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Break even guests per day

Free tool · Restaurants

Find how many guests you need each day to cover rent, salaries and the other fixed bills. Every guest after that number adds profit.

Rent, salaried pay, insurance, loans, utilities and other bills that stay the same when sales move. Leave out food and hourly labor.
The calculator divides fixed costs by these days. Closed on Mondays is about 26 days.
Sales divided by guests for a normal week. Your POS shows it as average check or average ticket.
Food, hourly labor, card fees and delivery app fees as a share of sales. Many restaurants land between 55% and 70%.

Guests per day to break even

100

What each guest leaves

$6.00

Fixed costs per day

$600.00

An estimate for planning. Check the numbers with your accountant before you decide.

How the math works

Fixed costs per day = fixed costs per month ÷ days open. What each guest leaves = average check × (1 − variable costs %).

Guests per day to break even = fixed costs per day ÷ what each guest leaves, rounded up to a whole guest. Compare it with your real guest count.

The example is a taquería with $15,600 in fixed costs a month, open 26 days, a $15 average check and variable costs of 60%. Each guest leaves $6, so it takes 100 guests a day. When variable costs reach 100%, every dollar goes back out and no guest count covers the fixed bills.