Discount and offer calculator for restaurants
Find what a percentage off, a flat discount, or a free dish really costs you, and how many extra bills it must bring in to leave you no worse off than today. Every figure is yours to change. New to this? Follow a worked example.
How to use this calculator
One family restaurant's weekday offer: 20% off the bill, up to ₹100, on an average bill of ₹600. Every figure below is exactly what the calculator shows for these entries.
Every figure in this example is illustrative. Enter your own bills and your own offer.
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Enter your bills now
The restaurant's average bill is ₹600 before GST, food is 30% of sales, and napkins and card machine charges come to ₹10 a bill. It serves about 80 bills a day.
A full-price bill leaves ₹600 - ₹180 food - ₹10 other costs = ₹410
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Describe the offer
Choose % off the bill, enter 20%, and enter ₹100 as the most it takes off. On a ₹600 bill, 20% is ₹120, so the cap holds the discount to ₹100. The owner expects about 40% of bills to use it, and pays the whole discount, so the last field stays blank.
Each offer bill leaves ₹410 - ₹100 discount = ₹310
- Discount on an average bill
- ₹100 (16.7%)
- Guest pays
- ₹500
- Food cost on an offer bill
- 36%
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Read what the offer needs
If the offer brings no new guests, 32 bills a day get ₹100 off, which costs the restaurant ₹3,200 a day. Each new guest on the offer pays back ₹310 of it:
- Extra bills it needs
- 11 a day
- Bills a day with the offer
- 91, up from 80
- As a share of today's bills
- 12.9% more
If the offer brings fewer than 11 new bills a day, the restaurant makes less than it does today, even though it is busier.
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Compare another offer
Change the offer to a free dish and enter ₹40, what a dessert costs to make. The same 32 bills a day now cost ₹1,280, and each offer bill leaves ₹370.
- Extra bills it needs
- 4 a day, not 11
- Food cost on an offer bill
- 36.7%
It replaces what you have entered. Start over clears it again.
How the numbers are worked out
What a full-price bill leaves
The average bill, less the food cost on it and any other costs on each bill. This is what a bill puts towards your rent, salaries, and profit before any offer.
What the offer costs you
A percentage off is worked out on the average bill and held to the cap when there is one. A flat discount is taken as it is. A free dish costs you only what it takes to make, not its menu price. When a delivery app or someone else pays part of a discount, only your part counts.
The extra bills it needs
If the offer brings no new guests, it costs you the bills that use it times what it costs on each. Every new guest it brings pays some of that back with what an offer bill leaves. Divide the first by the second for the extra bills a day it needs, rounded up to a whole bill. Without your bills a day, the same answer is shown as a share of today's bills.
The calculator assumes every new guest the offer brings uses it, and spends the same average bill as everyone else.
When an offer cannot pay for itself
If the offer costs as much as a bill leaves, or more, every bill on the offer loses money. More of them only add to the loss, so no number of extra bills makes up for it.
Questions about discounts and offers
How do I know if an offer is worth it?
Compare the extra bills it needs with the extra bills you expect it to bring. If it needs more than it is likely to bring, the offer costs you money even while your sales go up.
Why does a free dish cost less than money off?
Money off costs you its full amount. A free dish costs you only what it takes to make, while the guest values it at its menu price. That is why a free dessert can need far fewer extra bills than a discount the guest sees as the same size.
How many of my bills will use the offer?
Only you can judge it. An offer every guest gets, such as a discount on the whole menu, is 100%. A coupon only some guests know about is less. Try a low and a high figure to see the range.
Should my average bill include GST?
No. Enter it before GST, because the GST on a bill is collected for the government, not earned by the restaurant. The calculator takes the discount off the bill before GST.
What if a delivery app pays part of the discount?
Enter the part you pay under part of the discount you pay. Only that part comes out of what a bill leaves you, while the guest still sees the whole discount.
Is what I type saved anywhere?
Only in the browser you are using, on this device, so a refresh or a closed tab does not lose your entries. Nothing is sent to us. Start over clears it.
Read next
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