Prime Cost Calculator
Enter your COGS, labour cost, and total sales to see your prime cost, prime cost percentage, and exactly how you compare to the healthy 55–65% target band.
Prime Cost = COGS + Labour
Prime Cost % = (Prime Cost / Total Sales) × 100
Prime Cost Percentage
–
Enter your costs and sales to calculate
Prime Cost
–
COGS + labour
To reach 65%
–
savings needed
Cucinovo keeps your food cost accurate so prime cost stays on target
Precise recipe costing is half of prime cost. Cucinovo tracks ingredient prices, waste, and cost per portion automatically so the COGS side never drifts. Free plan available.
Start free with CucinovoUnderstanding Prime Cost
What is prime cost?
Prime cost is the sum of your cost of goods sold (all food and beverage) and your total labour cost. Together these are the largest controllable expenses in a restaurant, which is why operators track prime cost as the headline number for profitability.
Prime Cost = COGS + Labour
The prime cost percentage formula
Expressing prime cost as a share of sales lets you compare periods and locations of any size. It answers a simple question: of every euro you take in, how much goes to food, drink, and staff?
Prime Cost % = (Prime Cost / Total Sales) × 100
Why 55–65% is the benchmark
After prime cost, the rest of your revenue has to cover rent, utilities, marketing, insurance, and profit. When prime cost creeps above 65% of sales there is rarely enough left to run a healthy business. The band below breaks down what each range means.
These are industry averages for full-service restaurants. Quick-service concepts with leaner labour often run lower, while high-touch fine dining may sit at the top of the band.
Four Ways to Lower Prime Cost
Standardised recipes with exact portions, tighter trim, and cross-utilisation of ingredients pull down the COGS half of prime cost without touching quality.
Match staffing to your real sales pattern hour by hour. Trimming just a few over-scheduled shifts a week is often the fastest way to move prime cost.
Review invoices for creep, consolidate orders, and benchmark suppliers. A few percentage points off key ingredients compounds across every dish.
Promote high-margin, low-cost dishes and reprice or retire the ones that drag you down. Higher sales of profitable items lower prime cost as a percentage.
Prime Cost FAQ
What is a good prime cost percentage?
Most full-service restaurants target a prime cost of 55–65% of sales. Below 55% is excellent, 55–60% is great, 60–65% is acceptable, and above 65% usually means profit is at risk. Quick-service concepts often run lower because labour is leaner.
What is included in prime cost?
Prime cost is the sum of your cost of goods sold (all food and beverage) and your total labour cost: wages plus payroll taxes and benefits. It is the largest controllable cost in a restaurant, which is why operators watch it so closely.
How is prime cost different from food cost?
Food cost measures only ingredients as a percentage of sales. Prime cost adds labour on top of food and beverage cost. A healthy food cost of 30% means little if labour pushes prime cost above 65%, so prime cost gives a fuller picture of profitability.
How do I lower my prime cost?
Attack both halves. Reduce COGS by cutting waste, tightening portions, and renegotiating supplier prices; reduce labour by scheduling to forecasted demand and cross-training staff. Menu engineering toward higher-margin dishes lifts sales without adding cost.