How Much Do Restaurant Owners Make? | Recent 2022 Data

Before diving into the statistics, let’s talk about the obvious: no two restaurants are the same. Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin in New York City almost certainly earns more each year than the owner of a small family diner that offers simple, inexpensive dishes (especially because Ripert also has hosted TV shows and written cookbooks!). Similarly, a restaurant owner who is just starting out will probably make less each year than someone who has a popular, well-established restaurant.

There are two primary factors that go into the profitability of a restaurant – which has a direct impact on how much a restaurant owner makes. First, the cost of doing business is critical. If you have sky-high rents and expensive ingredients, it’ll affect your bottom line. By the same token, if you own your building and have relatively low ingredient costs, then you might actually out-earn a restaurant owner who runs a four star restaurant. Cutting ingredient costs doesn’t always mean sacrificing quality. You can shop around and try to strike deals with vendors to get quality ingredients at a lower price. It’s also possible that more expensive ingredients could result in higher profits if the ingredients drastically improve the quality of your food. Reducing costs is ultimately a balancing act between price and quality.

The second factor is how much product you are selling. If your restaurant is consistently busy, then that will influence how much money you are earning.

These two factors make up a restaurant’s profit margin, which is how restaurants express their profits. The formula to determine profits is simple: total sales – expenses = profit. To get your profit margin, divide your net profit by your total revenue, and then multiply the number by 100 to get a percentage. The higher your profit margin, the higher your salary will typically be.

So what is an average salary for a restaurant owner? According to Payscale, the average base salary for a restaurant owner in the United States is $73,257. The base salary range for restaurant owners in the U.S. is $33,000 to $145,000.

Restaurant owners may have higher salaries if they are paid a bonus or participate in profit sharing. A bonus may add $1,000 to $50,000 annually to earnings, while profit sharing can range from $1,000 to $247,000. This brings total average earnings to $26,000 to $166,000 annually.