Make cash movement, seat capacity, staffing and menu costs easier to discuss with clearly defined examples.
Define the period and the source first
A useful KPI answers a specific business question. Record the restaurant, dates, service periods, source records and calculation before comparing results. The examples below are fictional arithmetic, not industry targets, accounting advice or a promise that a Taply report calculates the measure for you.
For the sales-based examples, use food and beverage sales after discounts and refunds, excluding tax, tips and gift-card issuance. Match costs to the same scope and period with your accountant. If an input is missing or a denominator is zero, mark the measure unavailable and explain the gap.
Operating cash movement
For a simple cash review, list operating cash receipts and operating cash payments in the same period. Their difference is the net operating cash movement for this worksheet. Receipts of $42,000 less payments of $39,500 give a positive $2,500 movement. Keep financing, owner transfers and investing activity separate.
Cash timing differs from when a sale is recorded or a cost is incurred. Reconcile the source records and review upcoming commitments with your accountant. A positive movement for one week does not establish profit or show whether next month's obligations are covered.
Revenue per available seat hour
For a defined dine-in period, divide net dine-in food and beverage sales by available seat hours. If 60 seats are available for four hours, capacity is 240 seat hours. Dine-in sales of $3,600 divided by 240 equal $15 per available seat hour. Exclude takeaway sales from this calculation.
If capacity changes during service, add each segment separately rather than multiplying one seat count by the full opening time. Compare similar service periods and record closures or private events. This measure combines the use of seating capacity and spending; it does not identify the cause of a change on its own.
Employee turnover for a defined period
One simple convention is separations during the period divided by average headcount, multiplied by 100. Using the average of opening and closing headcount, 20 people at the start and 24 at the end give an average of 22. Two separations divided by 22 give approximately 9.1%.
Agree who is included, how transfers and seasonal roles are handled, and whether a more frequent headcount average better reflects your staffing. Keep the same convention between periods. Review aggregate reasons and onboarding experiences with HR; a small team's percentage can change sharply after one departure.
Prime cost as a share of sales
For this example, prime cost combines food and beverage cost of goods sold with total labor cost for the same period. Define labor consistently, including the wage, employer-tax and benefit components you choose with your accountant. If cost of goods sold is $18,000 and labor cost is $21,000, prime cost is $39,000.
Against $60,000 of matching net food and beverage sales, the ratio is 65%. That is an arithmetic example, not a recommended target. Purchases alone are not necessarily cost of goods sold; account for inventory and adjustments using your established accounting process. Review food and labor components separately before deciding what needs attention.
Menu contribution before overhead
For a simplified dish review, subtract standard ingredient cost from its selling price after applicable discounts and before tax. An $18 dish with $5.40 of ingredients leaves $12.60 before labor and other expenses. Include yield and portion assumptions when establishing the recipe cost.
This contribution is not net profit. Packaging, commissions, labor, rent and other costs still matter. Compare contribution with item popularity and preparation demands, then discuss a small menu change with the kitchen team. Keep the original assumptions so a price or recipe change can be reviewed honestly.
