Restaurant prime cost & COGS software

Know your prime cost. And what's driving it.

A blended COGS percentage doesn't tell you what's working. DishBooks breaks down food, beverage, and labor cost by category and by location, automatically — built specifically for restaurants.

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The problem with one number

Generic accounting

32%

Cost of goods sold. One number, no story.

DishBooks

Beverage

5.9%

Produce

6.8%

Dairy

5.1%

Protein

14.2%

What category-level cost visibility gives you

Purchases against sales — with true usage when you want it.

COGS is measured as purchases against sales, so it works without a full inventory system. Add beginning and ending inventory counts anytime for a true usage-based number.

Every location, side by side.

Compare food, beverage, and labor cost across locations in one view, so you can see which restaurant is running lean and which one needs attention.

Labor in the same number as food.

Prime cost is food and labor together — DishBooks tracks both sides and reflects labor as soon as it's entered, so you're never reading half the picture.

Vendor invoices coded once, then hands-off.

A case of chicken wings maps to Poultry, a shred of mozzarella to Dairy. Map an item once and it's remembered permanently, so the breakdown maintains itself as invoices arrive.

Cost categories that match how you actually buy.

Protein, dairy, produce, and beverage each stand on their own, with custom categories for anything specific to how your kitchen orders — instead of one blended number that hides which one is moving.

Major distributors like US Foods, Ben E Keith, and Sysco connect directly — their invoices flow in automatically.

Invoices from any other vendor are uploaded directly and go through the same AI-assisted coding: a case of chicken wings maps to Poultry, a shred of mozzarella to Dairy. Map an item once and it's remembered permanently — new items are flagged the first time you see them, and from there it's hands-off.

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Multi-location

A single blended number can hide which location actually needs attention.

If you run more than one restaurant, DishBooks shows food, beverage, and labor cost side by side across every location — so you can see which one is running lean and which one needs attention, instead of digging through separate reports for each.

Metric

Location 1

Location 2

Prime cost

58.2%

51.4%

Labor

29.4%

24.1%

Ask DEX

Dex surfaces the specifics a blended report never would.

Turn visibility into action

Knowing your numbers only matters if it changes what you do next.

Catch a vendor price increase the week it happens — before it quietly erodes a full quarter of margin.
See labor creeping up at one location and adjust scheduling before it becomes a pattern.
Know exactly which cost category is moving — protein, produce, beverage — and act on it directly instead of guessing.
Compare locations to know where to focus attention first: training, staffing, or vendor negotiation.