Restaurant margins: what strategies will make you profitable in 2026?
07 November 2025
Margins are often the subject of controversy, but they determine the sustainability (and survival) of an establishment.
In 2026, pressure is everywhere: Rising raw materials prices, ever more expensive energy, escalating rents and a staff shortage that has plagued the sector for a good decade. Add to that saturated competition (restaurants, of course, but also bakeries, supermarkets and service stations...). and you get an equation where every margin point counts.
Even with full houses, many establishments struggle to generate more than 2 to 6% of net margin. This level of profitability, already fragile, becomes untenable if we stick to old reflexes.
So, how do you secure your margins in 2026 without degrading the customer experience? We've put together the essentials you need to know to defend your profitability this year.
Maximizing margins in the foodservice industry: what obstacles will there be in 2026?
Rising costs: raw materials and expenses on the rise
The problem is not just one of the current economic climate. For several years now, restaurateurs have seen their costs rise relentlessly. Raw materials (+16%), energy (+25 to 30% since 2021), rents (+17%): according to a recent report Gira ConsultingEach of these items weighs a little more heavily on plant profitability.
Added to this is a staff shortage that has been going on for 15 years, making recruitment more expensive. Not to mention a third of establishments still stuck with their EMP repayments.
All these factors reduce the net margin, even before a customer has been served.
Expanded competition nibbles away at visitor numbers
France now has one restaurant for every 170 inhabitants. That's twice as many as 20 years ago, and well above the US figure of 1 in 540.
And this saturation has a particularity: it doesn't just come from traditional restaurants. Of the 410,000 outlets offering food away from home, only 220,000 offer table service. The remaining 190,000 (bakeriesIn 2024, the total value of the retail sector (supermarkets, petrol stations, convenience stores) was 23 billion euros. A figure that has not "created" an additional market: it has been taken directly from the restaurants, cafés and brasseries.
Each player positions itself on the same consumer spend, mechanically reducing your market share.
More demanding customers in terms of price and service quality
Faced with this abundance of choice, customers demand more: quality, speed, a pleasant, personalized experience.
But at the same time, their sensitivity to price remains very strong. They are quicker to arbitrate, constantly comparing and not hesitating to zap towards an alternative perceived as more practical or less expensive.
The gap between what they expect and what they want to pay is glaringly obvious.
Take the burger, for example: its average price in France is €12.02. Yet when asked, consumers set the maximum price they consider acceptable at €9.32. In other words, the market is pushing restaurateurs to offer quality products in attractive surroundings, while keeping prices as low as possible.
Restaurant margins: definition, calculation and key figures
Gross margin VS net margin: restaurant essentials
There are several types of margins in the restaurant business: gross margin, net margin, sales margin, operating margin... But in everyday language, when we talk about "restaurant margins", we're talking about gross and net margins.
Gross margin shows whether your prices cover the cost of raw materials. It also serves as a basis for steering your menu and checking whether each dish really contributes to profitability.
Net margin includes all expenses: wages, rent, energy, taxes, loan repayments. It reflects what's left once everything has been paid for.
"Gross margin measures your sales performance, net margin says whether, at the end of the month, your restaurant is making money."In brief
Restaurant margins: what's the average in France?
Gross margin remains high: an average of 70 to 75% on dishes and 85% on beverages.
But once all expenses have been deducted, the net margin falls to a very low level. Even if it varies greatly according to format :
➜ 2 to 6% for the traditional catering,
➜ 6 to 9% for the fast food,
➜ 7 to 9% for bars,
➜ 2.5 to 15% for cafés.
Clearly, the often-quoted range of "2 to 6%" is not wrong, but it does conceal major discrepancies between concepts. A successful café can be far more profitable than a sit-down restaurant, despite a lower average bill.
This contrast explains why so many restaurants close while their dining rooms are full. The gross margin gives the impression of comfort, but the net margin shows just how fragile the balance remains.
Margin at risk: 3 shortcuts to avoid
01. Raising prices: a risky bet
Faced with rising costs, the temptation is strong to pass on inflation directly to your prices. But the elasticity of demand is real: your customers compare, arbitrate and don't necessarily agree to pay more. Too great a discrepancy with their "perceived price" leads to a drop in visitor numbers and, ultimately, a loss of sales.
02. Reducing quality and/or quantity: the boomerang effect of shrinkflation
Cutting product quality may seem profitable at the time, but it's a blow to your image. Customers quickly notice the difference on the plate. And once they've lost confidence, it's hard to get them to come back.
The temptation is sometimes to reduce portions rather than quality, which is known as "shrinkflation". Here too, the effect is double-edged: the customer notices that his dish is smaller for the same price, and feels cheated. In the end, you save on materials, but lose out on loyalty and reputation.
03. Cutting staff: an expensive way to save money
Reducing the number of shifts seems an obvious solution to lighten the payroll. But in practice, it's a shortcut that undermines your profitability, when service and consistency count as much as the dishes served.
And there's another problem: the labor shortage is not cyclical, it's been going on for over 15 years. Laying off staff or cutting back hours can be like shooting yourself in the foot: when it comes time to recruit again, the task will be even more difficult and costly.
The challenge is not to do things with fewer people, but to enable your teams to focus their energy where they have the greatest impact. Digital can take over the mechanical part of the service (order entry, payment management, availability updates) and free up time for what cannot be replaced To create a bond, advise customers and ensure smooth service.
Catering: how to regain control of your margins?
Automate time-consuming tasks to boost productivity
Every minute wasted on repetitive tasks cuts into your margins. Taking orders by hand, cashing them in one by one, re-typing a menu on several different media... all this wastes staff time and reduces the number of customers served. L'automation transforms these minutes into additional cutlery.
➜ Taking orders : QR code, terminal or order online reduce round-trips and speed up service. If a service cycle is reduced from 11 to 8 minutes, you increase your capacity by 25 to 30 % on rush periods.
➜ Collection : the payment at table eliminates waiting time in front of the terminal and ensures smooth table rotation.
➜ Menu update : a single back-office supplies all your channels (terminals...), QR code menusClick & Collect, delivery, aggregators). You can avoid price discrepancies and items still being displayed when they're out of stock.
➜ Marketing : visit campaigns can be automated with triggered scenarios by a new registrant, an inactive customer or an abandoned basket. You no longer spend hours manually re-launching, and your results are measured in real time.
"If a waiter manages an average of 20 tables per service, saving 3 minutes per table enables him to handle 5 more, i.e. +25% in productivity. With an average bill of €19, this represents €95 more sales per service and per waiter. Over 26 working days with 2 services per day, you add €4,940 in additional sales per month, without hiring or overtime."Impact on margins
Reduce ordering errors and hidden costs
Every mistake has a direct impact on your margin: a new dish, a commercial gesture and an unhappy customer who doesn't come back. Not to mention the time wasted in the kitchen and dining room. The digitization of order taking and transmission limits these invisible but costly leaks.
➜ When customers enter their own order on a kiosk or via a QR code, they directly select the necessary options (cooking, allergens, extras). The risk of ambiguity disappears, and the kitchen receives a clear and complete order.
➜ On the production side, routing by station (hot, cold, bar) with detailed vouchers, chrono and prioritization reduces waiting and avoids oversights. Each dish arrives in the right place at the right time.
➜ Automatic synchronization between cash register and aggregators puts an end to double entries and inconsistencies between prices and inventory. This eliminates the need to make corrections after the fact, thus avoiding cash discrepancies and accounting errors.
➜ And last but not least, automatic controls secure your sales: an out-of-stock product is instantly masked everywhere, and an additional product (e.g. a dessert) is only offered if stock permits. You sell better, but above all you avoid disappointing the customer with a "sorry, we've run out".
"If you make an average of 7 mistakes a day, at an estimated cost of €8 per error (raw materials, lost time, commercial gesture, etc.), that's €56 lost every day. Over a month of 26 working days, this amounts to €1456 lost. By dividing these errors by two, you're already regaining €728 in net margin per month."Impact on margins
Leverage customer data to generate more repeat business
A loyal customer means a secure margin: he orders more often, spends more on each visit and costs almost nothing to "reactivate". Where acquisition is expensive and uncertain, loyalty is a direct and measurable lever.
It all starts with a customer base unified. Centralize information from all your ordering channels (QR code, kiosk, Click & Collect, delivery, checkout) to build a clear customer database: one sheet per customer with history, habits and his preferences.
This centralized data enables useful segmentation : new customers, regulars, lost for more than 45 days, large baskets, weekday lunchtime regulars, customers with dietary constraints... You speak to everyone with a message that makes sense.
That's where smart offers come in:
➜ a customer inactive for 30 days receives a targeted reactivation
➜ a family receives a dedicated offer for the weekend
➜ a large-basket customer benefits from a premium advantage designed especially for them
The loyalty program must be simple and visible. The points or benefits appear directly at the moment of ordering, and the reward is immediate, whatever the channel used. No need for physical cards or complicated explanations.
Finally, data is only valuable if you measure it: re-purchase rate, average basket per segment, campaign activation rate... These indicators enable you to adjust your actions and measure their real impact on margins.
"With a base of 8,000 customers, including 25% recurring customers (2,000 people), going to 30% (2,400 people) generates €17,600 extra sales per month (2 visits at €22). At 5% net margin, this represents an additional €880 net per month, without additional advertising."Impact on margins
All-in-one digital solution: increase profitability by simplifying management
The problem of multiple subscriptions (terminal, loyalty, cash register, aggregators...)
Digitization has become unavoidable, but many restaurants have built it up in "layers" and end up with a hefty bill. In 2025, the average restaurant owner will spend €15,800 a year on technology, according to a recent study. Food Hotel Tech.
This amount is far from negligible, especially when it's split between several solutions: one for kiosks, another for loyalty, cash register software, a marketing CRM, plus connectors for aggregators.
You pay a lot, but you don't make the most of these investments.
Because the problem isn't just financial. That's a lot of subscriptions to pay, interfaces to manage and time wasted switching from one tool to another.
Hidden costs and associated data loss
The problem is not limited to subscription costs. These tools, which are often poorly interconnected, create "holes" in management.
Each tool collects its own data, but they remain compartmentalized. Your checkout software's customer database doesn't match that of Click & Collect, your marketing campaigns aren't based on a complete order history, and your statistics are incomplete.
In addition, there are indirect costs:
➜ Lost time to enter the same information in several systems,
➜ Errors when a product is still displayed but is out of stock elsewhere,
➜ Missed opportunities for lack of a clear view of the customer or the stock.
On a monthly and annual scale, these hidden costs represent lost working hours and decisions taken without a complete picture. This lack of consistency means that margins are gradually being eroded, and we don't always know why.
The advantage of a centralized tool: a single back-office to connect your entire restaurant
An all-in-one digital tool eliminates the problems associated with fragmented solutions. A single platform for all your control channelsyour loyalty programyour payments and marketing campaigns.
✔ You no longer pay for 4 or 5 subscriptions : one is enough.
✔ You no longer work on several back-offices: a single pilot for everything.
And above all, all your customer and operational data are finally in one place.
The benefits are immediate and visible:
✔ On costs: a single subscription reduces your fixed costs. Instead of seeing €15,000 spread over several subscriptions, you invest in a single tool and keep a simple overview of your costs.
✔ On reliability: updates (prices, stock, opening times, menus) apply everywhere in real time. You'll avoid inconsistencies, and you'll no longer offer dishes that are out of stock, whether in the dining room or on delivery.
✔ On productivity: your teams no longer waste time switching between different interfaces. With a single click, you can hide an unavailable product or trigger a promotion on all your channels, without double entry.
✔ On customer data: each order, whether placed in the showroom, online or by delivery, enriches the same database. You'll build up a clear vision of your customers, and activate relevant loyalty scenarios (relaunches, upsells, targeted offers).
You don't spend more on software, you make better use of your resources and boost your margins. In other words, you move from an expense item to a profit driver.
Act now to secure your profitability
You're not alone when it comes to the cost/customer/profitability equation.
More than 1,500 establishments, from the neighborhood brewery to the multi-site enseige, have chosen Obypay to regain control of their costs and customer loyalty.
Why shouldn't you? Contact us today!
