Enter your revenue and costs to instantly see your true profit margin — and where your money is leaking.
| Line item | Weekly $ | % of rev |
|---|
These are widely accepted benchmarks for cafés and coffee shops. Your ideal targets will vary by concept, location, and whether you're primarily a coffee bar or a full food café — but these are the numbers every operator should know.
| Cost line | Excellent | Acceptable | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coffee & beverage cost % | 22–28% | 28–34% | 34%+ |
| Food & cabinet cost % | 28–33% | 33–38% | 38%+ |
| Labour cost % | 28–33% | 33–38% | 38%+ |
| Prime cost (food + labour) | Under 58% | 58–68% | 68%+ |
| Occupancy / rent % | Under 7% | 7–12% | 12%+ |
| Net profit margin | 12–20%+ | 5–12% | Under 5% |
The average café operates on a net profit margin of 2.5–6.5%. High-performing cafés with strong coffee volume and controlled labour can reach 10–15%. The challenge is that cafés have high labour intensity relative to their revenue — a single barista serving 60–80 coffees per hour generates good volume, but the morning rush is short and staffing must still cover quiet periods.
Coffee itself has excellent margins — a well-priced flat white costs $0.40–0.70 to make and sells for $5–6, representing a 10–14% cost percentage. But food and cabinet items typically run at 30–38% cost, which pulls the blended number up significantly.
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