This is your starting point. Track your daily sales and compare them against previous weeks rather than looking at individual days.

Ask yourself:

• Are sales increasing or decreasing?
• Which days perform best?
• Are weekends carrying the business?
• Are lunch and dinner equally profitable?

Sales trends often reveal problems before they become serious.

Average Order Value tells you how much each customer spends.

Increasing AOV is often easier than finding new customers. Simple ways to improve it include:

• Add drinks to every order
• Offer premium add-ons
• Bundle popular items into meal deals
• Train staff to upsell naturally

Even a Rs. 100 increase in AOV can significantly improve monthly revenue.

Food cost is one of the biggest expenses in any restaurant.

While the ideal percentage varies by concept, consistently tracking food cost helps you identify issues before they become expensive problems.

If your food cost suddenly jumps, it could be due to:

• Poor portion control
• Rising ingredient prices
• Excessive waste
• Theft
• Incorrect recipe costing

Great food requires a great team — but payroll must stay sustainable.

If labour costs continue increasing while sales remain flat, it's time to review staffing schedules and productivity.

Prime Cost combines your two biggest expenses: Food Cost and Labour Cost.

This single number gives you one of the clearest indicators of restaurant health. Monitoring Prime Cost weekly helps you control the expenses that have the biggest impact on profitability.

Food waste isn't just about throwing ingredients away. It's money leaving your business.

Track:

• Spoiled ingredients
• Overproduction
• Returned dishes
• Incorrect orders
• Portion waste

Even reducing waste by a few percentage points can save thousands of rupees each month. The goal isn't perfection — it's awareness. What gets measured gets managed.

This is the number that matters most. Profit isn't what's left in your cash drawer at the end of the day. It's what's left after paying for:

• Food
• Labour
• Rent
• Utilities
• Marketing
• Delivery commissions
• Packaging
• Other operating expenses

A restaurant can have record sales and still lose money. That's why reviewing net profit every week — not just at the end of the month — helps you make better decisions faster.

Build a Weekly Review Habit

Set aside just 30 minutes every week to review these seven numbers with your team. Ask questions like:

• Did food cost increase?
• Which menu items were most profitable?
• Why did labour costs rise?
• Did average order value improve?
• How much food was wasted?
• Are we more profitable than last week?

This simple habit creates accountability and helps you spot issues before they grow.

Weekly Restaurant Numbers Checklist

Before starting a new week, make sure you've reviewed:

If you can answer these seven questions every week, you're already ahead of many restaurant owners who rely on instinct instead of data.

Final Thoughts

Running a successful restaurant isn't about guessing — it's about measuring.

The best operators don't just know how busy their restaurant was. They know exactly where their money came from, where it went, and what needs attention next.

By consistently tracking these seven numbers, you'll make faster decisions, reduce costly mistakes, and build a more profitable business over time.