Restaurant Daily Sales Report Template — Revenue Clarity in 20 Minutes
Running a restaurant is hard. Between inventory, staff schedules, and keeping customers happy, you don't have time to manually compile sales reports from 3 different systems every night.
I spent 2 weeks building a simple template that gives me everything I need to know — in 20 minutes flat.
Why This Template Changed Everything
Before this template:
- I pulled sales from POS at 10:00 PM
- I entered staff hours manually into Excel
- I counted cash/credit cards by hand
- I calculated food costs from inventory logs
- By midnight, I was exhausted and had made errors
After this template:
- Sales, labor, and food costs auto-populate from the POS export
- Labor hours tracked by time clock export
- Cash/credit totals pulled directly from the POS
- Food cost calculated automatically against inventory data
- Everything synced to Google Sheets for instant visibility
- Done by 8:30 PM, still my whole day
Result: 2 hours saved every single night, plus zero errors in financial reporting.
What's Inside
1. Sales Tracking (5 minutes)
The template pulls sales data from your POS export:
Column A: Date
Column B: Time
Column C: Item Category (Food, Drink, Catering)
Column D: Item Name
Column E: Unit Price
Column F: Quantity Sold
Column G: Total Revenue
Column H: Tax (if tracked)
Auto-summaries:
- Daily total sales
- Labor cost percentage
- Food cost percentage
- Net profit (sales - labor - food costs)
- Sales per labor hour (efficiency metric)
| Metric | Today | Week YTD |
|--------|-------|----------|
| Total Sales | $2,847 | $18,234 |
| Food Cost | $1,085 (38%) | $6,901 (38%) |
| Labor Cost | $1,120 (39%) | $7,456 (41%) |
| Net Profit | $642 (22.5%) | $3,877 (21.2%) |
| Sales/Labor Hour | $45.20 | $44.80 |
2. Labor Cost Tracking (3 minutes)
Labor is usually the biggest line item. This section tracks:
- Daily hours by position (kitchen, servers, bartenders, front of house)
- Hourly rate per position
- Labor cost per shift
- Labor cost % of sales
- Overtime hours (if tracked by your time clock)
Key metric: Labor cost % should stay under 30-35% of sales for most restaurants.
3. Food Cost Analysis (5 minutes)
Food cost is calculated from:
- Inventory purchase receipts
- Daily food usage logs
- Waste logs (if tracked)
The template auto-calculates:
- Food cost per item
- Food cost per category
- Food cost % of sales
- Waste rate % (if waste tracked)
- Daily profit (sales - food cost - labor cost)
4. Daily Profit & Loss Statement (5 minutes)
Everything tied together in a clear P&L:
DAILY SUMMARY — 10/25/2026
SALES REVENUE:
- Food Sales: $1,847.50
- Drink Sales: $980.00
- Catering Sales: $19.50
────────────────────────────────
TOTAL SALES: $2,847.00
COST OF GOODS SOLD:
- Food Cost: $1,085.00 (38%)
- Inventory Waste: $45.00
────────────────────────────────
COGS: $1,130.00
OPERATING EXPENSES:
- Labor Cost: $1,120.00 (39%)
- Rent & Utilities: $800.00
- Marketing: $50.00
- Misc: $32.00
────────────────────────────────
TOTAL EXPENSES: $2,002.00
────────────────────────────────
NET PROFIT: $845.00 (29.7%)
5. Weekly Trend Analysis (2 minutes)
Automated charts for:
- Daily sales over last 7 days
- Food cost % trends
- Labor cost % trends
- Daily profit vs. expense
- Sales by hour (breakfast, lunch, dinner peaks)
Example insight: "Dinner service generates 65% of total revenue. If you increase dinner table turnover by 5%, you're adding ~$468/day in profit."
How to Set It Up in 30 Minutes
Step 1: Get Your POS Export Format
Most POS systems export to CSV or Excel. Identify these fields:
- Date/time stamp
- Item name or number
- Item category (food/drink)
- Unit price
- Quantity sold
- Tax if applicable
Step 2: Export Yesterday's Data
Export yesterday's sales data from your POS and save to sales_2026-10-25.csv.
Step 3: Import into Template
Open the template (I provide a Google Sheets version). Paste your CSV into the "Raw Data" sheet.
Step 4: Auto-Calculate
All formulas are pre-built. The template calculates:
- Total sales per day
- Food cost per item (using your inventory data)
- Labor cost per shift (using your time clock export)
- Daily P&L
- Weekly trends
Step 5: Review and Send to Owner
Copy/paste the summary into your morning business review:
Tonight's numbers (10/25):
- Sales: $2,847 (up $127 vs. yesterday)
- Food cost: 38% (optimal range: 30-38%)
- Labor cost: 39% (slightly high; next week we'll review scheduling)
- Net profit: $845 (22.5% margin)
- Top-selling item: Steak (78 sold at $35 each)
- Low profit item: Salmon ($14 profit/unit; maybe price up next quarter)
What I Included
This template is now part of the Ops Starter Kit Vol. 2:
✅ Google Sheets template with all formulas pre-built
✅ CSV import automation script (Python)
✅ Daily POS export template (to keep your data consistent)
✅ Labor hours tracking sheet
✅ Food cost tracking sheet
✅ P&L dashboard with charts
✅ Weekly trend analysis
✅ Pre-built templates for 3 restaurant formats (full-service, counter service, catering)
Ready to stop manually compiling reports?
Get the full system here: https://hive80lab.gumroad.com/l/ops-starter-kit-vol-2
$27 — 2 hours saved every night, 20-minute daily review.
Want more templates like this? Follow Hive80lab for daily automation tips. Check out my 5 AI workflows that automate incident response for a different angle on restaurant operations automation.
