Restaurant Cost & Margin Benchmark
- 1Choose the restaurant type and region that match your situation.
- 2Read the 25th, median, 75th and 90th percentile bands for that selection.
- 3Enter your own figure to see exactly which percentile you fall in.
- 4Add a data point to sharpen the restaurant food-cost benchmark for everyone — it stays in your browser.
Why use Restaurant Cost & Margin Benchmark?
- ✓Free, instant restaurant food-cost percentiles — no sign-up, no paywall.
- ✓Filter by several dimensions to find numbers that actually match your situation.
- ✓Enter your own figure and see exactly where it lands in the distribution.
- ✓Community-contributed data points keep the bands fresh and realistic.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good food cost percentage?+
Keeping food cost under about 30% of revenue is a common healthy target, varying by format — bars run lower, fine dining a little higher.
How do restaurants improve margin?+
Tight portion control, menu engineering toward high-margin items, supplier negotiation and waste reduction are the main levers.
Is the restaurant margin benchmark free to use?+
Yes. It is completely free, runs in your browser and needs no sign-up. Any data point you add stays on your device — nothing is uploaded.
Embed Restaurant Cost & Margin Benchmark on your website
Want Restaurant Cost & Margin Benchmarkon your own site? Paste this snippet into any HTML page — it's free, with no API key or sign-up. The tool loads in an iframe and keeps working exactly as it does here.
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