STEP 3: CALCULATE YOUR DAILY BREAK-EVEN

Not every restaurant is busy seven days a week, and usually one or two days are slower.

The problem is that if you cannot increase sales on these slower days, you may be losing money and not making a profit at all on this day(s). Your break-even is that point where your restaurant’s daily sales are not making or losing money.

This spreadsheet organizes all your costs monthly. It determines how much money it costs your restaurant each day to open the doors, put the lights on and bring in staff and products. Whether you serve ten customers all day or hundreds, the basic cost is the same. On any given day (slow days especially), if your restaurant’s sales are not at least equal to your break-even amount, you will lose less money by closing than staying open.