Finance KPIs for Hospitality

Most operators watch two numbers closely — revenue at the top and profit at the bottom — and treat everything in between as the accountant's business. But the business is won or lost in between. The metrics that tell you whether tonight went right, whether a venue is drifting, whether growth is healthy are the leading indicators, and they need watching daily and weekly at outlet level — not monthly at group level. Here are the ones that matter.

Sales & revenue

• Net sales (ex-VAT) — the true top line. Daily, per outlet.
• Sales vs budget & vs last year — direction and momentum; the single most-watched comparison. Daily / weekly.
• Like-for-like sales — growth with new openings stripped out; the honest read on the core estate. Monthly.
• Average check / spend per head (SPH) — pricing and upsell health. Weekly.
• Covers — volume, and the denominator for almost everything else. Daily.

Cost of sales

• COGS % (cost of goods ÷ sales) — commonly ~28–35% on food and higher on parts of beverage; know your own target by concept. Weekly.
• Gross profit % — the inverse, and the number most operators steer by. Weekly.
• Wastage / variance — the gap between theoretical and actual COGS; where margin quietly leaks. Weekly.

Labour

• Labour % of revenue — often ~25–35% depending on format and service model. Weekly, watched against sales daily.
• Sales per labour hour — productivity, and the right basis for scheduling. Weekly.

Prime cost

• Prime cost (COGS + labour combined) — the number that makes or breaks a venue; commonly targeted around ~60–65% of revenue. Get prime cost right and the venue usually works. Weekly.

Profitability

• Outlet EBITDA / house profit — the profit a venue controls, before central costs. Monthly.
• EBITDA per outlet & margin — how each site contributes; the basis for comparison and reinvestment. Monthly.
• Flow-through — how much of a sales increase actually reaches profit; tests whether growth is efficient. Monthly.

Cash & control

• Cash / card variance — takings that don't tie out; a daily control, not a monthly surprise. Daily.
• AP / AR days — how fast you pay and get paid; working-capital health. Monthly.
• Unapproved spend — purchases committed without approval; should trend to zero. Ongoing.

Leading, not lagging

The point isn't the list — it's the cadence. Profit is a lagging indicator; by the time it's wrong, the month is gone. Covers, SPH, GP, labour % and prime cost are leading — watched daily and weekly, at outlet level, they tell you a venue is drifting while you can still do something about it. A group that reads these every morning manages the business. One that waits for the management pack manages history.

Reference ranges above are general industry rules of thumb — your targets depend on format, market and concept. The discipline that matters is knowing your own baseline and watching the trend.

Companion guides: the Hospitality Reporting Calendar and the Restaurant Month-End Close Checklist.