In short
- In 2024, Dutch restaurants spent 31% of their revenue on food and drink and 32% on staff, together almost two thirds (CBS).
- Premises cost 8.8%. On average 11.5% was left as profit before tax, but at many places the owner still has to live on that.
- 81% of Dutch hospitality owners say they made a profit last year; 11% made a loss (KHN, January 2026).
Where every euro of revenue goes
Statistics Netherlands (CBS) tracks what businesses earn and spend per sector. For restaurants in the Netherlands, 2024 looks like this. Together, all restaurants took in just over 13 billion euros.
| Item | Share of revenue, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Food and drink purchases | 31.1% |
| Staff | 31.9% |
| Premises | 8.8% |
| Energy | 2.9% |
| Other costs | 10.5% |
| Depreciation | 3.2% |
| Operating profit | 11.5% |
Source: CBS StatLine, table 81156ned, sector 56101 Restaurants, 2024 (final). Percentages calculated from the amounts in the table; rounding means they do not add up to exactly 100.
63%of Dutch restaurants’ revenue went to food purchases and staff together in 2024 (CBS)
Food and staff: almost two thirds together
At a restaurant, food and staff are roughly the same size: each almost a third. Fast food places, snack bars and ice cream parlours are different. In 2024 they spent 31.3% on food, but only 23.2% on staff. They work with fewer hands per guest and keep more: 17.6% profit before tax, against 11.5% at restaurants.
Between 2022 and 2024 the share spent on food at restaurants fell from 32.5% to 31.1%. The share for staff stayed at 31.9%. So restaurants largely passed the higher food costs on in their prices.
What "11.5 percent profit" does and does not say
A result of 11.5% sounds generous, but read it with two caveats. First, it is an average across the whole sector: large and small places, good and bad years mixed together. Second, the pay of an owner running a sole proprietorship or partnership is not in the staff costs. It has to come out of the result, and tax comes on top. According to CBS, 9,460 of the 16,840 restaurants are run that way.
For a chef-owner, the result is more their own income plus a buffer for slow months than profit to pay out.
And in the rest of the world?
There is no worldwide average: every country measures it differently, and most do not publish these figures at all. The largest public comparison comes from the United States. The National Restaurant Association asked more than 900 restaurants for their 2024 figures. These are the middle values (medians):
| Item | Full-service | Limited-service |
|---|---|---|
| Food and drink | 32.0% | 32.4% |
| Staff | 36.5% | 31.7% |
| Occupancy | 5.7% | 5.2% |
| Income before tax | 2.8% | 4.0% |
Source: National Restaurant Association, Restaurant Operations Data Abstract 2025 (fiscal 2024). Medians from a survey; not directly comparable with the CBS totals.
How many restaurants are there in the Netherlands?
CBS counted 16,840 restaurants in the fourth quarter of 2026. Of those, 3,955 consisted of one person. Count every place to eat and drink, from snack bar to café, and you get 69,820 businesses. The Dutch hospitality association KHN counts per location and arrived at 43,606 hospitality locations at the end of 2025. More in Dutch hospitality in numbers.
Bankruptcies
In 2025, 347 Dutch hospitality businesses went bankrupt, against 377 in 2024 (CBS). Bankruptcy is only part of the story: many places close without one, because the owner stops.
How many places make a profit?
In January 2026 KHN asked its members how their profit developed over the past year. 25% made more profit, 29% the same and 27% less. So 81% made a profit. 6% broke even, 11% made a loss and 2% called their business not viable.
Asked whether they might have to stop or go bankrupt in the coming year, 68% said no. 12% did see that risk and 20% did not know.
- 11% made a loss (KHN)
- 2% call their business not viable (KHN)
- 12% see a risk of stopping within a year (KHN)
- 81% made a profit, 25% more than the year before (KHN)
- 68% see no risk of stopping (KHN)
What the kitchen can control
Rent and wages are largely fixed. Food is the biggest cost the kitchen influences every day. That does not start with negotiating with the supplier, but with the recipe: how much goes into a portion, how much do you prep, and does everyone in the brigade know?
- Record the quantities and yield of every recipe, so every cook makes the same.
- Scale to the number of covers you expect, instead of by feel.
- Weigh a portion and put the weight in the recipe.
- After a busy week, check what was left over and adjust the recipe.
Sources
All figures come from public sources. The year is always given with the figure: newer figures may differ.
- CBS StatLine: business sector, employment and financial data by branch (81156ned)
- CBS StatLine: businesses by sector (81589NED)
- CBS: 18 percent fewer bankruptcies in December than a year earlier (12 January 2026)
- KHN: Horecava press conference presentation (12 January 2026)
- National Restaurant Association: food costs 2024
- National Restaurant Association: labor costs 2024
- National Restaurant Association: occupancy costs 2024
- National Restaurant Association: Restaurant Operations Data Abstract 2025
Figures updated to November 2026. When these sources publish new figures, we will update this article.