Restaurant glossary
Plain-language definitions of the restaurant and restaurant-technology terms that matter.
- COGS (Cost of Goods Sold)
- The total cost of all food and beverage ingredients consumed to generate a restaurant's revenue during a given period.
- Food Cost Percentage
- The share of food revenue consumed by ingredient costs, calculated as Cost of Goods Sold divided by food sales.
- Menu Engineering
- A data-driven method for classifying every menu item by its profitability and sales volume, then redesigning the menu to push customers toward high-margin dishes.
- Table Turnover
- The number of times a table is seated and cleared during a given service period.