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Restaurant Break-Even Covers Calculator

Enter your fixed costs, average check, and variable cost per cover to find your break-even point.

How it is calculated

Break-even is where what each guest leaves after variable costs has paid the fixed costs for the period. contribution per cover = average check − variable cost per cover, then break-even covers = fixed costs ÷ contribution, rounded up to a whole guest. Break-even revenue is covers × average check, using the unrounded cover count. Use the same period for all inputs: monthly fixed costs give covers per month. The average check must be above zero and above the variable cost per cover, otherwise no cover ever contributes and the tool returns no result. Amounts are shown in US dollars. Fixed costs are things like rent and salaried staff; food cost and volume-linked hourly labour are variable.

Worked example

Monthly fixed costs are 42,500, the average check is $38 and the variable cost is $13.50 per cover. Each cover contributes 38 − 13.50 = $24.50. Break-even is 42,500 ÷ 24.50 = 1,734.69 covers, rounded up to 1,735 covers for the month. Break-even revenue is 1,734.69 × 38 = $65,918.37. Spread over about 30 days that is around 58 covers a day before the restaurant makes any profit; every cover above the break-even line adds the full $24.50 to profit.

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Common mistakes

  • Mixing periods, for example annual fixed costs with a monthly cover target. Use the same period for fixed costs and read the covers for that period.
  • Putting total cost per cover (including a share of rent) into the variable cost box. Rent and salaried labour already sit in fixed costs; counting them again makes the break-even far too high.
  • Using the menu price of one dish instead of the average check per guest. The average check should include drinks, sides and desserts, divided by the number of covers, not by the number of tables.
  • Using revenue after tax or tip in one field and before tax in another. Keep the average check and the variable cost on the same basis.
  • Expecting a result when the variable cost equals or exceeds the check. The tool returns nothing in that case, because no volume could cover the fixed costs.

Sources

About this calculator

In restaurant finance, a cover is one seated guest, and the break-even cover count for a period is the number of covers needed so that revenue exactly equals fixed costs plus variable costs — the point where the restaurant neither profits nor loses money. It is found by dividing fixed costs (rent, salaried labor, insurance) by the contribution margin per cover: the average check minus the variable cost per cover (food cost, hourly labor tied to volume, and similar).

Restaurant operators and consultants use this figure constantly when planning staffing levels, evaluating menu pricing, or deciding whether a location's foot traffic can realistically sustain the business, since it translates abstract P&L numbers into something a floor manager can track night to night — covers served versus covers needed.

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Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    Fixed costs should be for one period, such as a month, and the covers come out for that same period. Divide by your open days to get a daily target: 12,000 fixed with a 45 check and 18 variable cost needs 445 covers a month, about 17 on each of 26 days. Where do you count labour: fixed or variable?

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