Restaurant Break-Even Calculator
Knowing your break-even point — the number of covers per day you need to cover rent, salaries, and utilities — is the first number every restaurant operator should know cold.
Use this free calculator to find your daily and monthly break-even point. No signup, runs entirely in your browser.
- Works for dine-in, QSR, cloud kitchen, and ghost kitchen models
- Per-shift, per-day, and per-month outputs
- No data leaves your browser
How break-even is calculated
Break-even covers = Fixed costs per period ÷ (Average ticket × Contribution margin %). Contribution margin = 1 − (Variable cost % of sales). If your fixed costs are ₹4,00,000/month, your average ticket is ₹400, and your contribution margin is 60%, you need 4,00,000 ÷ (400 × 0.60) = ~1,667 covers a month, or ~56/day.
What counts as a fixed cost
Rent, salaries (not hourly wages), insurance, software (POS, accounting, Restaurant Daily), bank EMIs on kitchen equipment. Anything that does not move when sales move by ±20%.
Why the number changes
Most operators re-run break-even monthly because food cost % drifts (supplier rate changes), labor % drifts (overtime + new hires), and rent escalations kick in annually. A 2% slip in food cost on a 60% contribution margin shifts break-even by ~3.5%.
Frequently Asked Questions
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