---
title: "QSR Magazine: How Quick Service Restaurants Are Finding the Right Financial Balance"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/d7679c53-ae71-408d-9706-41e485e76b3b
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/qsr-magazine-how-quick-service-restaurants-are-finding-the-right-financial-balance-5582
category: "QSR"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "QSR"
published: 2016-08-23T16:11:46.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:13:22.262Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/2defa501b9bd356ee597092e11c0eef13100160823115046.jpg
---

# QSR Magazine: How Quick Service Restaurants Are Finding the Right Financial Balance

**TL;DR:** Quick service restaurants are finding ways to balance their finances by managing labor and food costs to stay profitable. Brands like Toppers Pizza and Moo Cluck Moo are taking approaches such as increasing efficiency and deconstructing processes to keep operating costs in check.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2016-08-23. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/qsr-magazine-how-quick-service-restaurants-are-finding-the-right-financial-balance-5582).*

## Story

Restaurants have a lot of factors to consider when finding the right financial balance to stay profitable, especially in today’s society. Between the minimum wage debate and the rising cost of food, brands are taking a look at their operating costs and finding ways to save.

According to a recent article in QSR Magazine, the first place brands look is their labor and food costs. The restaurant analytics firm Delaget says most brands keep their labor costs around 30 percent, including benefits and workers’ compensation insurance. Managing those costs goes hand-in-hand with managing food costs, which the company says should hover around the 27 to 28 percent range.

Increasing efficiency is another approach brands are taking to keep their operating costs in check. The Detroit-based fast casual concept Moo Cluck Moo, for example, deconstructed its back of the house processes to boost productivity and keep costs down. And Toppers Pizza, a Wisconsin-based quick service franchise, has its employees hand out fliers and oversee other advertising efforts when they’re not making pizza.

In an interview with QSR Magazine, Adam Oldenburg, corporate operations director for the Toppers, said, “It’s very effective, and it’s our culture. We recognize people every year for their topline sales efforts. All problems are solvable with sales.”

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- QSR Magazine (publication)
- Toppers Pizza (company)
- labor costs (topic)
- food costs (topic)
- operating efficiency (topic)
- financial balance (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/qsr-magazine-how-quick-service-restaurants-are-finding-the-right-financial-balance-5582). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/d7679c53-ae71-408d-9706-41e485e76b3b).