In this article +
The short answer
Review these nine numbers every week: food cost %, voids and cancellations, discounts, stock variance, wastage, labour cost %, delivery commissions, refunds, and sales mix. Look at each one against last week and the four-week average. Investigate any number that moves more than you'd expect. It takes about 20 minutes and finds most leaks before they become a bad month.
The weekly leakage dashboard
In this sample, discounts and voids are well above their four-week average. That's where this owner should look first.
The nine numbers
1. Food cost %
What: (Opening + Purchases − Closing) ÷ Food sales. Leak signal: a jump of 2+ points without a menu or price change. Check: supplier prices, portions, waste. How to calculate it.
2. Voids and cancellations
What: items or bills cancelled, especially after the KOT reached the kitchen. Leak signal: rising count, or concentrated on one shift or one user. Check: reasons, users and timing. Cancelled-after-KOT is food cooked and not paid for.
3. Discounts
What: total discount value and discount as a % of sales. Leak signal: discounts rising faster than sales, or one staff member giving far more than others. Check: who, when, why. Every discount should have a reason.
The friendly cashier
Every restaurant eventually discovers a cashier who is extremely popular with a specific group of customers. The discount report usually explains why. Nobody needs to make a scene. The report makes it for you.
4. Stock variance
What: actual consumption minus theoretical consumption, for key items. Leak signal: variance growing on high-value items (meat, paneer, cheese, butter, alcohol). Check: portions, recipes, waste logging, counts, and access to the store. Inventory guide.
5. Wastage
What: value of logged waste by reason. Leak signal: over-production or spoilage rising. Check: prep quantities and ordering. Wastage guide.
6. Labour cost %
What: staff cost ÷ sales. Leak signal: rising while sales are flat; overtime on slow days. Check: rosters against your busy hours. Ecomeal's dashboard shows peak hours and revenue by morning, afternoon and evening, which makes roster planning easier.
7. Delivery commissions and charges
What: total aggregator deductions (commission, ads, discounts funded by you, other charges) ÷ delivery sales. Leak signal: effective deductions creeping up, or ad spend not producing orders. Check: your payout statements, line by line.
8. Refunds
What: value and count of refunds and complaints with money returned. Leak signal: clustering on a dish, a shift or a channel. Check: quality on that dish, packaging, or a particular delivery partner issue.
9. Sales mix
What: which dishes are selling, and their margin. Leak signal: high-margin dishes slipping while low-margin ones grow. Check: menu placement, staff recommendations, and slow movers.
Ecomeal's AI Up Sell works on this one automatically: every afternoon it finds dishes that have sold slowly over the last seven days, writes a deal for each with the reason, and puts it live on the POS until 10 pm. AI Menu Insights names your best seller and the one move to make today.
The 20-minute weekly routine
| Minute | Do this |
|---|---|
| 0-3 | Food cost % vs last week and 4-week average |
| 3-6 | Voids and cancellations: by reason and by user |
| 6-9 | Discounts: total, %, by user |
| 9-12 | Variance and wastage on the top 10 items |
| 12-14 | Labour cost % and overtime |
| 14-16 | Delivery deductions and refunds |
| 16-18 | Sales mix: winners, losers, slow movers |
| 18-20 | Write down three actions for this week |
Build your own leakage sheet
Columns: Number | This week | Last week | 4-week avg | Change | Action. Fill it every Monday. In a month, you'll know what "normal" looks like for your restaurant, which is the only benchmark that matters.
Frequently asked questions
What is profit leakage in a restaurant?
Money lost through small, often unnoticed gaps: excess discounts, cancellations after cooking, waste, unexplained stock variance, rising commissions, refunds and poor sales mix.
Which restaurant KPIs should I review weekly?
Food cost %, voids, discounts, stock variance, wastage, labour cost %, delivery deductions, refunds and sales mix.
How can software help reduce leakage?
By logging every discount and cancellation with a user and reason, tracking variance and waste, and in Ecomeal's case, automatically promoting slow-selling dishes with daily AI deals.
How often should restaurant owners check reports?
Daily for sales and cash, weekly for the nine leakage numbers, and monthly for profit and loss.
See it in your Kitchen.
Ecomeal Lite starts at ₹333/month + GST, billed yearly. A short demo on WhatsApp shows you billing, KOTs and AI Up Sell on your own menu.