Pizzeria break-even calculator
Break-even is your fixed costs divided by what one order contributes after ingredients and commission. For a pizzeria the commission line is the one that decides it: at 40% of orders going through a platform at 30%, you need materially more covers than the same site selling direct.
Monthly fixed costs
Including what you pay yourself.
Insurance, subscriptions, accountant.
Your trade
Including VAT.
Against the ex-VAT price.
Orders per day
30
over 26 open days
Orders per month
767
Monthly turnover
£21,458.33
Including VAT, to break even
- Monthly fixed costs
- £10,300
- Average order, ex-VATVAT 20%
- £23.33
- Food cost per order
- £6.53
- Average commission per order40% of orders
- £3.36
- Contribution per order57.6%
- £13.44
The formula
Break-even = fixed costs ÷ contribution per order
Contribution is what is left of an order once the ingredients and the commission are paid. It is what pays the rent and the wages. While it is positive, every extra order moves you towards break-even; if it is negative, selling more makes things worse.
The line generic calculators leave out
An ordinary break-even tool asks for a "margin rate" and stops. For a pizzeria that is not enough: commission is charged on the VAT-inclusive ticket, only on the orders that actually go through a platform, and it can easily exceed the food cost. Modelling it as an average buried in the margin hides the single biggest lever you have.
| Platform share | At 0% commission | At 30% commission |
|---|---|---|
| 0% — all direct | 24 | 24 |
| 25% | 24 | 27 |
| 50% | 24 | 32 |
| 75% | 24 | 38 |
| 100% — all platform | 24 | 48 |
Calculated with this tool using the values it loads with, 26 open days a month, VAT at 20%. Rounded up to whole orders.
That last row is the argument in one line. The same kitchen, the same costs and the same menu needs twice the volume when every order pays commission — 48 a day instead of 24. Which is why moving even a third of your regulars direct changes the arithmetic more than any price rise you would dare to make.