Finance

Prime cost is the single number that tells you whether your restaurant can survive. Most owners track food cost and labour cost separately; few add them and compare to the format ceiling. Here is the formula, the benchmarks by format, and the levers when you breach.

The headline commission on your contract is not what you keep. On a ₹300 aggregator order, commission, packaging, gateway fees, and refunds can erase half the gross margin before food cost. Here is the true per-order P&L stack for Indian restaurants in 2026.

Monthly P&L is an autopsy. Weekly P&L is a pulse check. The restaurants that catch a food cost spike in week 2 instead of week 5 save ₹40,000-80,000 per incident. Here are the six lines to track every Monday and why monthly alone fails.

Your P&L says you're profitable. Your bank account says you're broke on the 5th. The mismatch is timing: salaries and rent leave on fixed dates while aggregator money arrives a week or two later. Here is the monthly working capital calendar every Indian restaurant owner needs.

Refunds on Swiggy and Zomato are deducted from settlement, rarely flagged on the dashboard, and directly affect your visibility ranking. Most owners model commission only. Here is what refund rate actually costs, how platforms use it, and the fixes that work.

Break-even is the most important number in your restaurant. It’s also the one most owners have never written down. Here is the formula, three worked examples, and a free calculator that does the maths for you.

P&L profitability and cash flow are different problems. Restaurants close cash poor, not P&L poor. Here is the 13 week rolling cash flow template that flags stress before the bank account does.

Aggregator commission is rarely the headline number you signed. It's the take rate after promotions, ads, and visibility programs that hits your P&L. Here is what you can actually negotiate, what you cannot, and the 4 levers that move the total.

Labour cost is the second biggest line on an Indian restaurant P&L and the one most owners under budget by 15-25%. Here are the realistic 2026 salary bands by city, role, and format; plus the labour cost % ratios that work.

‘Aim for 30% food cost’ is useless without context. Mughlai with paneer and ghee has fundamentally different economics than South Indian thali. Here are the realistic 2026 bands by cuisine, plus the ingredients that swing each one.

A restaurant P&L isn't one number; it's six lines that have to work together. Here is the complete unit economics map for Indian restaurants; what each line should be by format, and where margin actually lives.