Restaurant report dictionary: understand every number before using it

Start with the number you are trying to explain

A restaurant report can contain several correct answers to different questions. A sales report describes business activity. A payment report describes money collected or allocated. A settlement describes what a platform calculates as payable. A bank statement shows what reached an account. Before choosing a figure, finish this sentence: “I want to know this amount, for these outlets, for this period, using this definition.” That small step prevents a large amount of unnecessary spreadsheet work.

This dictionary explains useful reporting ideas in ordinary language. Its teaching definitions are starting points for understanding a report, not replacement definitions for your provider. Keep the actual column heading, report name, country, currency and version beside your interpretation. A familiar heading such as net sales can mean something different in another system. Where a provider has its own explanation, read that explanation before using the number in a formula.

Every restaurant, amount and identifier in the exercises below is fictional. The arithmetic teaches a method; it does not quote platform fees, establish a tax position or describe an observed merchant account. You can work through the examples without entering business information. If you later use real records, keep customer information, payroll details and banking references in authorised private storage. A useful dictionary usually needs descriptions and aggregate checks, not a public copy of the original files.

Records and identities: what does one row represent?

Record grain

Grain means the thing represented by one record. A row might describe a dish line, an entire order, one payment, one payout cycle or one component of a payout. Write that description above the table before adding anything. If an order contains two dish rows, counting rows gives two lines, not two customers. If a settlement contains a total and its breakdown, adding both counts the same money again. A file extension does not establish grain. The same CSV format can hold several completely different kinds of restaurant information.

Order identifier

An order identifier links records belonging to a particular order within the source's scope. Treat it as a label, even when it contains only digits. Two dish lines can legitimately carry the same identifier. A later refund can refer to the original order as well. Consequently, removing every repeated order identifier is usually an unsafe cleaning rule. Keep the outlet, platform and record type attached to it. When two systems use different order identifiers, obtain an explicit mapping or another supported matching reference rather than assuming similar numbers identify the same sale.

Outlet identifier

An outlet identifier distinguishes the operating location in the particular system. A brand name is not always sufficient: one brand can have several kitchens, while one kitchen can operate several trading names. Keep an outlet register showing the internal location label and the corresponding identifier in each authorised system. Retain historic mappings when a location is renamed. In a teaching worksheet, Cedar North and Cedar South can be convenient labels, but the real review should use dependable source identifiers. Never assume an identifier from one provider means anything to another provider.

Item line and modifier

An item line describes a product within an order. A modifier describes a choice or addition associated with an item, such as a size or an extra ingredient. Whether modifiers appear as separate records, nested text or included prices depends on the report. Read the source definition before summing. If a meal line already includes its paid addition, adding the addition again overstates sales. If the report contains names but no sold quantities, it cannot establish item demand. A menu catalogue and a history of products sold answer different questions.

Event identifier

An event identifier distinguishes an action affecting an order or payment. A sale, partial refund and later correction may be separate events for the same order. Preserve those distinctions when they exist. For example, our invented order Kettle One has a sale event and a refund event; deleting the refund because its order label repeats would leave an inaccurate result. Some exports do not provide event identifiers. In that case, document the available fields and matching limitations instead of pretending that an automatically constructed key is guaranteed unique.

Dates and boundaries: which clock is being used?

Order date

Order date usually relates to when an order was placed, but the exact meaning belongs to the report. A refund record may retain the original order date while recording the refund elsewhere. Preserve both the field name and the provider's definition. Do not put every amount on the first date you find. A review of demand needs a suitable activity date; a review of cash needs a suitable payment or bank date. These are different analyses even when the same order appears in both.

Business date

A business date groups activity according to an operating day or report convention. It may need more context than the calendar date displayed on a phone. A late service can cross midnight, and a system can have a configured reporting boundary. Use the actual report's business-day instructions rather than inventing a universal restaurant closing time. Keep the raw timestamp alongside the chosen business date when doing your own grouping. That lets a reviewer investigate an apparent missing order without changing the original record to fit the expected total.

Payment and payout dates

A payment date may describe a customer payment. A payout date may describe when a provider initiates a merchant transfer. Neither automatically proves the day the bank posts the receipt. Read the precise heading and status together. If a payout was initiated near month end, its order period and bank month can differ. That is a reason to maintain a balance of amounts still due. It is not a reason to move the sale into a different operating month merely to make two totals equal.

Reporting cutoff

A cutoff defines which activity belongs in the selected period. State the opening and closing boundaries, the time zone and the event being measured. “September orders” is incomplete if one report follows order creation and another follows payment processing. A fictional review might include orders completed during the selected calendar month while separately listing later refunds. That is a disclosed teaching policy, not a universal accounting rule. For an actual close, follow the business's established accounting method and obtain advice when an adjustment belongs to another reporting period.

Report freshness

Freshness describes how current a report is at the moment it is generated. A report downloaded early in the morning may not yet contain the same records as a later download. A correction can also affect a prior period. Save the generation date, source and version so differences can be traced. Do not merge two snapshots blindly or conclude that one is fraudulent because its total changed. First compare scope and status. Where the provider explains update behaviour, use its current guidance and verify what is actually available in the account.

Sales and customer money: define the starting amount

Gross sales

Gross sales is a source-defined starting figure. It might refer to items before discounts, include specified charges or follow another report convention. Do not treat the word gross as a complete formula. In an original worksheet, you can deliberately define starting item sales before the separately listed discounts and refunds. Label that choice clearly. When importing a provider figure, preserve its definition instead. Two reports can use the same heading while including different components, which makes a direct comparison misleading even when both totals are correctly calculated.

Net sales

Net sales describes a figure after specified reductions, but you must identify those reductions. Does it already remove funded discounts? Does it include refunds or service charges? Does it exclude tax and tips? Find the answers in the report documentation and a known example. If a teaching starting amount is one thousand and the explicitly separate reductions are one hundred, the resulting nine hundred is meaningful under that model only. It does not tell you that a platform column called net sales should have another one hundred subtracted.

Customer-paid amount

This is money attributed to the customer payment under the source's definition. It need not equal restaurant revenue or the amount eventually transferred to the restaurant. Taxes, tips, delivery charges, discounts and funding arrangements can create differences. Use the supporting detail rather than guessing which element explains the gap. A customer's receipt is useful evidence of that transaction, but it is not by itself a complete restaurant income statement. In the supported Swiggy order-finance export, a customer-paid field must not be relabelled as tax-exclusive revenue without checking its basis.

Tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive

Tax-inclusive means the selected amount includes the particular tax in question. Tax-exclusive means that tax is outside the selected amount. Write which tax and which amount you mean; a report can contain both sales taxes and taxes on services. Keep tax collected, tax paid and tax recoverable distinct. A management example can consistently use tax-exclusive figures without establishing whether a particular business may recover a tax. Do not strip a guessed percentage from every number. Actual treatment depends on the transaction, business status, jurisdiction and appropriate accounting guidance.

Tips and service charges

A tip and a service charge are not automatically interchangeable. A report may show them in separate fields with different recipients and accounting treatment. Preserve those labels and ask who is entitled to the money. Do not call every customer payment restaurant earnings. In a teaching profitability model, state whether tips or service charges are excluded or included. For real payroll, tax or distribution decisions, use current local rules and actual employment arrangements. This dictionary helps separate the questions; it does not decide who may retain a particular charge.

Deductions and adjustments: count each effect once

Merchant-funded promotion

A merchant-funded promotion is a reduction or support amount borne by the restaurant under the actual arrangement. A customer discount is not enough evidence to decide who funded it. Inspect the settlement, promotion terms and any cofunding records. If the source revenue already includes the merchant's funded reduction, do not deduct it again as a separate cost. Our teaching worksheets state whether promotions are outside the starting sales figure. That explicit convention makes the arithmetic reproducible while leaving real contractual and tax classifications to the supporting records.

Platform or processing fee

A fee is a charge for a specified service. Its base, amount, taxes and billing method belong to the agreement and report. A fee can be withheld from a payout or billed separately, and a recurring platform charge is not necessarily an order commission. Record the category and the evidence. Do not estimate an unexplained fee from a headline percentage when a different base or fixed component could apply. A fictional deduction in a lesson demonstrates subtraction; it is not a price quote for every restaurant using that platform.

Refund

A refund reverses or returns a specified amount under the source record. It can be partial, occur after the original sale or carry separate fee consequences. Keep the original order link and the refund event date. A refund amount does not necessarily reveal how many dishes were returned or whether ingredients were recovered. Those operational questions need their own evidence. Before subtracting a refund in a worksheet, check whether the chosen starting sales figure already excludes it. Repeated subtraction is a common way to manufacture a loss that the records do not support.

Credit note

A credit note is a document or adjustment category whose meaning depends on its source. It must not automatically be added to the next bank receipt. Deliveroo's published help gives a particular example: its named Credit Note column concerns refund commission adjustments and does not itself affect the payout. That is a provider-specific statement, not a definition for every credit note. Match the document to the invoice, statement and actual adjustment. A general bookkeeping label should never override a provider's explicit explanation of the field being reviewed.

Signed adjustment

A signed adjustment carries a positive or negative effect. Decide whether your working table preserves signed amounts or stores positive deductions in separate columns. Either can work when used consistently. Suppose fictional sales are six hundred and a fee is shown as negative one hundred. Adding the signed fee gives five hundred. Subtracting that negative fee gives seven hundred, which reverses its meaning. Preserve the raw value and document any sign conversion. Never take the absolute value of every entry just to make a chart look tidy.

Cash and clearing: follow what is still due

Expected payout

An expected payout is a calculated amount based on the defined records and adjustments. It is a useful comparison point, not proof that the provider has sent or the bank has received it. State the calculation and keep unknown components visible. In a simple invented case, starting sales of eight hundred less two hundred of defined charges gives six hundred expected. If a later correction is unresolved, label the result provisional. Replacing an unknown adjustment with zero makes the model look complete without establishing that it is correct.

Payout reference

A payout reference helps connect a transfer or summary to related records. The actual reference system belongs to the provider or bank. Keep it as text and treat it as private business evidence. A partial reference can be adequate for a public explanation, while authorised support may need the complete reference through its private channel. Do not use a reference alone to prove that every underlying order is correct. It connects records; the amount, status, outlet, currency and dates still have to match the question you are investigating.

Clearing balance or amount due

A clearing balance tracks money passing between the sale and the final settlement. For a simplified platform example, start with the amount due at the beginning, add the current net entitlement, subtract matched bank receipts and retain the amount still due. This helps explain why month sales and month bank receipts differ. Keep the sign convention explicit because a negative balance may describe money owed back rather than money receivable. Do not use a plug figure merely to force agreement. Every change needs a source or a clearly recorded unresolved question.

Deposit in transit

A deposit in transit is recorded in the business's cash records but has not yet appeared on the relevant bank statement. Confirm it with actual evidence and a later bank record. It is not a general name for every unexplained difference. In a bank reconciliation, an evidenced transit deposit affects the comparison between the bank statement and book balance. It does not automatically create new sales or new profit. Keep a dated list and remove the item when it clears, rather than adding the same deposit to every subsequent month.

Bank reconciliation

Bank reconciliation explains the difference between bank evidence and the business's cash records. Outstanding payments, transit deposits, bank charges and errors can need different treatment. It is separate from explaining a platform's sales-to-payout calculation. Start with the two stated balances and list each evidenced adjustment on the correct side. If a bank charge is missing from the books, that is a book correction, not a made-up deposit. A balanced reconciliation is valuable because somebody else can trace it, not simply because both final numbers happen to be equal.

Costs and results: know which expenses are included

Food purchases

Purchases describe food obtained during the chosen period under the selected records. They do not necessarily equal food used during that period. Some purchased stock remains on the shelf, and some food used may have been purchased earlier. Match quantities, supplier returns and stock valuation before comparing periods. A bank payment to a supplier can also settle an older invoice. Keep purchase evidence and payment evidence linked but distinct. Otherwise, a large stock delivery or delayed invoice payment can make one week appear unusually expensive without describing actual food consumption.

Food used

In a simple periodic model, food used equals opening stock plus purchases minus closing stock. Real operations may also need transfers, returns and other supported adjustments. Use consistent units and valuation. This food-use measure can include waste and staff meals under the chosen scope, so it is not automatically identical to a recipe-based expectation for sold dishes. Write the included uses. If a fictional opening stock is two thousand, purchases seven thousand and closing stock eighteen hundred, the result is seventy-two hundred. The result follows the defined stock relationship, not the day invoices were paid.

Contribution

Contribution is revenue less the variable costs included in the model. It shows what remains to support the other costs of the period. Name those variable costs rather than using a bare profit label. A delivery-order example might include ingredients, packaging, the actual route fee and funded promotion, while a counter example has a different cost set. Contribution can be useful for comparing options, but it does not establish final restaurant profit. Rent, staffing arrangements, financing, depreciation and taxes may still matter depending on the decision and accounting basis.

Operating remainder

Operating remainder is our plain-language label for what is left after the selected operating costs in a teaching model. Its value depends on that stated cost set. It is not automatically audited net profit, taxable income or cash available to withdraw. Display exclusions beside the result. A lesson that omits financing or depreciation should say so when the omission affects interpretation. The label helps a beginner ask the right next question: which important costs or timing differences are still outside this calculation, and where will the business record them?

Allocated cost

An allocated cost is assigned using a disclosed rule rather than traced directly to one activity. A group might distribute a shared office cost by revenue, floor area or another justified basis. The choice can change an outlet comparison. Show the original shared amount, allocation rule and sum assigned so reviewers can reproduce it. Do not count the same central cost in both every branch and the group total. Keep directly attributable costs separate where useful. Allocation is a management choice to explain, not a hidden adjustment for making a preferred branch appear more profitable.

Counts and comparisons: protect the denominator

Order count

Order count must specify the population: placed, accepted, completed, cancelled, refunded or another supported state. An item-row count is not an order count, and a payment count can differ because of split payments or other arrangements. Keep the count definition beside a percentage or average. If a fictional file has three item rows belonging to two sale orders, its sale-order count is two. If one order later receives a refund, decide whether the particular question counts the original completed order, the refund event or both in separate categories.

Average order value

Average order value divides the defined order revenue by the matching order count. State whether the revenue includes tax, tips, discounts or refunds, and use the same scope for the count. A report covering only delivered orders should not be divided by all placed orders from another screen. A fictional eight hundred of defined revenue across forty orders gives an average of twenty. That average does not reveal contribution or customer retention. A larger basket can still produce less contribution if the relevant food, packing or funded-offer cost grows faster.

Weighted group rate

A weighted group rate combines compatible amounts before division. For food cost, add the included food costs and divide by the combined defined revenue. Do not normally average the outlet percentages equally when the outlets have different revenue. In our fictional pair, one outlet has a sixty percent combined food-and-labour rate on one hundred twenty thousand revenue; another has eighty percent on thirty thousand. Their group rate is sixty-four percent, not seventy. The arithmetic describes this chosen model and does not prescribe an appropriate rate for any real restaurant.

Comparable period

A comparable period uses a scope suitable for the comparison. Check open days, hours, holidays, closures, trading maturity and channel coverage. Equal calendar months can contain different operating opportunities. Showing revenue per open day can help, but it does not remove every difference between locations. A branch with a smaller dining room or different menu still needs context. Retain the total and the adjusted measure together. Never remove inconvenient days without explaining the rule and applying it consistently to the other periods or outlets being compared.

Variance

A variance is a difference between two stated quantities, not an explanation of why they differ. Define the subtraction direction and units. Actual minus expected cost gives a positive number when actual cost is higher under that convention. A revenue variance can use a different interpretation. Keep amount and percentage separate, and inspect the denominator before comparing percentages. A discrepancy can reflect scope, timing, missing data or an actual operating change. Record a possible explanation as a hypothesis until the underlying evidence supports it. A chart cannot establish causation by itself.

Data quality: make uncertainty visible

Missing value

A missing value means the selected source does not provide a usable value at that point. It can differ from a genuine zero, an empty text label or a failed retrieval. Keep a reason where possible. If a dish quantity is missing, a financial total cannot reliably invent it. If a report failed to download, a blank sheet cannot prove there were no sales. Exclude or quarantine unusable values under a written rule and state the affected scope. Silently changing them to zero creates apparent precision without solving the evidence gap.

Duplicate record

A duplicate is an additional copy of the same record under a defined identity rule. Matching order numbers or equal amounts alone do not establish that identity. Two items can share an order, and two separate orders can have the same price. A repeated export window may create genuine copies, while a later adjustment creates a new event. Compare relevant fields and provenance before removing anything. Save the removed-copy log and the amount change. That makes the cleaning reversible and lets a reviewer see exactly why a record was excluded.

Join or merge

A join brings tables together using matching keys. Its output depends on the relationship between those keys. Joining two item lines to two adjustment lines using only an order identifier can create four combinations. Summing the expanded table can repeat money. Before merging, describe the expected relationship and decide whether one side needs aggregation. Use compatible key types and preserve unmatched records for investigation. A successful spreadsheet operation is not proof that the resulting totals are correct. Always compare record counts and control totals before and after the join.

Raw and normalised fields

A raw field preserves what the source provided. A normalised field expresses a documented interpretation for analysis, such as a consistently formatted date or outlet label. Keep both when conversion could be disputed. Do not overwrite a raw timestamp or amount while experimenting with assumptions. A mapping table should identify the source field, transformation, target field and unresolved questions. Normalisation improves comparison only when definitions remain compatible. Giving two different amounts the same neat heading does not make them equivalent, and renaming headers must not be used to force an unsupported importer to accept a file.

Control total and audit trail

A control total checks an important count or amount at a defined stage. An audit trail records the sources and changes that explain how the working result was produced. Neither requires publishing private records. A useful trail might show the original row count, an evidenced repeated export copy, the accepted count, its total and the review date. Keep unresolved items visible. A total that agrees by accident is less reliable than one that another authorised person can reproduce. The purpose is understandable evidence, not an impressive label on an unexplained spreadsheet.

Less obvious terms that can change a result

Chargeable base

The chargeable base is the amount to which a particular percentage applies. It might differ from the revenue denominator used in your management report. Find the contractual or statement definition before dividing a charge by sales and declaring the percentage wrong. A fee on an amount including specified charges cannot be checked against a different amount that excludes them. Keep the source base, published rate where applicable, actual charge and rounding convention together. A comparison of two providers also needs equivalent bases, otherwise a smaller displayed percentage can be misleading.

Fixed transaction charge

A fixed transaction charge is an amount applied per qualifying transaction under the agreement. Determine what qualifies before multiplying it by a row count. An adjustment row, failed attempt or item line is not necessarily another chargeable transaction. In a fictional model with ten qualifying payments and a two-unit fixed charge, the amount is twenty units. The lesson does not establish which real provider uses that fee. Separate the fixed part from any percentage component so changes in transaction count can be distinguished from changes in payment volume.

Invoice date

An invoice date identifies the date on the document, while the service period, due date and actual settlement date can differ. Keep those dates separately where they matter. An invoice dated in the next month can relate to services supplied earlier; a paid invoice can also have been settled through a platform deduction rather than a new bank payment. Follow the business's accounting method when assigning the cost. Do not move it automatically merely because the document arrived in the inbox after a busy month-end service.

Export manifest or index

An export index describes the scope and outcomes of an export job. It can list attempted modules, generated filenames and warnings. Read it before treating a folder as complete. A successfully created archive can contain an unavailable module or diagnostic information instead of a normal data table. Completion of an attempt is not proof that every upstream record was recovered. Keep the index with the corresponding files and generation date. When reporting a problem, describe the missing module and scope without sharing credentials or unneeded private customer records.

Menu snapshot

A menu snapshot records the menu information available at the time it was collected. It is not automatically a history of what was offered on every day in a selected sales period. A current item price cannot reliably reconstruct an older order's selling price. Use transaction evidence for historical sales and retain dated snapshots when legitimate menu comparisons are needed. Keep variants, sizes and additions distinguishable. Two products with similar names may have different portions or identifiers, so a tidy name match is not enough to establish that they are equivalent.

Channel mix

Channel mix describes how activity is distributed between routes such as counter service, collection and delivery. Define whether the shares use orders, revenue or contribution; those distributions can differ. A shift towards a lower-contribution route can change the group result even when every route's own contribution per order remains unchanged. Show the component counts and amounts before explaining the combined movement. Mix is a useful descriptive driver, but it does not prove why customers chose the route or establish that the change will continue next month.

Same-store comparison

A same-store comparison uses a disclosed set of locations included in both periods. It helps separate changes at continuing locations from additions or closures, but the selection rule must be visible. Do not remove an underperforming branch halfway through a comparison without explaining the effect. Keep the all-location result alongside the continuing-location result when both are useful. Opening hours, refurbishments and menu changes may still limit comparability. This is a way to organise a management question, not permission to present a selected result as the entire business's growth.

Rounding difference

A rounding difference can arise when amounts are rounded at different stages. An item-level total rounded separately can differ from a percentage applied to an aggregate amount. Inspect the stated precision and method before classifying the gap. Do not use rounding as an unlimited explanation for an unexplained large amount. Preserve unrounded calculation values when available and display sensible precision at the end. For an actual provider charge, its documented basis and rounding method control the comparison; a teaching worksheet cannot decide that every small difference is acceptable.

Unmatched record

An unmatched record has no confirmed counterpart in the selected comparison. It can reflect a scope boundary, a different identifier, a delayed transfer or missing evidence. Keep it in an exception list with the reason being investigated. Do not delete it to improve the match rate or invent another record to balance the file. An unmatched sale and an unmatched payout require different questions. Record which additional source, provider response or later statement will resolve the item, and assign a review date so it does not disappear at the next handover.

Zero denominator

A zero denominator means a requested ratio cannot be calculated in the ordinary way. If the defined revenue is zero, dividing a cost by revenue does not produce a meaningful cost percentage. Show the money amounts and explain why the ratio is unavailable. Do not replace the denominator with one simply to make the formula run. A closed outlet, missing sales source and genuine zero-sales period are different situations. Resolve the data question before comparing the result with another branch, and keep the unavailable ratio distinct from a genuine zero percent.

Build a small dictionary for your own reports

Begin with one business question and one report. Copy the exact headings into a private mapping sheet. Add a plain-language interpretation, unit, grain, date basis, sign rule and source reference. Mark an interpretation as unconfirmed when you have not checked it. A blank question is more useful than a confident but unsupported answer. Choose a known fictional or authorised record and trace its amount through the fields before applying the interpretation to a whole month.

For example, a teaching item table contains two meal portions at one hundred fifty each and a snack at one hundred twenty. The item amounts total four hundred twenty; there are three portions and one order. None of those results establishes the final payout. The separate payout calculation might include other defined components. The lesson is to write several accurate statements rather than attach an all-purpose sales label to every total. Keep the product-count question separate from the money-received question.

Next, choose a likely mistake and test whether the dictionary prevents it. Would somebody multiply an amount already labelled line total by quantity again? Would they treat a credit-note document as another bank receipt? Would they delete a later refund because its order identifier repeats? Add a short warning beside the relevant field. A dictionary earns its place when it prevents a reproducible mistake during ordinary work, not when it contains the largest possible collection of abbreviations.

Review mappings when a provider changes its report, the business adds a location or an integration changes the data flow. Save the previous mapping rather than quietly replacing its meaning. A historical comparison needs to know whether the number itself changed or only its definition. Keep each currency separate unless a clearly disclosed conversion method has been chosen for the actual reporting purpose. Currency labels in a teaching tool do not perform that conversion.

Source checks and useful next steps

Primary material was reviewed on 17 October 2026. Toast's Sales Summary FAQ, its menu-report field reference and Uber's US and Canadian payment definitions support the need for source-specific meanings. They are references, not evidence that we accessed your account. We avoid universal report-history promises because even provider articles can describe different report versions.

OpenStax explains bank reconciliation; Deliveroo explains its invoice and Credit Note categories. These sources support the short definitions here. All restaurant scenarios and calculations were independently authored. For implementation-specific fields, use our export-format reference. The exporter and settlement analyser support their specified Zomato and Swiggy structures; overseas examples do not extend that support.

Use the dictionary beside the month-end reconciliation walkthrough, the traceable cleaning guide or the market report examples. Start with the question, define the fields and retain the evidence. When a legal, tax or contractual classification remains uncertain, resolve that specific issue through the appropriate official or qualified source before treating the working number as a final decision.