Every week, check seven numbers: sales, total contribution, kitchen hours, contribution per kitchen hour, waste, cash against next week's bills, and new and returning customers. Add the price of your three main ingredients if they move a lot. Together they tell you whether the week made money, whether each hour earned as much as last week, and whether you can cover what is coming. Sales alone tell you none of that; a week can sell more and leave you with less.
The seven numbers
1. Sales by product and channel. How much of each product you sold, and where: direct, farmers market, wholesale, delivery app. If you charge sales tax, record sales before tax.
2. Total contribution. Sales minus variable costs: ingredients, packaging, recipe waste and channel commissions. It is what is left to pay your fixed costs and yourself. If the idea is new, start with contribution margin.
3. Kitchen hours. Hours spent producing, packing, cleaning and delivering. Log them on the day.
4. Contribution per kitchen hour. Total contribution divided by hours. It is the quickest warning that something is slipping, because it folds price, cost and time into one figure. The guide on contribution per kitchen hour explains why.
5. This week's waste. What you threw away or could not sell, valued at variable cost. Recipe waste is already in your cost per unit; this line is what you lost by overproducing or by mistakes.
6. Cash against bills. Cash in the till and the bank, against everything you have to pay in the next seven days. Making a profit and having money are not the same thing.
7. New and returning customers. How many people bought for the first time and how many came back. The guide on keeping customers coming back covers what to do with that number.
Extra: the price of your three main ingredients. When flour, butter or chocolate goes up, your cost goes up with it. See how often to update your costs.
How to pull them together in half an hour
Pick a fixed slot, say Monday morning. The guide to a weekly routine for the business side builds the rest of the week around it.
- Gather what you logged: order list, card and cash takings, purchase receipts.
- Multiply units sold of each product by its contribution per unit. If a product sells through two channels at different prices or commissions, work them out separately.
- Add up the hours from your log.
- Count what went in the bin.
- Check the bank and the list of bills due.
Write it all in a new row next to last week. One week's number on its own says little. The comparison does the talking.
Worked example: sourdough and brownies, two weeks
You sell sourdough loaves and brownies at a weekend market and through preorders.
- Sourdough: price $7.00, variable cost $2.40, contribution $4.60 a loaf.
- Brownies: price $3.50, variable cost $1.20, contribution $2.30 each.
In week 2 a café asks for 40 loaves a week at a wholesale price of $4.50. Contribution per wholesale loaf: 4.50 − 2.40 = $2.10. You say yes.
| Week 1 | Week 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sourdough, retail | 90 × 4.60 = $414.00 | 90 × 4.60 = $414.00 |
| Sourdough, café | $0.00 | 40 × 2.10 = $84.00 |
| Brownies | 120 × 2.30 = $276.00 | 120 × 2.30 = $276.00 |
| Sales | $1,050.00 | $1,230.00 |
| Total contribution | $690.00 | $774.00 |
| Waste (unsold loaves × $2.40) | 6 → $14.40 | 10 → $24.00 |
| Contribution after waste | $675.60 | $750.00 |
| Kitchen hours | 30 | 39 |
| Contribution per hour | $22.52 | $19.23 |
Sales: week 1 is 90 × 7.00 + 120 × 3.50 = 630 + 420 = $1,050. Week 2 adds 40 × 4.50 = $180, for $1,230. Sourdough hours went from 22 to 31, because of the extra bake and the café delivery; brownies stayed at 8.
What the comparison says:
- Sales: 1,230 ÷ 1,050 = 1.17, up 17%.
- Contribution after waste: 750.00 ÷ 675.60 = 1.11, up 11%.
- Contribution per hour: from $22.52 to $19.23, down almost 15%.
You made $74.40 more in the week but worked 9 more hours. Those extra hours earned you 74.40 ÷ 9 = $8.27 each, far below the $22.52 you averaged before. Waste also rose: more loaves in the oven meant more left over at the market.
That does not mean the café order is a mistake. It means you decide with the numbers in front of you: ask the café for a better price, fit their loaves into an existing bake, or accept the lower rate in exchange for a steady weekly order. This is the exact pattern described in the guide on growth traps.
The rest of week 2:
- Cash: $1,900 across the till and the bank. Bills due in the next seven days: $1,250 for flour, packaging and the market pitch. That leaves a $650 cushion. The café pays monthly, so its money is not in there yet.
- Customers: 11 new, 46 returning.
- Ingredients: a 25 kg sack of flour went from $18.00 to $21.00, which is $0.12 more per kilo. At 0.5 kg per loaf, that is $0.06 a loaf. Small, but it comes off every loaf: $4.54 contribution on retail instead of $4.60, and $2.04 on the café loaf instead of $2.10. Update the cost now, not in three months.
What to do when a number moves
- Sales up, contribution per hour down: look at whatever grew. Something new earns less per hour.
- Waste up two weeks in a row: you are making more than you sell. Plan from what sold in recent weeks, not from what you hope to sell.
- Cash below the bills: someone is paying late or you overbought. Look now, before the bills are due.
- Returning customers down: ask two or three people who stopped ordering. It is usually something specific.
These numbers also tell you when you are ready for the next step. The guide on how to grow a small food business uses them to decide what to grow first.
Do it with the calculator
To get the contribution per unit for each product, put your recipes into the food cost calculator with the price for each channel. With that, the weekly table fills in within minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Should I use sales before or after tax?
Before tax. Sales tax is collected for the government and is not part of what you earn. If you do not charge sales tax, use what you actually receive.
What if I do not have time every week?
Start with three: total contribution, kitchen hours, and cash on hand against next week's bills. Those three tell you whether the week paid and whether the money will stretch.
Why weekly and not monthly?
Because a month gives you four weeks to lose money without noticing. A waste problem or an ingredient price jump shows up in the first week if you look, and it is cheaper to fix early.
Do I need software for this?
No. A notebook or a spreadsheet with one row per week is enough. What matters is logging sales and hours on the day they happen.