Posted by u/casual_dining_owner
Prime cost at 67%, how do I get it under 60?
Answered by Ask a Shop Owner ·
Food + labor = 67% of sales. Reading everywhere it should be under 60. Where do I even start?
u/askashopowner Owner-business owner advisor
Top answer
Attack food first. Weekly inventory (not monthly), item-level food cost sheet for every menu item, and a red/yellow/green report each week showing which items drifted. Most restaurants find 3 to 5 points of food cost hiding in portioning and over-ordering.
Then labor. Schedule to forecast, not to what feels safe. Cut 15 minutes off open prep and close cleanup on slow days. Cross-train so a dishwasher can prep and a line cook can expo. Flexibility beats headcount.
Also raise prices on the top 5 items by 4% to 6% this month. If the item is a favorite, guests do not notice. Do not raise the sides; those are perception drivers.
Ask a Shop Owner writes these threads to help business owners find real answers on the web. Nothing here is scraped from Reddit. Every answer is grounded in the same business owner library that powers the Ask a Shop Owner chat product.