Food Business Break Even Calculator
Calculate monthly and daily break-even order volumes for restaurants, food trucks, and bakeries based on fixed overhead, variable costs, and selling price.
Restaurant Break-Even Volume Formula
Contribution Margin = Price/Order − Variable Cost/Order; Monthly Break-Even Orders = Fixed Costs / Contribution Margin; Daily Orders = Monthly Orders / Operating Days- Fixed Overhead: Rent, salaried manager, equipment loans, insurance, POS software, and base utilities that must be paid regardless of sales volume.
- Variable Cost Per Order: Ingredients, paper packaging, hourly production labor, and merchant credit card fees incurred per ticket.
- Contribution Margin: The dollar cash contribution from each meal sold that goes directly toward paying down fixed monthly rent and overhead.
Step-by-Step Worked Example
Calculation Steps:
How to Use This Calculator
Assumptions & Limitations
- Contribution margin must be greater than zero; if variable costs exceed selling price, each sale produces a loss.
- Fixed costs are assumed invariant to sales volume within the operational capacity.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if variable cost per order is higher than selling price?
If variable cost exceeds selling price, your contribution margin is negative. Selling more meals will never break even; every order increases your total cash losses. The business must immediately raise prices or lower ingredient and packaging costs.
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