Prime Cost Dashboard

How to use (weekly, 10 minutes)

Fill in the Inputs table (sales, COGS, labour).
Review the Results table (food %, labour %, prime %).
If any Flags trigger, follow the Diagnosis prompts.
Write one decision for next week.

Inputs (fill-in)

Week start	Total revenue	Total COGS	Total labour cost	Labour hours (optional)	Notes (events/promos/closures)

Results (auto-calc)

Food cost %	Labour %	Prime cost %	Revenue per labour hour (optional)

Formulas (for spreadsheet)

Food cost % = COGS ÷ revenue
Labour % = labour cost ÷ revenue
Prime cost % = (COGS + labour cost) ÷ revenue
Revenue per labour hour = revenue ÷ labour hours

Flags (what to investigate first)

🚦

Trigger a deep check if ANY of these happen:

Prime cost % up > 3 points week-on-week
Labour % up while revenue is flat/down
COGS up while revenue is flat

Diagnosis prompts (copy/paste)

If FOOD COST % is up

Did supplier prices change this week?
Any portioning drift (new staff / no scale / “extra” scoops)?
More waste/spoilage? What items?
Delivery mix increased (commissions/packaging affecting margin)?
Any promo/discount affecting perceived cost %?

If LABOUR % is up

Roster mismatch vs demand (slow periods overstaffed)?
Overtime or last-minute coverage?
Slow service causing fewer covers (sales down, labour constant)?
Training gaps causing rework / ticket time delays?

Decision for next week

🧠

Most likely root cause:

One change to implement next week:
How we’ll measure success:

Start here (2 minutes)

🎯

Objective: track prime cost (COGS + labour) every single week so margin slippage shows up in days, not at month-end when it's too late to fix.

⏱️

Reading time: 10 minutes. Weekly check-in: 10 minutes once you've filled it the first time.

📌

Why prime cost: in F&B, COGS and labour together drive 60 to 70 per cent of revenue. If prime cost is off, nothing else matters. One bad week is normal. Three bad weeks is a leak that needs investigation.

What you'll need

Input	Where to get it	Frequency
Weekly revenue (S$)	POS weekly report	Weekly
Weekly COGS (S$)	Supplier invoices + opening/closing stock	Weekly
Weekly labour cost (S$)	Payroll system / timesheet × rate	Weekly
Labour hours worked	Roster / clock-in records	Optional but useful
Last week's prime cost % (for comparison)	This dashboard, previous row	Carry forward

Quick Navigation

How to use (weekly, 10 minutes)

How to use (weekly, 10 minutes)

How to use (weekly, 10 minutes)

Inputs (fill-in)

Inputs (fill-in)

Inputs (fill-in)

Results (auto-calc)

Results (auto-calc)

Results (auto-calc)

Flags (what to investigate first)

Flags (what to investigate first)

Flags (what to investigate first)

Diagnosis prompts (copy/paste)

Diagnosis prompts (copy/paste)

Diagnosis prompts (copy/paste)

Decision for next week

Decision for next week

Decision for next week

Start here (2 minutes)

Start here (2 minutes)

Start here (2 minutes)

What you'll need

What you'll need

What you'll need