re: About how much does a restaurant make off a $20 meal?

I know I'll get a bunch of OT bullshite but I'll answer this for those who are curious. My average profit is $1.07 per guest. Now the first thing some will say is because I work at a trashy restaurant that isn't worth a shite. Click on the next thread please. There are a lot of other costs associated with running a restaurant. It's not food, labor, and utilities. My store is extremely efficient when it comes to food and labor. Restaurants do shoot for the 30% mark and I average a 27%. The labor mark is usually 14% and I'll run an 11-12%. What's making margins shrink are things like workman's comp, liability, and unemployment. Now the one thing that is starting to erode my profit margin are the guests themselves. The demands of the market are lowering profit margins and raising the amount of time you sit there waiting for your food. I've been tracking the amount of what constitutes special order for us. These usually cause us to use extra product in an effort to satisfy the guest. They also creates more steps in making an order and longer ticket times. That's a different story though.