Five Financial Metrics Every Club GM Should Track Monthly

You don't need a CFO's vocabulary to run a financially healthy club. You just need to look at the right five numbers, every single month, and know what "good" looks like for each.

1. Member Retention Rate

Calculated as (members at end of period - new members) / members at start of period. Healthy clubs sit above 92%. Anything below 88% is a five-alarm fire — replacing members is 5–8× more expensive than keeping them.

2. Dues-to-Operating-Cost Ratio

Total annual dues divided by total operating expenses. Best-in-class clubs cover 55–70% of operating costs from dues alone, leaving F&B, golf, and events to fund capital reserves rather than payroll.

3. F&B Cost of Goods (% of F&B Revenue)

Food cost should sit between 32–38%. Beverage cost between 22–28%. Above those bands? You have a portioning, theft, or menu engineering problem — not a pricing problem.

4. Labor as a % of Revenue

Including benefits and taxes. Target 38–45% for full-service clubs. Above 50% sustained for two quarters means you need a labor model review, not a hiring freeze.

5. Days Cash on Hand

Total operating cash divided by average daily operating expenses. You want 60+ days. Below 30 days and a single bad month can force a special assessment.

Want these tracked automatically against your actuals? That's exactly what the CO.O Portal does for every Visions Alliance partner club.