Free Restaurant Financial Model Excel Template (36 Months)

A workbook with no macros and no links to other files. Its example inputs are marked "Example — replace with your numbers"; they are not a real restaurant or industry averages.

1. Download the file and save a copy.
2. Open Assumptions. Inputs are yellow cells with blue text.
3. Replace every yellow cell, top to bottom. Most inputs are set to accept only a limited range when you type a value.
4. Check Startup & Funding: sources must cover uses.
5. Read Key Ratios: DSCR, lowest cash, and five checks that should say OK.
6. Read Break-Even: covers per day needed versus covers planned.
7. Run what-ifs: change turns, food cost, rent or the loan, and watch the results move.

Use your own records, not someone else's averages. Seat turns and average check come from your point-of-sale reports if you already operate, or your seating plan and priced menu if you don't. Rent comes from your lease or the landlord's terms; build-out, equipment and food costs from contractor and supplier quotes.

Ramp-up is the share of full volume you expect in each of the first six months; seasonality is an index per calendar month.

Prime cost here is cost of goods sold plus total labor, including payroll taxes and other payroll costs.

In a National Restaurant Association survey, salaries and wages (including benefits) were a median of 36.5% of sales in 2024 among full-service respondents. Full-service operators that reported a pre-tax profit had median labor costs of 34.2% of sales; for those reporting a loss, salaries and wages (including benefits) were a median of 42.9%. The NRA says these data are not intended as standards or goals for individual restaurants, and its measure may not match how the Labor tab adds up costs, so treat them as context, not targets (NRA, October 8, 2025).

Enter an average hourly wage and total staff hours per open day for front of house and back of house. The tab multiplies hours × wage × open days and adds salaried managers. For local pay, see BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics; for tipped-wage rules, the Department of Labor's state table.

The employer pays 6.2% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare (IRS Topic no. 751), 7.65% in total, the model's default. A second input covers other payroll costs.

The model leaves out employer FICA on reported tips; food and beverage employers may be able to claim a credit for part of it on IRS Form 8846, so ask your tax adviser.

It follows the SBA formula, break-even sales = fixed costs ÷ contribution margin, then converts it:

1. Contribution margin = 100% − cost of goods % − variable operating costs %.
2. Break-even sales per open day = Year-1 monthly fixed costs ÷ contribution margin ÷ open days per month.
3. Break-even covers = that daily figure ÷ sales per dine-in cover (including takeout).

The SBA lists salaries as a fixed cost; the model also treats scheduled hourly labor as fixed.

The profit basis is where net profit is zero; its fixed costs include depreciation and loan interest. The cash basis is where cash stops falling; it drops depreciation, a non-cash cost, and adds the full loan payment (interest plus principal) and owner draws. The SBA calls break-even "an estimate for lender viability and your business plan". For more, see our break-even analysis template.

Annual debt service is the year's loan payments, interest plus principal, from the Loan tab. DSCR (debt service coverage ratio) divides operating cash by that figure: (EBITDA − income tax) ÷ annual debt service. A DSCR of 1.24x means $1.24 of operating cash for every $1.00 of loan payments. At 1.00x the two are equal; that line is arithmetic, not a lender rule.

A second line subtracts owner draws first, because cash you take home cannot also pay the loan. No DSCR guarantees approval, and the template does not claim to meet any lender's rule. Lenders set their own minimum, so ask yours. For the rest of the plan, see what SBA lenders want in a business plan.

The SBA's plan guidance says to "provide a prospective financial outlook for the next five years", including income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements, with quarterly or monthly detail for year one (SBA). That is plan-writing guidance, not a rule every lender applies. This template has 36 months and no balance sheet; for five years, use our 5-year projections model.

Example inputs only, from the template's Key Ratios tab

With the example inputs, break-even at Year-1 costs is 148.9 covers per open day on a profit basis and 141.8 on a cash basis (Break-Even tab). Year-1 covers average 145.2: below profit break-even, above cash break-even.

Cash break-even is lower because the profit basis counts $6,268 a month of depreciation plus an average $4,683 of interest, while the cash basis counts the $7,421 monthly loan payment instead. The depreciation removed is larger than the principal added, so fixed costs are about $3,530 a month lower.

So Year 1 shows a $20,926 net loss while DSCR is 1.24x and cash never falls below $26,952. Most of the loss is early: hourly labor is scheduled per open day, so total labor (hourly plus salaried) is 65.0% of sales in month 1 and 36.2% in month 7, with the same hours.

At full volume the example plans 156 covers per open day (60 seats × 2.6 turns). Against that plan, the Break-Even tab shows a margin of safety of 4.5% on a profit basis and 9.1% on a cash basis, at Year-1 costs. That is against the 156-cover plan, not the Year-1 average of 145.2.

The example sets owner draws to $0, so both DSCR lines read 1.24x in Year 1. Re-run with draws of $3,000 a month, DSCR after draws falls to 0.84x in Year 1 (1.96x in Year 2, 2.24x in Year 3).

Each row changes one example input. The changes differ in size, so the rows are not a ranking.

Example inputs only. Year-1 results; break-even on a profit basis.

A drop of 0.3 dinner turns is the only change here that makes cash run short in Year 1. Break-even sales stay at $4,484 a day in that row, but more covers are needed because fewer of them are higher-check dinners.

If your DSCR comes out below your lender's minimum, test the same levers on your own inputs: rent, food cost, loan size or rate, and turns, one at a time.

• No balance sheet, and 36 months only; cash follows profit in the same month.
• Pre-opening costs sit in Startup & Funding, not the P&L.
• Hourly labor does not flex with ramp-up or slow months.
• Payroll tax is simplified: no FICA on tips, and no cap at the Social Security wage base ($184,500 for 2026, IRS Publication 15).
• Flat income tax on positive monthly profit, no loss carryforward; the example uses 0% (pass-through).
• Straight-line depreciation and a fixed-rate, level-payment loan only.
• Input limits apply only to typed values; a pasted value can bypass them.

To present the projections to investors, see our restaurant pitch deck guide.