Restaurant Budget Template (Excel + Google Sheets, Free)
What's inside the restaurant budget template
The template is a single Budget sheet listing 24 pre-filled cost categories suited to a restaurant, covering areas like food, labor, and operating costs. Every category can be renamed to match your own chart of accounts, and each one gets a Budgeted ($) column and an Actual ($) column to fill in as the month closes.
Because budgeted and actual sit next to each other row by row, you can see immediately which categories are running over before you get to the summary — the layout doesn't hide the detail behind a single top-line number.
What calculates automatically: variance and totals, with a chart
The Variance ($) column subtracts actual from budgeted for every category as soon as both numbers are entered — no formula-writing required. Below the category rows, the total budgeted, total actual, and total variance sum across every line automatically, giving you the whole-restaurant picture without a separate calculation.
The sheet also includes a Budget vs actual chart, plotted from the same data you're already entering, so the trend across categories is visible at a glance rather than something you'd have to build separately for a manager meeting.
Why this beats a blank spreadsheet
Starting from a blank spreadsheet means deciding on categories, writing the variance formula for each row, building the totals, and then charting it separately — all before you've entered a single real number. This template already has restaurant-relevant categories, the variance math, and the chart in place.
As a reference point, industry rule of thumb generally puts food cost at 28-35% of sales and labor at 25-35%, so once your Actual column is filled in for a month, the variance figures give you a fast read on whether you're inside or outside those ranges for your own numbers.
How to use it
- Adjust the pre-filled cost categories to match your restaurant.
- Enter the budgeted amount for each category for the month.
- Enter the actual amount as it comes in.
- Check the Variance column and the totals row — both update automatically, along with the budget-vs-actual chart.
Download the free Restaurant Budget Template (Excel + Google Sheets, Free)
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Small Business Bookkeeping & Tax Dashboard
For full bookkeeping beyond a monthly budget — income and expense logging, Schedule C category mapping, a quarterly estimated-tax dashboard, and a CPA export — the Small Business Bookkeeping template covers the rest of the year in one workbook.
See the full versionFrequently asked questions
Does this restaurant budget template work in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload the file to Google Drive, open it, then choose File > Save as Google Sheets. The variance formulas and chart carry over.
Is the template free?
Yes. You give an email address to receive the download link, and the file itself has no cost.
Can I change the cost categories?
Yes. The 24 pre-filled categories are a starting point — rename any of them, or add rows, to match your own chart of accounts.
Does this replace bookkeeping software?
No. It's a monthly budget-vs-actual tracker by category. For full income and expense bookkeeping with Schedule C mapping and a tax dashboard, see the small business bookkeeping template.
What license comes with the free template?
It's licensed for personal use or use within one business. Reselling or redistributing the file itself isn't covered.