Resources for restaurant owners
Guides and free tools. Benchmarks are marked [VERIFY] until we have a source.
Guides
Topics: Costs and margins, Reliability, Delivery and online, AI and ordering, Switching, Payments, Floor and guests, Labor and tips, Local notes, Kitchen and floor.
Costs and margins
How to calculate prime cost (with a worked example)
Prime cost is food and beverage cost plus labor, divided by sales. A worked example, what to include, and the levers that move it.
2 min read
Costs and margins
Restaurant labor cost percentage: how to calculate it and what to compare it to
How to calculate restaurant labor cost percentage, what to include, how to compare it fairly, and which scheduling levers change it.
2 min read
Costs and margins
Food cost percentage in 10 minutes
Calculate food cost percentage for one plate or a whole period, see what to include, and learn the waste and yield checks that matter most.
2 min read
Reliability
What to do when your restaurant internet goes down on a Friday night
A before, during and after plan for a restaurant internet outage, with a short checklist, and what offline modes really do.
2 min read
Reliability
POS offline mode: what actually works and what doesn't
What a restaurant POS can and cannot do without the internet: order entry, printing, kitchen screens, cards and syncing, with questions to ask.
2 min read
Delivery and online
The real cost of third-party delivery: a worked example
How to work out what delivery apps cost you after commission, with editable inputs, and why the guest's phone number matters as much as the fee.
2 min read
Delivery and online
How to move delivery customers to direct ordering
Five practical steps to move repeat delivery customers to your own ordering page: QR codes on bags, a loyalty hook, text follow-up and menu parity.
2 min read
AI and ordering
Restaurant phone orders: what you lose when you miss the call
How to audit missed calls for a week, put a value on them, and compare options: staff, text, chat and AI, with the safeguards to ask for.
2 min read
AI and ordering
Is AI ordering safe for restaurants? 8 questions to ask any vendor
Eight plain questions to ask any AI ordering vendor about confirmation, permissions, audit, prompt injection, refunds and human takeover.
2 min read
AI and ordering
Can customers order from ChatGPT or Claude? What an MCP server does
What an MCP server is, how a guest could order from an AI assistant, and the guardrails a restaurant should expect.
2 min read
Switching
How to switch restaurant POS systems without losing a service
A plan for changing restaurant POS systems: read the contract, rebuild the menu, test devices, train by shift, go live on a quiet day, check week one.
2 min read
Switching
POS migration checklist (printable)
A week-by-week POS migration checklist for restaurants covering contract, data, menu, devices, people, go-live day and the first week after.
2 min read
See it on your own menu.
Bring your menu. We will show how Zorveta One fits your restaurant.