From my experience in BOH/inventory, food cost (or material input, for anyone reading this who's unfamiliar with the restaurant industry) ranges from 15% to 45%.

Any restaurant that owns its own property and has a steady flow of guests is going to be making bank. Also, any restaurant that doesn't rely on made-to-order meals is going to be more viable; this is why buffets exist.

[–] GalaxyBrain@hexbear.net 1 points 6 hours ago

Not many restaurants own their own property or have a steady flow unless they're fast food places or chains. That's also a pretty big range. If you go to culinary school you're taught than an averaged out across all items margin is generally around 20-25%. Buffets are more viable cause they save on labor cost tho. When you're making food yo order you're still taking from larger pre prepped supplies. I'd also have to imagine a buffet would have a lot more waste, holding food at serving temperatures means it's not sellable after a couple hours and you can't cool and then reheat it the next day. That stuff gets trashed. Any time I've done buffet style shit was for catering and there was always a shitload of leftovers.