Fixed Cost:                 Rent and occupancy costs

Semi-Variable Cost    Utilities, paper & linen goods, uniforms, tableware, marketing

Variable Cost             Labor Cost, Food Cost, Beverage Cost

Roughly speaking, these categories break down as follows in overall percentage cost:

Fixed Cost                  Between 5% and 10%

Semi-Variable Cost    Between 12% and 17%

Variable Cost             Between 55% and 60%

Therefore, if you had a pub that was generating $1,500,000 in revenues, your cost would look something like the following:

Fixed Cost                  Between $75,000 and $150,000

Semi-Variable Cost    Between $180,000 and $255,000

Variable Cost             Between $825,000 and $900,000

So your total costs might be between $1,005,075 and $1,305,000, leaving you approximately $200,000 to $500,000 in annual pre-tax profit. Of course many factors can impact on these numbers, but under normal circumstances, these would be typical operational margins.

What you will see from this illustration is that fixed cost and semi variable cost are not only relatively low, they are also somewhat out of your control……rent is something that the landlord sets and the volume of business controls many of the semi-variable costs. The greatest amount of variability comes from your food, beverage and labor cost and it is in these prime costs that your battle for profitability resides, and where we’re going to focus.