Skip to content

Tools

Prime Cost Calculator

Cost of sales and labour read together, because they trade against each other.

Your numbers

Food, beverage and packaging.

All wages, benefits and related charges for the period.

Results

Prime cost % of revenue
55.0%
Prime cost
137,500
Cost of sales %
30.0%
Labour %
25.0%
Remaining for fixed costs
112,500

Results update as you type. Nothing you enter is sent to us.

To read cost of sales and labour as one number, since they move against each other.

Food cost and labour cost are usually reviewed separately, which hides the trade between them: a cheaper ingredient that takes longer to prepare moves cost from one line to the other without helping the business.

Prime cost reads them together. Enter revenue, cost of sales and total labour, and the calculator returns prime cost in money and as a percentage of revenue, plus what remains to cover fixed costs.

How to read this

There is no universal prime cost target. What it should be depends on the concept, the service model and the rent, and the useful comparison is against your own trend rather than against a published figure.