Food and beverage cost by service type, 2024
Last updated
- Limited service 32.4%
- Full service 32%
Limited service 32.4 percent. Full service 32.0 percent. Both are food plus nonalcoholic beverages.
- Limited service 65%
65 percent of sales. Full-service prime cost is not plotted, because this source does not publish it.
- Full service 2.8%
- Limited service 4%
Full service 2.8 percent. Limited service 4.0 percent.
- Full service 36.5%
36.5 percent of sales. This is payroll and benefits, not a wages-only labor percentage.
How to read the bars
Each bar is a median share of sales for 2024, from one abstract. Limited-service and full-service restaurants are different samples. A pizzeria, a bar, and a hotel restaurant are not broken out here.
What this page will not do
It will not turn a median into a goal. It will not fill a missing full-service prime cost with a figure from a vendor blog. When a later abstract splits the data, this page should be updated and the date at the top should move with it.
Sources
The figures above come from the publications named here, not from a vendor's benchmark graphic.
- National Restaurant Association, 2025 Restaurant Operations Data Abstract . 2024 operations, more than 900 restaurants. The association states that the figures are not standards or goals. Full-service prime cost is not in the free figures used here.
FAQ
Short answers to the questions this page is built to settle.
Can I treat 32 percent as my food cost target?
No. The 32 percent figures include nonalcoholic beverages, they are medians, and the association says they are not goals. A food-only cost from your own count is the number you manage.
Why is full-service prime cost missing?
It is not in the free abstract this page uses. A blank is more honest than a number copied from a roundup.