Ember & Oak, a full-service restaurant, runs a 29% margin and clears a median $4,100 a month after every cost. Its worst honest month is $1,900. With $22,800 in the bank against $6,000 of monthly burn, it holds 3.8 months of runway.
The safe draw sits at or below the $4,100 median, with a written answer for how a $1,900 month gets bridged. A draw set above the median here would quietly spend the runway one month at a time.
Median of the last 6 to 8 months of profit as the ceiling; worst honest month as the floor; cash runway as the referee. The full method, including how to compute it by hand in ten minutes, is in the main pay-yourself guide, and the calculator sorts your months for you.
What is specific to restaurant owners
Seasonality means the median should be computed across a full year when you can; a summer-only median flatters a patio. Watch the margin line as hard as the profit line, because plate-cost creep hides inside good revenue months, and the watchlist should light up the moment margin crosses your floor, not the quarter you notice it.