Profit Leak Diagnostic (structured audit)

Structured, saveable audit that walks operators through sales, food cost, labor, shrink, and promotion checks, captures evidence, and produces prioritized actions with estimated monthly margin impact. Includes scoring rubrics, guidance for quick calculations, and a recommended action list grouped by quick wins, owner actions, and deeper investigations.

Interactive Tool

Profit Leak Diagnostic Audit

Use this structured audit to quickly find the highest-impact margin problems across sales, food cost, labor, shrink, and promotions. Fill in known numbers when available, use the help text for suggested formulas, check observed issues, and mark priorities. Saved submissions become a record you can compare over time or share with managers.

Name of restaurant or location.
Date of this audit (YYYY-MM-DD).
Person completing the audit.
Gross sales for the reporting period. Use POS monthly total if available.
Select any sales problems you observe. For each selected item, add notes below.
Short notes about promotions, high-waste items, or unusual discounts.
(food cost ÷ sales) × 100. Enter current measured percent if available.
Current food cost % minus target food cost % (positive = over target).
Select causes you observe; use notes to record examples.
Optional: estimate dollars lost to food-cost issues. Suggested formula: (monthly_sales × food_cost_variance_percent ÷ 100).
(labor cost ÷ sales) × 100. Enter measured percent if available.
Overtime dollars ÷ total labor dollars × 100.
Optional estimate: extra labor dollars above target or lost throughput margin.
Compare physical inventory vs expected (ideally 95%+).
Best-guess dollars lost to shrink or theft during the period.
Total cost of promotions, coupons, loyalty discounts for the period.
Percent of margin lost because of promotions (estimate).
Percent of checks delivered without error (higher is better).
(remakes ÷ total checks) × 100. Remakes cost in food + labor + lost turnover.
Suggested quick scoring: convert each section to a 0–20 risk score and sum for a 0–100 Risk Score. Example weights: Food 30, Labor 25, Sales 15, Shrink 15, Promotions 10, Operations 5. Use your judgment and enter the Total Risk Score below (0 = low risk, 100 = severe).
Enter a combined risk score using the guidance above.
Optional: sum of estimated impacts from food, labor, shrink, and promotions. Use this to prioritize fixes.
How confident are you in the entered numbers? (1 = low, 5 = high)
1.0 10.0
Actions are grouped — check the ones you want to pursue and assign owners externally.
Write the top three actions the team will start with, who is responsible, and a target due date.
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