# Cover count

A term used when buying restaurant.

The number of guests served in a period, the volume figure every other restaurant number rests on.

Sales can rise while covers fall, which usually means prices went up and traffic went down, and that is a worse business than the [top line](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/top-line) suggests. Pull covers by daypart and by day of week for a full year, because a restaurant is several businesses sharing one kitchen and the weak dayparts are where a new owner has room. Ask what the seller changed in the last year too: a menu price increase or a delivery app rollout flatters revenue for exactly as long as it takes customers to notice.

Part of: Buying a Restaurant (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant)

Source: https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant/terms/cover-count
Not dated: The same editorial definitions as the glossary, inside a trade.

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt