Disclosure: This article is written by Shaun McManus, founder of SmartPubTools and creator of the Restaurant Console. All operational claims reflect genuine experience at Teal Farm Pub, Washington.
Key Takeaway
A complete restaurant management spreadsheet needs to track 25 operational areas: from daily covers and labour% to HACCP temperature logs and delivery commission. Free templates cover 2–3. The Restaurant Console covers all 25 in one system — £97 one-time, your data in your Google Drive.
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A restaurant management spreadsheet is only useful if it covers the operational areas that actually cost you money. Most free templates solve one or two problems. A complete system needs to track 25 areas simultaneously — and give you a dashboard view of how the operation is performing right now.
What Does a Complete Restaurant Management Spreadsheet Need to Track?
After 15+ years in hospitality and running Teal Farm Pub in Washington, Tyne and Wear, I’ve identified the 25 operational areas that a restaurant management system must cover to give you full control of your business.
Financial overview: Net revenue, GP%, labour%, food cost%, delivery net, and daily alerts via a live dashboard.
Sales tracking: Daily covers and revenue per service — lunch, dinner, and full day — so you can see which services are profitable and which are costing you.
Staff management: Shift log with FOH, kitchen, and bar roles separated. Labour% calculated automatically per shift against your target (UK benchmark: below 30%).
Food safety compliance: HACCP temperature log with AM and PM checks — fridge 1–4°C, freezer -25 to -18°C. This is a legal requirement under the Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations UK.
Stock management: Par level stock check with auto-order calculation. Stops over-ordering and prevents running out mid-service.
Daily compliance: Opening and closing checklist. EHO-ready at all times.
Delivery tracking: Deliveroo (30%), Uber Eats (30%), Just Eat (14%), and your own website (2%) — commission and real profit tracked weekly.
Weekly reporting: P&L with VAT, food cost, and gross profit. Actual vs target vs last year.
Rota and scheduling: 7-day rota with labour cost and labour% per shift. Catches overruns before they happen.
Pricing: Menu GP% calculator per dish and drink. Know the margin on everything before you print the menu.
Compliance logs: Fire safety, licensing, Health & Safety, cleaning schedules, and 6-monthly/annual compliance tracking.
What Free Restaurant Spreadsheet Templates Actually Cover
Free templates available online typically cover one or two areas well. Common ones include a basic weekly rota, a simple P&L, or a stock list. These are useful starting points but leave significant operational gaps:
No delivery commission tracking. Most free templates don’t have a mechanism to track Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat, and own-website revenue separately — let alone calculate what you actually keep after commission.
No HACCP compliance logs. Temperature records are a legal requirement. A free weekly rota spreadsheet won’t include AM/PM fridge and freezer checks with the correct temperature ranges (fridge 1–4°C, freezer -25 to -18°C).
No live labour% calculation. Free rotas show total hours but rarely calculate labour as a percentage of revenue per shift — which is the number that actually tells you if a service was profitable.
No dashboard. Without a central dashboard pulling all modules together, you’re looking at five separate spreadsheets and manually combining numbers.
The Monthly Cost Comparison: Free vs SaaS vs Restaurant Console
| System | Monthly cost | Covers | Your data? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free templates | £0 | 1–3 areas | Yes (if self-hosted) |
| Restaurant management SaaS | £50–£200/month | 10–20 areas | No — theirs |
| Restaurant Console | £97 once (£8.08/month over 12 months) | All 25 areas | Yes — your Google Drive |
At £50/month for SaaS, you’re paying £600/year. At £200/month, £2,400/year. The Restaurant Console is £97 once. Over 12 months that’s £8.08/month. Over 3 years it’s £2.69/month.
The Google Drive Advantage
The Restaurant Console runs in Google Sheets on your own Google Drive. This means:
Your data, your account. No SaaS company holds your revenue figures, staff costs, or compliance records. If the company goes under, your data stays.
Works offline. Google Sheets caches locally. If your Wi-Fi drops mid-service, the temperature log still works.
Share instantly. Grant your accountant view access to the weekly P&L in 30 seconds. No exports, no logins for them to manage.
No login management. Every SaaS product means another username, password, and renewal reminder. Google Sheets is already in your workflow.
At Teal Farm Pub, I run at 15% labour cost against the UK benchmark of 25–30%. The Restaurant Console calculates labour% per shift so I can see immediately if a quiet Tuesday lunch is pulling the week’s numbers down. The Restaurant Console tracks all 25 operational modules from one system.
Run Your Restaurant From One System — £97 One-Time
✓ 25 modules in one system
✓ Your data stays in YOUR Google Drive
✓ No monthly fees. No subscription.
✓ Built by a working operator, used in a real venue.
By Shaun McManus | Last Updated: May 2026
Shaun McManus is the licensee of Teal Farm Pub, Washington, Tyne and Wear, operating since March 2023. He has 15+ years in hospitality management across pubs and restaurants. He built the Restaurant Console to manage his own operation and released it for independent operators across the UK. His pub runs at 15% labour cost against the 25–30% UK benchmark.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a restaurant management spreadsheet include?
A complete restaurant management spreadsheet should track: daily sales and covers, labour% per shift, food cost%, GP%, HACCP temperature logs, stock par levels, delivery platform commission, weekly P&L, rota and wage costs, and compliance checklists. Free templates typically cover only 1–3 of these areas.
Are free restaurant spreadsheet templates good enough?
For a brand new single-site operation, free templates can cover the basics. But they leave gaps in delivery tracking, HACCP compliance, and live labour% calculation that cost operators money. Once you’re doing more than £5,000/week in revenue, the gaps become expensive.
What is a good restaurant management SaaS alternative to spreadsheets?
Most restaurant management SaaS costs £50–£200/month and stores your data on their servers. The Restaurant Console gives you all 25 operational modules for £97 one-time, in your own Google Drive. There’s no monthly fee and no third party holding your numbers.
How do I track labour cost percentage in a spreadsheet?
Labour% = (total wage cost ÷ total revenue) × 100. The UK restaurant benchmark is 28–32%. The Restaurant Console Staff module calculates this automatically per shift, per service, and per week — so you can see which services are pushing your labour% over target before it’s too late to act.
Can I use Google Sheets to manage a restaurant?
Yes. Google Sheets is powerful enough to run a full restaurant operation when configured correctly. The Restaurant Console is built on Google Sheets and covers all 25 operational modules including HACCP compliance, delivery commission tracking, weekly P&L, and staff rota — all in your own Google Drive account.
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