A 25% discount does not need 25% more customers to break even, it usually needs far more, because the discount comes entirely out of your margin, not your revenue. Enter your average check, variable cost and the discount, and this calculator shows the extra covers required just to stand still, which is the number to know before printing the happy hour board.
Required covers = baseline covers × (old margin per cover ÷ discounted margin per cover). A 20% discount on a 60% margin item needs 50% more covers just to break even, because margin per cover falls from 60% to 40% of the check.
| Average check per cover | 500 ₹ |
| Variable cost per cover | 200 ₹ |
| Discount | 20 % |
| Baseline covers in that window | 30 |
Because costs don't discount. If a ₹500 check carries ₹200 of cost, you earn ₹300; at 20% off you collect ₹400 and still spend ₹200, earning ₹200. Margin fell 33% while the price fell 20%, so you need 50% more covers to make the same money.
When they fill genuinely dead hours where the alternative is zero revenue against fixed costs already paid, when discounted guests attach full-price orders (drinks discounted, food full price), and when they recruit first-timers who return at full price. The failure mode is discounting hours that were already busy.
Usually, yes. A free starter worth ₹150 on the menu costs you only its food cost (₹45-50) while the guest values it at menu price, so the margin damage is a third of an equivalent-feeling percentage discount. This calculator shows the percentage case; model a freebie by adding its cost to variable cost instead.
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