What is a healthy food cost percentage for a restaurant?

In GGB's published operating bands, food cost belongs at or under 32% of revenue (typical range 28–32%). Past 38% it is structurally past tweaking in our method — the menu, purchasing and yield need a reset, not a nudge. Where inside the band a specific operation should sit depends on concept and market, which is why these are diagnostic bands, not targets to chase blindly.

What should prime cost be in a restaurant?

Prime cost — food plus labour — belongs between 55% and 62% of revenue in GGB's bands. It is the one number we hold the line on: keep prime cost inside the band and the rest of the P&L has room to breathe; lose it and revenue rarely rescues the month.

Where do these numbers come from?

From the GGB benchmark registry — the single published band-set every GGB diagnostic tool, article and report runs against, maintained from the founder's 28+ years of operating record across the GCC, India and Singapore. They are modelled diagnostic ranges, honestly labelled — not a survey of other consultancies or a claim about any specific market's average.

How often does the Index change?

Only when the underlying registry changes — each band-set carries its identity code, and a new edition exists only when a band genuinely moves. The bands are deliberately stable: they mark operating discipline, not market fashion.

How do I compare my restaurant against the Index?

Run the free Profit Leak Audit with last month's figures — it reads your food, labour, rent and delivery lines against these exact bands and ranks where margin is leaking, on your device, in minutes.

The Operating Index · Q3 2026 · band set 250601e4

The bands disciplined restaurants run against.

Food, labour, rent, delivery and prime cost as shares of revenue — the published GGB operating bands, with the structural red-lines that mark where tweaking stops working. One registry, every GGB instrument, honestly labelled.

≤62% Prime cost

The one number we hold the line on

Prime cost — food + labour — belongs between 55% and 62%.

Hold prime cost inside the band and the rest of the P&L has room to breathe. Lose it, and revenue rarely rescues the month — which is why every GGB diagnosis starts here, whatever door the operator came through.

Food cost

band 28–32% · red-line >38%

The first line read in every GGB diagnosis. Past the ceiling, margin leaks faster than volume can refill it; past the red-line, tweaks stop working and the structure has to be reset.

Labour cost

band 25–30% · red-line >35%

Read against covers by daypart, not headcount. Past the ceiling the wage line is usually running the operator; the red-line marks where the roster shape itself is the problem.

Rent

band 6–12%

Fixed at signing, so it amplifies every other line. The one major cost that cannot be operated down — which is why it is filtered before the lease, not negotiated after.

Delivery commission

band 3–6%

Delivery commission as a share of TOTAL revenue. (The separate per-order aggregator rate carries its own structural red-line above 25% — read in the Delivery Margin Recovery tool.)

Scale shown 0–40% of revenue. Red-lines are the owner-signed structural thresholds GGB's grading runs on — deliberately ABOVE the published maxima: a line is urgent when structurally past it, not merely at it. The per-order aggregator commission carries its own >25% red-line, read in the Delivery Margin Recovery tool.

Methodology, honestly

These are modelled ranges from GGB's operating benchmarks — the single published registry every GGB diagnostic, article and report runs against, maintained from 28+ years of founder-led operating record across the GCC, India and Singapore. They are not a market survey: food cost, rent and labour vary hugely by locality, lease and concept, so a flat "the market averages X%" claim would be unsupportable — and we don't make it. Where an operator should sit inside a band depends on their concept, not their city. Band set 250601e4; a new edition exists only when the registry itself changes.

Read your own lines against these bands — free, on your device, in minutes.

Run the Profit Leak Audit Fly the full model in the Digital Twin →

The Index, answered straight

What is a healthy food cost percentage for a restaurant?: In GGB's published operating bands, food cost belongs at or under 32% of revenue (typical range 28–32%). Past 38% it is structurally past tweaking in our method — the menu, purchasing and yield need a reset, not a nudge. Where inside the band a specific operation should sit depends on concept and market, which is why these are diagnostic bands, not targets to chase blindly.
What should prime cost be in a restaurant?: Prime cost — food plus labour — belongs between 55% and 62% of revenue in GGB's bands. It is the one number we hold the line on: keep prime cost inside the band and the rest of the P&L has room to breathe; lose it and revenue rarely rescues the month.
Where do these numbers come from?: From the GGB benchmark registry — the single published band-set every GGB diagnostic tool, article and report runs against, maintained from the founder's 28+ years of operating record across the GCC, India and Singapore. They are modelled diagnostic ranges, honestly labelled — not a survey of other consultancies or a claim about any specific market's average.
How often does the Index change?: Only when the underlying registry changes — each band-set carries its identity code, and a new edition exists only when a band genuinely moves. The bands are deliberately stable: they mark operating discipline, not market fashion.
How do I compare my restaurant against the Index?: Run the free Profit Leak Audit with last month's figures — it reads your food, labour, rent and delivery lines against these exact bands and ranks where margin is leaking, on your device, in minutes.

The bands disciplined restaurants run against.

The operating bands

The Index, answered straight