Guide
The numbers worth looking at weekly.
There are about eight. Everything else is either a slower version of one of them or a number that flatters you.
In short
The weekly list worth keeping is: net sales split by channel, average order value, order count, gross profit percentage, labour as a share of sales, repeat customer rate, direct versus marketplace share, and refund or complaint rate. Each of those changes a decision. Revenue on its own does not, which is why busy restaurants can be losing money without noticing.
Updated 28 August 2026
Split everything by channel, or the mix will fool you
Total revenue hides the thing that matters most. A month where marketplace orders replace direct ones can show flat sales and a materially worse profit, because the two channels have completely different costs. Every number on this list is more useful split by channel than in aggregate, and the split itself is one of the numbers.
The eight, and what each one is for
Each of these answers a question you will actually act on. If a metric does not change what you do next week, it does not belong on a weekly report.
- Net sales by channel: where the money came from, and at what cost
- Average order value: whether upsells and menu changes are working
- Order count: demand, separated from price effects
- Gross profit percentage: whether you are keeping what you sell
- Labour as a share of sales: the rota against the demand it served
- Repeat customer rate: whether the food and service are holding
- Direct versus marketplace share: your exposure to commission
- Refunds and complaints: the early warning on everything else
Repeat rate is the one most restaurants cannot see
Of the eight, repeat customer rate is the most predictive and the least commonly measured, because it needs orders attached to customers rather than to tickets. It is the closest thing the trade has to a leading indicator: it moves before revenue does, in both directions. If it is falling while sales hold, you are replacing regulars with first-timers and the bill for that arrives a quarter later.
Compare against yourself, and against the same period
A number without a comparison is trivia. Compare against the same day last month and the same week last year, not against the previous week, because trade is weekly-seasonal and Monday against Sunday tells you nothing. Where you have it, a rolling four-week average smooths out the weather and the odd bank holiday.
The vanity numbers
Social followers, page views, app downloads and total revenue are the four that get reported most and change decisions least. They are not meaningless, but they are downstream of everything on the list above, and watching them weekly mostly generates a feeling rather than an action. If you look at one number a week, make it gross profit by channel.
Questions, answered straight.
Not covered here? Just ask us.
How do I calculate repeat customer rate?
Take customers who ordered more than once in a period and divide by total customers in that period. It requires customer identity on orders, which is why it is easy on your own channel and usually impossible on marketplace orders.
What should labour cost be?
It depends heavily on format and on whether you are counting owner hours. More useful than a benchmark is the shape: labour should track demand across the week. Most restaurants find their rush is narrower than the rota assumes.
Weekly or monthly?
Weekly for the operational ones, monthly for the financial ones that need a stock count. A monthly-only rhythm means a bad pattern runs for four weeks before anybody sees it.
How far back should I look?
Thirteen weeks for trends and the same period last year for seasonality. Anything shorter and you are reading noise.
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