How to Track a Drop in Restaurant Profit Margins – A Step-by-Step Investigation

For thousands of foodservice operators, the Apicbase sales dashboard is the first stop of the day.

Why? Because it answers a fundamental question: How are we doing?

Apicbase provides deep insights into every back-of-house metric. But when you need a quick pulse on business performance, the sales dashboard is where you go.

At a glance, it shows:

• Revenue
• Cost of Goods Sold (CoGS)
• Total profits
• Discounts
• Profit margin %

Today, I’m looking at the sales dashboard of a multi-site restaurant group. 

A surprising drop in profit margin caught my eye, kicking off an investigation that revealed a serious procurement and waste issue—one that quietly drained thousands in profits.

Step 1: Spotting the Drop

Every morning, coffee in hand, I go straight to the Profit Margin % comparison graph.

You can slice and dice the data in multiple ways, but I prefer a side-by-side comparison of outlets. It instantly highlights high-performing locations and underperforming sites that may need intervention.

Looking at Q4 of 2024 and the first two months of 2025, one site stands out—Dresden.

All other locations show similar profit margins. But Dresden’s dropped significantly in Q4, falling to 73.12%—far below the rest. Then, in Q1, it rebounded to 80.51%, aligning with the best-performing outlets.

This calls for a closer look.

Step 2: Assessing the Financial Impact

Before diving into the cause, let’s quantify the damage.

Switching to the revenue distribution chart, I see that Dresden generated €388,009.23 in Q4.

Had it maintained its Q1 profit margin of 80.51%, gross profits would have reached €312,386.23.

Instead, at 73.12%, actual gross profits were €283,712.35.

That’s a €28,673.88 shortfall. A significant hit.

What caused this? Was it a waste issue? A procurement problem? Let’s dig deeper.

Step 3: Investigating Waste Levels

The first stop? The waste dashboard. If something’s off, it usually shows up here.

Zooming in on Dresden’s waste levels for October, November, and December, I find the answer: a waste spike at the end of October. Bingo!

Now, I have more questions:

• Was this due to a sudden drop in demand?
• Did purchasing go rogue?

To find out, I check sales data.

Step 4: Comparing Sales Trends

Dresden’s sales dashboard shows steady sales at the start of Q4, followed by a decline towards the end.

When I overlay this with waste levels, a clear pattern emerges—as sales dropped, waste increased.

This suggests a procurement mismatch. But to confirm, I need to look at purchase orders.

Step 5: Examining Procurement Data

And there it is. Procurement data reveals that despite declining sales, orders remained unusually high.

When multiple people place inventory orders, things can spiral fast. Were there duplicate orders? In this case, it seems orders weren’t aligned with actual demand. 

That explains part of the problem.

Still, something doesn’t sit right. 

Overordering leads to waste, sure, but the profit drop was too steep. Could there be another factor? Just to be sure, I check supplier pricing trends.

Step 6: Spotting Supplier Price Spikes

It just keeps getting worse.

Switching to the price evolution dashboard, I see that two key protein ingredients had sharp price increases (I crossed out the names for privacy reasons):

• Ingredient A: +18.24%
• Ingredient B: +28.60%

So, Dresden wasn’t just over-ordering—they were also paying a premium. A double blow to profit margins.

With this, the puzzle is solved.

From Hidden Losses to Informed Decisions

What seemed like a minor profit discrepancy turned out to be a costly mix of procurement and waste mismanagement.

With a coffee in hand, I checked the dashboards, traced the data, and zoomed into purchase orders. Before my coffee even cooled, I had uncovered a €28.673,88 loss.

This is why Apicbase matters.

Without a clear, data-driven system, these issues can go unnoticed for months, bleeding profits in silence. Apicbase helps finance managers, restaurant managers, and data analysts spot problems early, take corrective action, and prevent small leaks from turning into major setbacks.