Restaurant group dashboards
Food and labor margin while the week is running
Sales live in the POS, invoices and inventory in back-office software and hours in the scheduling app. RapidDashboard joins them in a private data store, so operators see prime cost by location and daypart before the period closes.
Live examples
One question, one full dashboard
Pick a question. RapidDashboard answers with KPIs, charts, the records behind them and an AI summary of what to do next. Hover any chart for values or open its table view.
Show comp sales, labor percentage and food cost against target by location this week.
Weekly sales scorecard
Comp sales
+2.4%
+0.4 pts vs same week last year
Net sales
$412.0K
+$13K all stores, vs last week
Average check
$38.60
+$0.30 per cover
Covers
10,674
+254 vs last week
+2.4%
comp sales, 5 comp stores
- Comp guest count
- +0.8%
- Comp average check
- +1.6%
- Net sales, all stores
- $412.0K
- Old Town (non-comp)
- $61.0K
| Location | Net sales | Comp | Labor % | Food & bev % | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown | $86.4K | +4.6% | 30.1% | 30.4% | On target |
| Riverside | $74.2K | +1.5% | 33.8% | 34.2% | Food & labor over |
| Northgate | $68.8K | -1.6% | 32.2% | 31.8% | Comps down |
| Westfield | $62.5K | +1.8% | 31.0% | 31.2% | Near target |
| Lakeview | $59.1K | +5.9% | 30.6% | 30.9% | On target |
| Old Town | $61.0K | New | 33.1% | 32.6% | Non-comp, ramping |
What changed and what to do
- Critical: Riverside ran 34.2% food and beverage cost and 33.8% labor this week, both well over the 31% and 30% targets, on comps of only +1.5%.
- Warning: Northgate is the one comp store below last year, down 1.6%, with lunch guest count down for three straight weeks.
- Good: Lakeview comps rose 5.9%, led by the fall menu launch, and held labor at 30.6%.
AI summary
Comp sales rose 2.4% in Week 39, from 0.8% more guests and a 1.6% higher average check, and total net sales reached $412.0K across six locations. Downtown and Lakeview lead, Northgate trails last year, and Riverside is over target on both food and labor. Recommend an invoice and portioning review at Riverside this week and a lunch traffic plan for Northgate.
Ask next
- Why is Northgate lunch traffic down?
- Show comp sales by daypart
- How is Old Town tracking against its opening plan?
What is prime cost by location this week, and how has it trended over the last 12 weeks?
Prime cost
Prime cost
63.6%
-0.5 pts of sales, vs last week
Food & bev cost
31.8%
-0.3 pts target 31%
Labor cost
31.8%
-0.2 pts target 30%
Cost over target
$10.7K
-$1.7K prime cost above 61%
- Prime cost
- Target 61%
| Prime cost | |
|---|---|
| W28 | 62.1% |
| W29 | 62.0% |
| W30 | 62.3% |
| W31 | 62.2% |
| W32 | 62.3% |
| W33 | 62.5% |
| W34 | 63.2% |
| W35 | 63.6% |
| W36 | 63.5% |
| W37 | 63.6% |
| W38 | 64.1% |
| W39 | 63.6% |
63.6%
of net sales · target 61%
- Food & bev cost
- Labor cost
- Target 61%
| Food & bev cost | Labor cost | Target 61% | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown | 30.4% | 30.1% | 61.0% |
| Lakeview | 30.9% | 30.6% | 61.0% |
| Westfield | 31.2% | 31.0% | 61.0% |
| Northgate | 31.8% | 32.2% | 61.0% |
| Old Town | 32.6% | 33.1% | 61.0% |
| Riverside | 34.2% | 33.8% | 61.0% |
What changed and what to do
- Critical: Riverside prime cost reached 68.0%, seven points over target, worth about $5.2K on the week.
- Warning: Group prime cost has run above 63% for six straight weeks, after holding near 62% through July.
- Good: Downtown ran 60.5% prime cost on the group's highest sales, the one location under target.
AI summary
Prime cost was 63.6% of sales this week, 2.6 points over the 61% target and $10.7K above it in dollars, though it improved half a point on last week. Food and labor contribute roughly equally. Riverside accounts for about half the overage at 68.0%. Recommend a Riverside recovery plan with weekly food and labor targets, and using Downtown's prep par and scheduling templates at the other locations.
Ask next
- Break Riverside prime cost into food and labor drivers
- Show prime cost by daypart
- Which locations hit target last quarter?
Compare actual food cost with theoretical by location for Period 9 and show what explains the variance.
Theoretical vs actual food cost
Actual food cost
32.4%
+0.5 pts vs Period 8
Theoretical food cost
30.2%
+0.1 pts from recipes and item sales
Variance
$35.6K
2.2 pts actual over theoretical
Invoice price exceptions
14
+6 billed above contract
| Step | Change |
|---|---|
| Theoretical | 30.2% |
| Vendor price | +0.9% |
| Waste | +0.5% |
| Portioning | +0.5% |
| Comps & voids | +0.3% |
| Actual | 32.4% |
| Item | Theoretical food cost | Actual food cost |
|---|---|---|
| Downtown | 29.8% | 31.0% |
| Riverside | 30.4% | 34.2% |
| Northgate | 30.1% | 32.3% |
| Westfield | 30.3% | 31.8% |
| Lakeview | 29.9% | 31.6% |
| Old Town | 30.6% | 33.4% |
What changed and what to do
- Critical: Riverside ran 34.2% actual food cost against 30.4% theoretical. A Hillcrest Provisions invoice billed chicken breast at $3.89 a pound against the $3.29 contract price.
- Warning: Ribeye shows $7.8K of variance, mostly at Riverside, where the average cut weighs 13.4 oz against a 12 oz spec.
- Info: Fourteen invoice lines were billed above contract this period, up from eight. Most came from one protein vendor.
AI summary
Actual food cost was 32.4% in Period 9 against a theoretical 30.2%, a 2.2-point gap worth $35.6K. Vendor pricing explains the largest share, followed by waste and portioning, and Riverside carries the widest gap. Recommend requesting a credit from Hillcrest Provisions for the chicken overcharge, adding a scale check on ribeye at Riverside and setting invoice-to-contract alerts for proteins.
Ask next
- Show all invoice lines above contract price
- Which items have the highest waste?
- Trend theoretical vs actual by period
What is labor cost as a percent of sales by daypart, and where are sales per labor hour lowest?
Labor & scheduling
Labor cost
31.8%
-0.2 pts of sales, target 30%
Sales per labor hour
$58.40
+$1.10 all hours worked
Overtime hours
420
+38 budget 350
Labor over schedule
$4.9K
+$1.2K actual vs scheduled
- Riverside128 / 60 hrs
- Northgate84 / 60 hrs
- Old Town72 / 60 hrs
- Downtown58 / 70 hrs
- Westfield42 / 50 hrs
- Lakeview36 / 50 hrs
What changed and what to do
- Critical: Riverside logged 128 overtime hours against a 60-hour budget, with two open line cook positions covered by double shifts.
- Warning: Tuesday to Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m. runs under $40 in sales per labor hour. The afternoon daypart ran 38.9% labor against 36.0% scheduled.
- Good: Dinner labor came in at 29.1%, within a point of schedule, and Saturday dinner tops $110 per labor hour.
AI summary
Labor was 31.8% of sales this week against a 30% target, and overtime reached 420 hours against a 350-hour budget. Riverside accounts for 128 of those hours, and the weekday afternoon is the weakest window for sales per labor hour. Recommend fast-tracking the two Riverside line cook hires, cutting one server shift from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday and sending managers a daily clock-out alert at 38 hours.
Ask next
- Who is approaching overtime this week?
- Show scheduled vs actual hours by manager
- What if we close one hour earlier on Mondays?
Show covers by hour, table turns and average check by daypart for last Saturday.
Saturday covers & table turns
Saturday covers
2,590
+5.3% vs prior Saturday
Dinner table turns
2.8
+0.2 per table, 5 to 9 p.m.
Dinner average check
$48.20
+$1.40 per cover
Peak wait
22 min
+4 min 7 to 8 p.m.
- Sep 26
- Sep 19
| Sep 26 | Sep 19 | |
|---|---|---|
| 11a | 140 | 130 |
| 12p | 250 | 240 |
| 1p | 230 | 220 |
| 2p | 140 | 130 |
| 3p | 90 | 90 |
| 4p | 120 | 110 |
| 5p | 200 | 190 |
| 6p | 330 | 320 |
| 7p | 380 | 350 |
| 8p | 340 | 330 |
| 9p | 230 | 220 |
| 10p | 140 | 130 |
- Dine-in$100.5K83%
- Takeout$9.8K8%
- Delivery apps$7.6K6%
- Catering$3.1K3%
| Segment | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Dine-in | $100.5K | 83% |
| Takeout | $9.8K | 8% |
| Delivery apps | $7.6K | 6% |
| Catering | $3.1K | 3% |
| Daypart | Covers | Table turns | Average check | Peak wait | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lunch, 11a to 2p | 620 | 2.1 | $31.80 | 12 min | On plan |
| Afternoon, 2p to 5p | 350 | 1.6 | $27.40 | None | Seats open |
| Dinner, 5p to 9p | 1,250 | 2.8 | $48.20 | 22 min | Wait over 20 min |
| Late night, 9p to close | 370 | 1.3 | $29.60 | 5 min | On plan |
What changed and what to do
- Warning: Waits reached 22 minutes between 7 and 8 p.m., the busiest hour at 380 covers. Faster table resets would add turns at the peak.
- Good: Dinner turned 2.8 times with a $48.20 average check, both up on the prior Saturday.
- Info: Delivery apps were 6% of Saturday sales. Afternoon dine-in has open seats from 2 to 5 p.m.
AI summary
Saturday served 2,590 covers across the group, up 5.3% on the prior week, with dinner turning 2.8 times at a $48.20 average check. The 7 to 8 p.m. peak pushed waits to 22 minutes, while the afternoon ran well under capacity. Recommend adding one server and a dedicated busser from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Saturdays, and testing an afternoon happy hour offer to fill the 2 to 5 p.m. window.
Ask next
- Show waitlist abandonment by hour
- Which locations have the longest table turn times?
- Compare Saturday to Friday dinner
Sample data for a fictional company. Your dashboards run on your own connected systems.
Sound familiar?
Where the numbers live today
Food cost arrives with inventory
Actual food cost is known after the period count, a week or more after the invoice that moved it.
Labor creeps one store at a time
Overtime and labor percentage drift at a single location, and area managers see it in the district deck.
Comp means different things
Each GM counts comp sales a little differently, so the weekly call starts by agreeing on the number.
Invoices and depletion meet late
Vendor invoices and POS item sales come together when accounting reconciles the period.
Metrics glossary
The metrics behind these dashboards
How each number is defined, so everyone reads it the same way.
- Comp sales (same-store sales)
-
Sales growth for locations open in both periods, which removes the effect of new openings and closures. Many groups count a store as comp after it has been open 12 to 18 months.
Formula(Comp store sales this period ÷ Same stores last year) − 1
- Prime cost
-
Cost of goods sold plus total labor cost, the two largest controllable costs in a restaurant. Keeping prime cost near 60% of sales is a widely cited target for full-service restaurants.
Formula(Food & beverage cost + Labor cost) ÷ Net sales
- Food cost percentage
-
Actual cost of food used in a period as a share of food sales.
Formula(Beginning inventory + Purchases − Ending inventory) ÷ Food sales
- Theoretical food cost
-
What food should have cost based on recipe costs and the items actually sold. The gap to actual food cost points to waste, portioning, theft or price changes.
FormulaΣ (Items sold × Recipe cost) ÷ Food sales
- Labor cost percentage
-
Total labor cost, including wages, overtime, payroll taxes and benefits, as a share of net sales.
FormulaTotal labor cost ÷ Net sales
- Table turnover rate
-
How many times each table seats a new party during a service period.
FormulaParties seated ÷ Number of tables
Connections
How your systems connect
Supported APIs and exports sync into a private RapidDashboard store you approve. Dashboards read from that store, so source systems keep their normal load.
Toast / Square for Restaurants
PullsChecks, item sales, covers, dayparts, comps and voids
Official POS APIs on a scheduled sync, mapped to each location and daypart.
Restaurant365 / MarginEdge
PullsInvoices, inventory counts, recipes, GL
Vendor APIs and exports feed actual and theoretical food cost by item.
7shifts
PullsSchedules, clock-ins, overtime, labor cost
API sync joins hours to POS sales for labor percentage and sales per labor hour.
OpenTable
PullsReservations, waitlist, table turns
Reservation data adds wait times and turns to the guest-flow view.
What you can build
Dashboards and reports teams build next
Sales
- Comp sales by location and week
- Average check and guest count
- Channel mix: dine-in, takeout, delivery
Food cost
- Theoretical vs actual by location
- Invoice prices against contract
- Top variance items
Labor
- Labor % by daypart
- Overtime alerts by location
- Sales per labor hour heatmap
Automated reports
- Daily flash sales report
- Weekly prime cost review
- Period-end food cost summary
Payroll and vendor pricing stay private
Restaurant data includes employee pay rates, vendor contract pricing and guest contact details from reservations. RapidDashboard keeps it in a private data store with role-based access, so a GM sees their location while owners and area managers see the group. AI features are optional and run on enterprise endpoints whose terms prohibit training on your data.
FAQ
Restaurant Groups dashboards: common questions
What should a restaurant dashboard show?
Multi-unit operators usually start with comp sales by location, prime cost, theoretical vs actual food cost, labor percentage by daypart, covers, table turns and average check. RapidDashboard builds each of these from a plain-English question against your synced POS, back-office and scheduling data.
How do you calculate prime cost for a restaurant?
Add cost of goods sold for food and beverage to total labor cost, including payroll taxes and benefits, then divide by net sales. Keeping prime cost near 60% of sales is a widely cited target for full-service restaurants. RapidDashboard tracks it weekly by location so it can be corrected before the period closes.
What is the difference between theoretical and actual food cost?
Theoretical food cost is what food should have cost based on recipe costs and the items sold in the POS. Actual food cost comes from inventory counts and purchases. The variance between them shows waste, over-portioning, unrecorded comps and vendor price changes.
Can RapidDashboard connect to Toast, Restaurant365 and 7shifts?
Yes. Toast and Square connect through their official APIs, Restaurant365 and MarginEdge through vendor APIs and exports, and 7shifts through its API. Data from every location lands in one private store, so the group view and each location view use the same numbers.
Is our sales and payroll data used to train AI models?
No. Your data stays in a private store you approve, and AI features run on enterprise endpoints whose terms prohibit training on customer data. AI is optional; the dashboards work without it.
Keep exploring
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