By Rob Bruni, founder of OpsEdge Hospitality, twenty years running restaurants, bars, clubs and resorts. Updated November 2026.
76 terms every restaurant, bar and club operator gets asked about, defined the way they are used on the floor and on the P&L, with the formula where there is one and a link to the guide or calculator that goes deeper.
0-9
- 86 (eighty-six)
- To take an item off the menu for the shift, usually because the kitchen ran out or the product failed a line check. A high number of 86s on a busy night points to a par level or forecasting problem, not a kitchen problem.Also: eighty-six, 86'dRead the guide →
A
- Actual vs theoretical (AvT)
- The gap between what the POS says you should have used (theoretical, from recipes and sales) and what the inventory count says you did use (actual). The difference is waste, over-portioning, giveaways or theft. On the bar it is called variance.Also: AvT, actual versus theoretical, theoretical usageRead the guide →
- Average check
- Food and beverage sales divided by the number of guests (covers) in a period. Also called check average. It moves fastest through beverage attachment, dessert and a well built upsell, not through price increases.Also: check average, PPA, per person averageRead the guide →
B
- Back of house (BOH)
- Everyone and everything behind the pass: kitchen, dish, prep, receiving and the walk-in. BOH labor is usually the larger and less flexible half of hourly payroll in full service.Also: BOH, heart of house, kitchenRead the guide →
- Beginning inventory
- The dollar value of food or beverage on hand at the start of a period, taken from the last physical count. It is the first number in the usage formula: beginning plus purchases minus ending.Also: opening inventoryRead the guide →
- Benchmark
- A range where well run operations in a given concept tend to land on a metric. A benchmark is a sanity check and a direction, not a target for any specific business.Also: industry average, KPI rangeRead the guide →
- Beverage cost percentage
- Cost of beverage sold divided by beverage sales, times 100. Blended across liquor, beer, wine and non-alcoholic. Full service usually runs 18 to 24 percent. See also pour cost.Also: bev cost, liquor cost, beverage COGSRead the guide →
- Break-even point
- The sales level where total contribution margin equals fixed costs and the business makes zero profit. Expressed per month, per day or in covers. Fixed costs divided by contribution margin percent.Also: breakeven, break even salesTry the calculator →
- Burden (payroll burden)
- The costs of employing people on top of wages: employer payroll taxes, workers' comp, health benefits, paid time off. Usually 18 to 22 percent of wages. Labor cost without burden is not comparable to any benchmark.Also: payroll taxes and benefits, labor burden, loadedRead the guide →
C
- CAM (common area maintenance)
- Charges a landlord passes through for shared spaces, parking, security and exterior upkeep, on top of base rent. Part of occupancy cost. Read the lease for how CAM is calculated and capped.Also: common area maintenance, NNN, triple netRead the guide →
- Cash flow
- Cash coming in and going out over a period, as opposed to accounting profit. A restaurant can be profitable on paper and still miss payroll if cash timing is wrong. Working capital exists to cover the gap.Also: cash positionRead the guide →
- COGS (cost of goods sold)
- The cost of the food and beverage actually sold in a period: beginning inventory plus purchases minus ending inventory. Not the same as purchases. COGS as a percent of sales is food cost or beverage cost.Also: cost of goods sold, cost of sales, usageRead the guide →
- Comps and voids
- Comps are items given away (a manager comp, a guest recovery, a staff meal). Voids are items removed from a check before payment. Both should be tracked daily with a reason. More than 2 percent of sales needs an explanation on the manager log.Also: discounts, promos, write-offsRead the guide →
- Contribution margin
- The share of each sales dollar left after variable costs (food, beverage, hourly labor, card fees). It is what is available to pay fixed costs and then profit. 100 minus variable cost percent. The higher it is, the lower break-even.Also: CM, gross margin after variable costsRead the guide →
- Controllable expenses
- Costs a manager can influence week to week: supplies, repairs and maintenance, marketing, utilities, card fees, linen, music, software. Usually 8 to 12 percent of sales. Sits between prime cost and occupancy on the P&L.Also: controllables, operating expensesRead the guide →
- Controllable profit
- Sales minus prime cost minus controllable expenses. The line a manager is accountable for, because everything above it is within their reach. Usually 18 to 25 percent in full service.Also: restaurant operating profit, store-level profitRead the guide →
- Covers
- The number of guests served in a period. One guest is one cover, regardless of what they order. Covers per day, per server and per labor hour are the core capacity numbers.Also: guest count, heads, paxRead the guide →
D
- Daypart
- A block of the operating day analyzed on its own: breakfast, lunch, happy hour, dinner, late night. Labor, sales and SPLH by daypart show which blocks make money and which only cover the lights.Also: shift, service periodRead the guide →
- Days of inventory on hand
- Inventory value divided by average daily usage. Food should run 5 to 7 days in full service; a bar 20 to 35. More than that is cash sitting on shelves and waste on the way.Also: inventory days, days on handRead the guide →
- Declining budget
- A purchasing control that starts the week with a dollar budget for food or beverage (from the sales forecast and target cost percent) and subtracts each invoice as it arrives. When the budget is gone, buying stops until the next week.Also: purchasing budget, weekly buying budgetRead the guide →
E
- EBITDA
- Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The profit measure buyers and lenders use because it strips out financing and accounting choices. Close to net operating profit on a restaurant P&L.Also: operating cash flow, earningsRead the guide →
- Ending inventory
- The dollar value of food or beverage on hand at the end of a period, from the physical count. It becomes next period's beginning inventory. A miscounted ending inventory moves food cost in both periods.Also: closing inventoryRead the guide →
F
- FIFO (first in, first out)
- Rotating stock so the oldest product is used first. The walk-in rule that prevents most spoilage. Label everything with a date on receipt and check rotation on every line check.Also: rotation, first in first out, stock rotationRead the guide →
- Fixed costs
- Costs that do not change with sales in the short run: rent, salaried management, insurance, loan payments, base utilities, software, licenses. The numerator in the break-even formula.Also: overhead, fixed overheadRead the guide →
- Flash report
- A one page daily or weekly summary of sales, labor, covers and a few key costs, produced fast from the POS and payroll system so decisions happen before the month closes. The manager log is a flash report with notes.Also: daily report, daily flashRead the guide →
- Food cost percentage
- Cost of food sold divided by food sales, times 100. Full service usually runs 28 to 34 percent. Moved by pricing, portions, waste, purchasing and theft. The formula needs inventory counts; purchases alone will mislead you.Also: food cost, food COGS percentTry the calculator →
- Forecast (sales forecast)
- A projection of sales by day and daypart for the coming week, built from the same weeks last year, recent trend, weather, events and reservations. The schedule and the purchasing budget should both come from it.Also: sales projection, projected salesRead the guide →
- Front of house (FOH)
- Everyone the guest sees: host, servers, bartenders, bussers, runners, managers on the floor. FOH hourly labor is more flexible than kitchen labor because sections can be cut as volume drops.Also: FOH, floor staff, dining roomRead the guide →
G
- Gross profit
- Sales minus cost of goods sold. On a restaurant P&L, gross profit is what is left to pay labor, controllables, occupancy and profit. Prime cost analysis goes one step further and takes labor out too.Also: gross marginRead the guide →
H
- Hourly labor
- Wages paid to hourly staff, front and back of house, before burden. The part of labor cost that can be changed on tomorrow's schedule, which is why it is tracked daily.Also: variable labor, hourly payrollTry the calculator →
I
- Inventory turnover
- How many times inventory is used and replaced in a period. COGS divided by average inventory. Food should turn 4 to 6 times a month in full service. Low turns mean too much stock; very high turns mean constant 86s.Also: inventory turns, stock turnsRead the guide →
K
- Keg yield
- The share of a keg that becomes sellable pours after foam, line waste and the last few ounces. Clean lines and correct temperature and pressure keep it at 90 to 95 percent. Yield drives draft pour cost more than price does.Also: draft yield, keg yield percentageRead the guide →
L
- Labor cost percentage
- Total payroll (hourly wages, salaries and burden) divided by net sales, times 100. Full service usually runs 30 to 35 percent fully loaded. The one prime cost line you can change tomorrow.Also: labor percent, labor costTry the calculator →
- Line check
- A walk through every station before service to taste, check temperatures, dates and par levels, and confirm the plate matches the spec. The single best waste and quality control in a kitchen, and it takes fifteen minutes.Also: line check sheet, pre-service checkRead the guide →
- Loaded hourly rate
- An employee's hourly wage plus burden (taxes, workers' comp, benefits). Used to convert a dollar labor gap into hours to cut: gap divided by loaded rate equals hours.Also: loaded wage, fully loaded rate, all-in wageTry the calculator →
