Profit Margin Calculator
See your gross and net profit margin once food cost, labour and overheads are all accounted for. Free, instant, no sign-up.
Total sales before GST.
Raw ingredients, packaging & beverages purchased.
Salaries, wages, staff meals & benefits.
Rent, utilities, marketing, platform commissions, admin.
Gross Margin
68.0%
Revenue minus food cost
Net Margin
20.0%
Healthy range
Net Profit / Month
₹2,40,000
After all costs
Where your revenue goes
Estimates for planning purposes — actuals depend on your GST treatment, depreciation and one-off costs. Talk to your accountant for filing-grade numbers.
Gross margin vs. net margin
These two numbers answer different questions, and confusing them is one of the most common reasons restaurant owners misjudge how healthy their business actually is.
Gross margin tells you whether your menu is priced correctly. Net margin tells you whether the whole business — rent, staff, marketing and all — actually makes money. A restaurant can have a great gross margin and still lose money every month if labour or rent is too high for its revenue.
Typical net margins by restaurant type
| Restaurant Type | Typical Net Margin |
|---|---|
| Fine dining | 4–9% |
| Casual / full-service restaurant | 6–12% |
| Café | 8–14% |
| QSR / fast casual | 10–16% |
| Cloud kitchen (efficient ops) | 10–18% |
If your margin is lower than it should be
- 1.
Split food cost and labour cost separately. A margin problem is usually concentrated in one of the two — don't fix both blindly.
- 2.
Check labour against sales, not against a fixed number. Labour cost should flex with footfall — a fixed roster on a slow month quietly wrecks margin.
- 3.
Audit platform and delivery commissions. Aggregator commissions of 20–30% can silently turn a profitable dish into a loss-making one.
- 4.
Revisit your top 20 dishes. In most restaurants, 20% of the menu drives 70–80% of revenue — margin gains there move the whole business.
Frequently asked questions
Most independent restaurants in India run a net profit margin of 6–12% after all costs, including rent, labour and utilities. Well-run QSRs and cloud kitchens with efficient operations can reach 12–18%, while fine dining often runs leaner due to higher staffing and ingredient costs.
Gross margin is revenue minus food cost only. Net margin subtracts every other cost too — labour, rent, utilities, marketing and admin — giving the real profit left over.
High revenue doesn't guarantee high profit. It usually means food cost, labour cost or rent is eating a larger share of every rupee than it should. Calculating gross and net margin separately usually reveals exactly which cost is the problem.
Monthly at minimum, ideally weekly for labour and food cost since these move the most. A platform like Candle OS calculates margin in real time as sales and stock movements happen.
If you draw a salary or take regular owner distributions, include it under labour or overheads — otherwise your margin will look healthier than the cash you actually keep.
Yes, run it once per branch using that branch's revenue and costs, then compare margins side by side to spot your strongest and weakest locations.
See your real margin, every single day.
Candle Analytics calculates gross and net margin live — no month-end spreadsheet required.