## Restaurant ROI & Payback Calculator

URL: https://minimalpos.com/tools/restaurant-roi-calculator

Enter what you are putting in, what you expect to take monthly, and what it costs to run. This works out monthly and annual profit, return on investment as a percentage, and how long before the investment comes back. Adjust revenue to see how sensitive the payback is to being wrong.

### Features

- Monthly and annual net profit
- ROI as a percentage of initial investment
- Payback period in months and years
- Prime cost split between food and labour
- Sensitivity view at 80%, 100% and 120% of forecast revenue

### How it relates to MinimalPOS

Projections are guesses until real numbers replace them. MinimalPOS reports actual net sales, payment mix and item performance from day one, so month three can be measured against the plan instead of estimated.

**How do you calculate restaurant ROI?** Divide annual net profit by the total initial investment, then multiply by 100. If you invested 300,000 and the venue nets 60,000 a year, that is a 20% annual return, and the investment pays back in five years.

**What is a reasonable payback period for a restaurant?** Independent operators often work to a three to five year horizon, but this varies enormously by format, lease terms and location. What matters more than the target is checking whether the payback still works if revenue lands 20% below forecast — that is the scenario that actually happens.

**What should I include in the initial investment?** Everything before you open: fit-out, kitchen equipment, furniture, licences, deposits, initial stock, and enough working capital to cover the first few months while revenue builds. Leaving out working capital is the most common way these projections mislead.

**Why does the calculator show a range?** Because a single projection is the least useful thing you can produce. Seeing payback at 80% of forecast revenue tells you whether the plan survives contact with a slow first year.