Margins in hospitality are thin, and almost every cost has gone up: wages, food, energy and rent. You can't control most of those prices, but you can control how much of each you use. This guide goes through the main costs of running a UK restaurant or café and the changes that save the most without making service worse.
Start by knowing where the money goes. Take last month's figures and work out each cost as a share of sales. The big three are usually staff, food and drink, and premises (rent, rates and energy). Fix the biggest first.
1. Staff: the biggest cost to manage
Staff are usually the largest cost after food, and they have risen fastest. The National Living Wage went up to £12.71 an hour in April 2026, and employer National Insurance has been 15% since April 2025.
Ways to save without cutting service:
- Rota from real sales data. Look at sales by hour and weekday and staff to that. Many venues are overstaffed in the first hour of a shift and short at the peak.
- Stagger start times so people arrive as the rush builds, not all at opening.
- Let guests order themselves. QR ordering at the table and a counter code for the queue take order-taking off your staff, so the same team serves more covers. See how QR ordering cuts café queues.
- Cut the admin. Clocking in on the till, a rota you copy from last week, and timesheets that export for payroll save the owner hours every week.
- Cross-train so one person can cover the bar and the floor on a quiet afternoon.
Our free staff rota template is a simple place to start.
2. Food costs and waste
Food and drink are often around a third of sales, and waste quietly adds to it.
- Cost every dish. Know what each plate costs you to make and what it earns. Our guide to café profit margins shows how.
- Shorten the menu. Fewer dishes means fewer ingredients, less prep and less waste. Look at what barely sells and drop it.
- Use ingredients across dishes so one delivery covers several plates.
- Track waste for two weeks. Write down everything thrown away and why. The pattern usually points to one or two fixes, such as over-prepping on Mondays.
- Check supplier prices regularly and ask for a better price on the things you buy most.
- Mark dishes sold out early rather than prepping more late in service.
From 31 March 2027, businesses in England with fewer than 10 employees must also separate food waste for recycling under the Simpler Recycling rules (larger businesses already have to). Measuring your waste now helps you plan the collection.
3. Energy
Kitchens use a lot of energy, and much of it is wasted.
- Switch off equipment that isn't needed between services, and don't turn everything on at opening if the rush starts at noon.
- Service fridges, freezers and extraction so they don't work harder than they need to. Clean condenser coils and check door seals.
- Keep fridge doors closed and don't overfill them.
- Compare your energy contract before it renews. Business energy contracts often roll onto expensive rates if you miss the renewal date.
4. Card fees and payment costs
Card fees are a few percent of every sale, which adds up to thousands a year.
- Check your rate and fixed fees. A percentage plus a fixed charge per payment costs more on small coffee orders than a flat percentage, and less on bigger bills.
- Look at monthly terminal rental. Many venues pay for card machines they could own outright.
- Ask for a better rate once your card takings grow. Providers often have room to move.
See the best card machines for small cafés for a comparison.
5. Software and subscriptions
Small costs pile up. Many venues pay separately for a till, a booking system, a loyalty app, online ordering and a rota tool, each with its own monthly fee.
- List every subscription and what it does.
- Look for overlap. One system that covers the till, ordering, bookings and loyalty is often cheaper than four separate ones, and the data is in one place.
- Watch the contract length. Avoid long contracts and hardware leases you can't get out of.
Our UK EPOS system price list shows what the main systems cost each month.
6. Delivery app commission
Delivery apps can take a large share of each order. You don't have to leave them, but you can move regulars to your own ordering page:
- Put your own ordering link on your Google listing, website, social media and the bags that go out.
- Offer a reason to order direct, such as a lower price or loyalty stamps.
- Use the apps to be found by new customers, not as your main channel.
See delivery app commission in the UK and commission-free online ordering.
7. Printing and paper
- Use a digital menu so price changes don't mean reprinting. See digital menus for restaurants.
- Send receipts by email or on screen when guests don't need paper.
- Use a kitchen screen instead of printed tickets if you go through a lot of till roll. See kitchen screens or printed tickets.
8. Business rates and other overheads
- Check your rates bill and whether you qualify for small business rate relief. Retail, hospitality and leisure relief changed in April 2026, so your bill may have changed.
- Shop around for insurance at renewal.
- Review your bank's charges, especially cash deposit fees.
Where to start
You don't have to do all of this at once. Pick the three biggest costs, make one change for each, and check the numbers again next month. Small savings on every shift and every order add up over a year.
Café QR brings the till, QR ordering, kitchen screens, bookings, loyalty, rota and food safety records together from £9.99 a month, with no contract and no commission on orders. See pricing.