Dandely

Restaurant location costs

Restaurant break-even calculator

Find the monthly sales and daily orders a restaurant needs to cover the costs you enter. Use it for one candidate location, then repeat it with another location's rent to compare them on the same assumptions. It is free, with no account or signup.

Enter your estimates

Numbers update as you type. The calculation runs in your browser; Dandely does not save what you enter here. Example values are fictional.

Dollars per order, before tips.
Percent of sales, from 0 to 100.
Dollars per order, such as packaging and card fees.
Dollars per month, including any building or common-area charges you pay.
Dollars per month for wages, payroll taxes and benefits.
Dollars per month you plan to pay yourself.
Dollars per month, such as utilities, insurance and loan payments.
A whole number from 1 to 7.

Sales and orders needed

Monthly fixed costs
$26,000
Contribution per order
$13.00
Monthly orders needed
2,000
Monthly sales needed
$40,000
Daily orders needed
77

These figures cover only the costs entered here. They do not predict demand, sales or profit.

A Dandely report runs this calculation for up to five addresses side by side, adds dated facts with sources for each address and lists the open questions and offices to check. See a fictional report

How the calculator works

It uses the same arithmetic as Dandely's comparison reports:

  1. Contribution per order = average order × (1 − food cost percent) − other costs per order. This is what each order leaves toward monthly costs. It is not profit.
  2. Monthly fixed costs = rent and building charges + staffing + owner pay + other monthly operating costs.
  3. Monthly orders needed = monthly fixed costs ÷ contribution per order.
  4. Monthly sales needed = monthly orders needed × average order.
  5. Daily orders needed = monthly orders needed ÷ (days open per week × 52 ÷ 12), rounded up.

The calculator keeps exact fractions until the final display, so rounding does not compound. Orders round up to whole orders; dollar amounts round to the nearest dollar. The sales-and-orders guide walks through the same fictional example step by step.

What is a restaurant break-even point?

It is the sales level where money from orders covers the restaurant's costs for a period. This calculator finds that level for the costs you choose to enter. A complete accounting break-even analysis would need every relevant cost, including ones that change as volume grows.

How many orders a day does a restaurant need?

It depends on monthly costs, average order and the share of each order spent on food and other per-order costs. In the fictional example, $26,000 of monthly costs and a $13 contribution per order need 2,000 orders a month, or 77 a day when open six days a week. A $2 lower average order raises that to 87 a day. Small changes to price or food costs move the threshold more than many people expect.

When there is no answer

If each order costs as much as or more than it brings in, no number of orders covers positive monthly costs. The calculator says so instead of showing a misleading figure. A blank entry is never treated as zero.

Read the result with its limits

The result shows the level your assumptions call for. It does not predict customer demand, sales, profit, permits or whether a property is suitable. Startup spending is separate from this monthly threshold. Staffing may rise in steps as orders increase, so check the result at the volume it implies.

Compare candidate locations

Run the calculator once per location, changing only what differs, usually rent and building charges. The two-location worked example shows how to keep everything else consistent. The free location checklist and cost template helps you gather each estimate with its source and date. Before you sign a lease, confirm occupancy and food permits with the right office; the Houston-area permit office guide lists them for six markets.

Prepared by Dandely on November 11, 2026. Calculations run in your browser using Dandely's published formulas. Example values are fictional, not typical restaurant costs.