Hospitality weekly numbers sheet for a 40-cover café or pub kitchen

Who it’s for

Owners and head chefs of small cafés, pubs and restaurant kitchens in Belfast and NI, around 30 to 60 seats. You know roughly how the week went. You’d like to know properly, from the Z-reads, the invoices and the rota, without ringing the accountant.

What’s inside

• Weekly sheet. Seven days of covers, food and drink takings and staff hours. Average spend, seat turns and wage cost work themselves out.
• Food and drink cost %. From opening stock, purchases and closing stock, against sales after VAT, with an ‘over target’ flag.
• Wage %. Using your real hourly cost, not just the hourly rate.
• Waste log. One line per thing binned, with totals by reason.
• Energy line. Meter readings, kWh, cost estimate and cost per cover, plus a note box for what was left on.
• Price change test. What a 50p rise on a quiet Tuesday brings in, after VAT, and how many customers you could lose before it stops paying.
• Worked example. A made-up 40-seat café on the Lisburn Road, one full week.
• Spreadsheet and short PDF guide. Works in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice. Formulas checked.

How you use it

1. Fill the blue settings once: seats, VAT, hourly staff cost, targets.
2. Type each day’s covers, takings and staff hours.
3. Add stock counts and the week’s supplier invoices.
4. Log waste as it happens; read the meter on Monday.
5. Read the green cells, and run the price test before changing a price.

What it won’t do

• It isn’t a till system, stock system or payroll. It doesn’t connect to anything.
• It won’t set your targets or prices. That’s your call, ideally with your accountant.
• It doesn’t do your VAT return. It uses one VAT rate; if your sales mix rates, ask your accountant.
• It isn’t legal, tax or employment advice.