To calculate sales per square foot, divide annual sales by the total interior square footage including kitchen, dining, storage, rest rooms, etc. The industry rule of thumb is that 40% of your space goes to the kitchen storage and prep areas, so you'd have 1,600 square feet for business and 2,400 square feet for your patrons. Some people prefer a smaller footprint because it means less work getting around the kitchen. The average small kitchen measures 70 square feet or less. The kitchen sizes of the nation’s estimated 900,000 restaurant locations are as varied as the food, décor and service style, spanning notch-in-the-alley lunch counters to opulent and expansive fine-dining establishments. People are driven to go to a small venue that is always packed for the exclusivity of it, versus a large location that is rarely full. Your prime cost is the total sum of your labor costs … Some smaller kitchens do not include enough space for non-essential kitchen fixtures, such as dishwashers. The average mid-size kitchen measures 100 to 200 square feet. For this piece and most evaluations, we use an industry standard of 12 square feet per customer for seating. Managers and kitchen and serving staff want the equipment and products they need safely within reach. All rights reserved. If your max capacity days can cover your costs, you’ll set yourself up to succeed. If the restaurant space you are looking at has a seating capacity of 200 people or 2,400 square feet plus kitchen/serving areas, you are probably looking at a building north of 4,000 square feet (not including parking). Food Service Warehouse: How to Design a Commercial Kitchen, Hospitalityconsult.com: Kitchen Design for Restaurants, National Restaurant Association: Facts at a Glance. This will give you more of a data-driven idea of how well your restaurant is performing, where you shine, and where work is needed. When looking at rent/building costs, you want to keep the overall costs below 10% of your overall sales. Assuming you need 2,000 square feet to run your restaurant, you can pay between $5,000 and $8,300 per month including NNN charges. Entrepreneurs who are new to the restaurant industry often look to build large, beautiful buildings. The average large kitchen measures over 200 square feet. It’s impossible to know if you prefer a small, mid-size or big kitchen until you’ve cooked in all three spaces. However, fine dining may require 20 square feet per person. You're considering a 4,000 square foot restaurant location. hbspt.cta.load(714282,'f4e26723-1fab-4b28-b571-506b92a611a9',{}); Certain products may not be available in all states. For example, if you have a restaurant space that can only seat 100 and is always full, versus a 400-capacity location serving 150 people, the perception is that the smaller venue is doing more business because they are always packed. When you are dealing with a location that does not have a guaranteed pull of customers (and even if it does) often times its better to err on the side of caution with seating and overall size. This is important because of all the other costs involved in running your business (food, labor, insurance, etc). At an average of $30 per square foot, you’re looking at a rent of $10,000 a month or $120,000 a year. At an average of $30 per square foot, you’re looking at a rent of $10,000 a month or $120,000 a year. Using the 100 games/concerts that the arena can deliver for our math, we can see the projected revenue of the space versus that of the cost of the building. The smaller your living arrangements are, the smaller your kitchen will usually be. The number of tables depends on the size and space you’ve allocated for them in the restaurant. Revenue per square foot tells you how efficiently you’re generating sales, which can be used to showcase your potential for expanding your restaurant or adding a location. Here’s a little trick to figure that out: count the ceiling tiles in the dining area. The perception is that you aren’t a place that people want to be. Prime Cost. Restaurantowner.com: Industry Survey: How Much Does it Cost to Open a Restaurant? It’s impossible to know if you prefer a small, mid-size or big kitchen until you’ve cooked in all three spaces. Why revenue by square foot is important to measure. Average revenue per square foot measures sales volume, an indicator of your profit generating power. $2,800,000 / 4500 sq. A national poll conducted by Restaurantowners.com quizzed restaurateurs on the elements that affect start-up costs, including kitchen size. If you’re a restaurant focusing on lunch and dinner, is there a coffee shop nearby that’s popular in the morning, giving visibility to your location for those customers’ lunch or dinner? Space savers such as up-the-wall vertical designs or under-counter storage aren’t solely for small facilities. The average kitchen size is 30 percent of the total square footage of the restaurant, reports food-service consultant Chuck Currie. Comparing your measurements against the current benchmarks can generate new ideas in which to implement along your journey to surpassing your competitors. Is there a popular business or a service building like a DMV (department of motor vehicles) close by that will consistently bring new traffic and fresh eyes to your area? The average large kitchen measures over 200 square feet. The math that is important comes into play when you are open seven days a week, regardless of the venue being open or not. Remember: When looking to build, take over, or design a restaurant/bar, make sure you don’t build more than you need. Able to be combined side by side as larger collective dining layouts, rectangular tables are found in most restaurants that need flexibility for various needs. Seating space typically makes up less than 45 percent of the total area. Area health and building regulations also play a hand in kitchen size by requiring spatial elements such as separate hand-washing and food-rinsing sinks. Quality Food, Systems and Training: Kitchen Design, Total Food Service: How to Create A Restaurant Floor Plan, Swiftestimator.com: 349 Fast Food Restaurant, How to Lock the Position of a Chart in Excel, Food Service Industry: Labor Cost Standards, Privacy Notice/Your California Privacy Rights. Let’s say your average customer will spend $12 (taking into account your “deal” customers who are only interested in specials, happy hour, etc). Cyndi Perkins is an award-winning newspaper editor, columnist and reporter. Larger kitchens also remain on a constant quest for streamlined efficiency. Certain business loan products are made available through Retail Capital LLC, a licensed California Finance Lender. The empty feeling of a restaurant/bar can kill your sales just as much as any other factor. Casual dining restaurants like Chili's or Applebees will average between $550 and 650.