Average restaurant food cost percentage by format
· 6 min readAverage restaurant food cost runs 22–40% of sales depending on format. See the benchmarks by format, what belongs in the number, and how to close a gap.
Restaurant Consulting for Restaurants, Bars & Coffee Shops
A full dining room and a thin margin are the same problem.
Independent restaurant consultants for restaurants, bars, bistros, coffee shops and food trucks. Start with a free restaurant margin review — we rebuild the menu, labor model and cost structure that drive margin.
No cost, no obligation — benchmarked against your format.
Prime cost target
Under 60%
Hospitality Growth Advisors is a restaurant consulting firm serving independent restaurants, bars, bistros, cafés and food trucks across Texas, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina. We focus on strategy, operations and profitability — the three systems that decide margin. See the sectors we support, client results and fixed-fee pricing.
- Veteran-owned
- Family-operated
- Fixed-fee
- Senior operators on the floor
Why HGA
Why Hospitality Growth Advisors
We combine deep industry expertise with data-driven systems that uncover hidden profit opportunities, streamline operations, and strengthen long-term financial health.
On the line until the change holds on a Friday with two people called out.
Scoped project with a fee quoted up front, before any work begins.
A senior operator present throughout, not between visits.
Recipes, prep sheets, schedules and reporting delivered and trained on live service.
Every engagement is fixed-fee and mapped week by week, from the first call to the 90-day follow-up check — with the number that should be moving at each stage.
Who we work with
All sectorsFilm
Real Results in Real Operations
A quick look at how our systems help operators increase margins and strengthen day-to-day performance.
What the film coversText version
Most restaurants, bars and coffee shops do not lose money because the food is wrong. They lose it in the gaps — a menu priced on instinct, labour scheduled to a habit rather than to covers, invoices nobody reconciles.
Hospitality Growth Advisors is a team of senior operators. We read your P&L, your POS data and your invoices, then work the floor with you: menu engineering, labour modelling, prime cost control, vendor terms and the daily numbers your managers act on.
Every engagement is fixed fee and scoped after we see the numbers. We tell you when something is not worth doing. Results are measured on prime cost and margin, typically inside 90 days.
Texas, Florida and South Carolina — engagements worldwide. Book a 20-minute margin review at hospitalitygrowthadvisors.com.
Two-minute margin health check — three numbers from a recent week, and we’ll show your prime cost against healthy benchmarks.
Run the health checkStrategy✦Operations✦Profitability✦Revenue & Performance✦Audits✦Efficiency✦Brand & Marketing✦People & Training✦Technology & Systems✦Food Truck Consulting✦
What we do
Strategy, operations, profitability
The disciplines operators call us for most. New to bringing someone in? Read what a restaurant consultant actually does , or how much one costs.
The team
Who you'll actually work with
Three partners, one family-owned practice — senior operators on your floor, not junior analysts with a template.
CR
Christian Robert
Finance & Strategy
Builds the financial model behind every engagement — TCU honors graduate, previously Berkeley Research Group and UBS.
JF
Justin Falcone
Food & Beverage
Army veteran and award-winning chef who has owned and run restaurants — he rebuilds the menu so every plate pays for itself.
GF
Gerard Falcone
Operations
25+ years in law enforcement and investigations, now directing the floor, line and back-office systems that hold on a short-staffed Friday.
Results
What the work looks like
Latest insights
Notes from the field
Profitability Profitability The five hidden prime cost leaks killing restaurant margins
· 7 min readMost restaurants running a prime cost above 65% are not overspending in one obvious place. They are losing two or three points each across five quiet leaks.
Profitability How to lower restaurant prime cost in 90 days
· 9 min readA week-by-week plan to take four to eight points out of prime cost in one quarter — what to measure, what to change first, and what to leave alone.
Tell us where the margin is going.
A first conversation is thirty minutes and costs nothing. Project engagements start at $4,000 and are fixed-fee; or keep us on a monthly cadence with a support program.