Prime55 — Know your prime cost before you lock the doors
How it works Features Pricing FAQ View live demo Join the waitlist
Prime cost, texted in every night

Know your prime cost before you lock the doors.

Stop waiting three weeks for the bookkeeper. Just text Prime55 your sales, food, and labor each night — we log it, do the math, and tell you the moment you drift past 55%.

No app to download No POS integration Logged in 20 seconds
Prime55
● Auto-logging tonight's numbers
Sales 8,420 — food 2,350 — labor 2,180
Logged for Tue, Mar 4 ✅ Prime cost tonight: 53.8%
Food 27.9% · Labor 25.9% — under your 55% target. Nice night. 🎯
Sales 6,110 — food 1,940 — labor 1,760
Heads up ⚠️ Prime cost: 60.6% — 5.6 pts over target. Labor ran high on a slow night. Reply WHY for a 7-day breakdown.
Text your numbers…
20 sec
to log a full night
<55%
the prime cost target
3 wks → 0
lag from close to insight
4.2 pts
avg. prime cost cut in 90 days

Built for operators who run on margins, not guesses

Independent Bistros Multi-Unit Groups Bars & Taprooms QSR Franchisees Food Trucks Cafés
Why "55"?

Prime cost is the one number that decides if you keep the lights on.

Prime cost is your food (and beverage) cost plus your labor cost — the two expenses you actually control day to day. Rent doesn't move. Your prime cost moves every single shift.

  • The 55% rule

    Healthy full-service restaurants keep prime cost at or under 55% of sales. Drift to 65% and your profit is gone — usually before you notice.

  • It moves daily — so measure it daily

    A bad-weather Tuesday with a full crew can swing prime cost 8 points. Monthly P&Ls hide it. Nightly numbers catch it while you can still act.

  • Catch the leak in the same week

    Spot a creeping food cost on Wednesday and you can fix portioning, specials, or scheduling before the weekend — not after the month closes.

The Prime55 math, every night

Food cost
$2,350
+
Labor cost
$2,180
÷
Sales
$8,420
53.8%

Prime cost — Under target ✓

How it works

Three texts. Zero spreadsheets.

No app to open, no dashboard to log into at 11pm. If you can send a text, you can run Prime55.

Text your numbers

At close, send three figures: sales, food, labor. Plain text, any format. Manager can send it too.

You → Prime55
“Sales 8420 food 2350 labor 2180”

We log & do the math

Prime55 timestamps the entry, calculates prime cost, food %, and labor %, and files it to your dashboard automatically.

Prime55 → You
“Logged ✅ Prime cost 53.8% — under 55%.”

See trends & get alerts

Watch the trend build in your dashboard. The second you cross 55%, we text you — with the “why” one reply away.

Prime55 → You
“⚠️ 60.6% today. Labor ran hot. Reply WHY.”
Features

Everything a busy operator needs — nothing they don't.

Built around the way you actually run the floor: fast, from your pocket, after a 14-hour day.

Text-message logging

The whole product runs over SMS. No app, no password resets, no training a new manager.

Automatic prime cost

Food % + labor % + prime cost calculated and stored the instant your text lands. Always current.

55% threshold alerts

Set your target. The night you cross it, Prime55 texts you back — before it becomes a habit.

Live dashboard

Every text becomes a chart. Trends, daily logs, and period summaries — visible to you and your accountant.

Weekly & period summaries

A clean recap every Monday: where prime cost landed, the best and worst nights, and the trend line.

Multi-location roll-up

Each location texts its own line. See them side by side or rolled into one group number.

Who it's for

If your margin lives or dies on food and labor, Prime55 is for you.

🍽️

Independent restaurants

Owner-operators who wear every hat and can't babysit a spreadsheet after close.

🏢

Multi-unit groups

Compare three or thirty locations on one screen and catch the outlier before it spreads.

🍻

Bars & taprooms

Pour cost and bar labor swing fast. Nightly numbers keep both honest.

🥡

Franchisees

Hit the franchisor's prime-cost targets without bolting on heavyweight software.

4.2 pts

average prime cost reduction in the first 90 days

92%

of nights logged within 30 minutes of close

$3.1k

median monthly margin recovered per location

Operators on Prime55

The number they never used to know until it was too late.

★★★★★
“I used to find out my labor was blown three weeks after the fact. Now I get a text at close. We pulled prime cost from 61 to 56 in two months just by seeing it nightly.”
DM
Danielle Marquez
Owner · Two-unit bistro group
★★★★★
“My managers text the numbers before they clock out. No login, no app, no excuses. The dashboard does the rest and my accountant loves me now.”
RT
Ray Tran
GM · Neighborhood taproom
★★★★★
“The 55% alert is the whole thing. It pings me on a bad night and I fix the schedule before the weekend. It's like having a CFO living in my phone.”
SP
Sofia Petrov
Owner · Café & bakery
Why text-first wins

Spreadsheets get abandoned. Accounting software arrives late.

Prime55 sits in the one place you'll actually use it every night — your text messages.

 SpreadsheetAccounting softwarePrime55
Time to log a night5–10 minSynced next day~20 seconds
Works after close, from your pocketRarelyClunkyYes
Same-night prime costManualLags daysInstant
Alerts when you pass 55%NoNoTexted to you
Training a new managerHoursDays“Just text it”
POS integration requiredUsuallyNever
Founding pricing

One simple price per location.

Here's the pricing we're planning when Prime55 opens. Join the waitlist and founding members lock these rates in for life — no setup fees, no POS hookup, no contract.

Solo

One location, one owner who wants the number nightly.

$49/mo
  • 1 location
  • Nightly text logging
  • Live dashboard
  • 55% threshold alerts
  • Weekly summary text
Join the waitlist

Group

6+ locations with team access and priority support.

Custom
  • Unlimited locations
  • Team & regional manager access
  • Group benchmarking
  • Dedicated onboarding
  • Priority support
Join the waitlist

Standard message & data rates may apply. Prime55 never sells your data.

Early access

Be a founding operator.

We're opening Prime55 to a small group of restaurant owners first. Join the waitlist to get early access, founding-member pricing, and a real say in what we build next.

  • Early access before we open to the public.
  • Founding pricing, locked in for as long as you stay.
  • Shape the product — tell us what a busy operator actually needs.
We'll only text or email you when it's ready. No spam, ever.

Join the waitlist

Takes 20 seconds. No credit card — we're not selling yet.

Please enter a valid email so we can reach you.

By joining you agree to receive launch updates from Prime55. Unsubscribe anytime.

FAQ

Questions operators actually ask.

You get a dedicated Prime55 number. At close, text your three numbers however feels natural — “sales 8420 food 2350 labor 2180”. We parse it, log it, calculate prime cost, and text back a confirmation. That's the whole workflow.
Prime55 sends a gentle reminder at the time you usually close. Miss a night anyway? Just text the numbers the next morning with the date and we'll backfill it cleanly.
No. That's the point. Prime55 works entirely from the numbers you text, so there's nothing to integrate, no IT, and nothing to break. If you ever want to export to your accountant, one tap gives you CSV or PDF.
Yes. On Operator and Group plans you can authorize multiple senders per location, so whoever closes can text the numbers. You still own the dashboard and the alerts.
Your sales and cost data is encrypted in transit and at rest, stored per-account, and never sold or shared. You can export or delete your data at any time.
55% is the widely used benchmark for healthy full-service prime cost, but every concept is different. You set your own target — a QSR might aim lower, a chef-driven concept a touch higher — and Prime55 alerts you against your number, not a generic one.

Prime55 is opening soon. Don't run another blind month.

Join the founding waitlist and be first through the door — then explore the live demo while you wait.

Founding pricing · Early access · No spam, ever