Benchmarks

Dated restaurant cost figures, with the source named and the year of the data on the page. A median is not a goal. If a split is missing from the source, the page leaves it blank.

2026-11-01 Food and beverage cost by service type, 2024

In the National Restaurant Association's data for 2024, the median food and nonalcoholic beverage cost was 32.4 percent of sales for limited service and 32.0 percent for full service. The association says these figures are not standards or goals.