Pick a small family restaurant and not a chain of restaurants. This should make calculations much easier.

Then define the main parameters of the restaurant that we are talking about:

Days of the week in which the restaurant is open
Number of tables/seats
Average number of visitors:
– during lunchtime;

– at dinner;

Average expenditure:

– per client during lunch;

– per client during dinner.

The restaurant is open 6 days of the week (they are closed on Monday), which means that is open 25 times during lunch and dinner time per month. It is a small family restaurant with around 60 places. On average 30 customers visit the restaurant at lunch and 40 people come to have dinner. The typical lunch menu costs 10 euro, while dinner at this restaurant costs twice that amount – 20 euro. Therefore, they are able to achieve revenues of:

25 (days) * 30 (customers) * 10 (EUR) = 7,500 EUR (lunch)

25 (days) * 40 (customers) * 20 (EUR) = 20,000 EUR (dinner)

The restaurant is able to achieve 27,500 EUR of sales. Besides, the owner and his wife 4 people work there as well. Let’s say that the 3 waiters make 2,000 EUR each and the chef makes 3,000 EUR (including social security contributions). So the cost of personnel is 9,000 EUR. Usually, food and drinks cost around one-third of the overall amount of sales. Therefore the cost of goods sold amounts to 9,125 EUR. Utility and other expenses are another 10% of Sales, so we will have an additional cost of 2,750 EUR. The owners do not pay rent, because they own the place. After the calculations that we made, it results in a monthly profit of (before taxes) 6,625 EUR.