Restaurant KPIs Explained: The Numbers That Actually Matter

Most restaurant owners track sales closely and everything else loosely. A handful of other KPIs tend to predict trouble earlier.

The core four

Prime cost - food and labour combined - is the single best predictor of whether a venue is structurally profitable. RevPASH (revenue per available seat hour) shows how well a venue monetises the seats it has, not just the covers it serves. Average table turn time reveals whether service pacing is leaving money on the table during peak hours. Void and comp rate flags either training gaps or process problems at the till.

Where to find them

All four should be available as a standing report from the POS and inventory system, not a monthly manual calculation - if they require a spreadsheet to produce, they're too slow to act on.