MDMLFree calculator
Restaurant labor cost calculator. The percent, and each shift.
Restaurant labor cost percentage is what you pay for labor divided by your sales for the same days. Count wages plus what you pay on top of them, like employer taxes and workers' comp. Enter your shifts to see what each one costs.
Your shifts
- This shift costs
- $302.40
- This shift costs
- $376.32
- This shift costs
- $215.04
- Labor in the period
- $6,041.28
- Labor hours
- 342
- Sales per labor hour
- $55.56
- Labor at your target
- $5,700.00
- Sales to reach your target
- $20,137.60
How to calculate restaurant labor cost
Use a week you can check against payroll, and the same dates for sales.
Labor cost % = (wages + payroll costs) / sales x 100. Shift cost = people x hours x average wage x (1 + payroll cost %).
- List your shiftsOne line for each shift pattern: how many people, how many hours each, their average hourly wage, and how often it runs.
- Add payroll costsTake employer taxes, workers' comp and the like from a past payroll, as a percent of wages.
- Enter sales for the same datesBefore tax and tips. Tips guests pay don't go in labor; for tipped staff, use the wage you pay.
- Read the percent and the shiftThe percent says how the period went. The cost per shift says which shift to look at.
- Include overtime and salariesRaise a shift's average wage for the overtime it really runs, and put salaried managers in at their pay divided by their hours.
A worked example
One made-up week, with 12% payroll costs on top of wages and $19,000.00 in sales. These are the numbers the calculator opens with.
| Shift | Staffing | Per shift | Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning crew | 3 x 6 hours at $15.00, 7 times | $302.40 | $2,116.80 |
| Evening crew | 4 x 6 hours at $14.00, 7 times | $376.32 | $2,634.24 |
| Manager | 1 x 8 hours at $24.00, 6 times | $215.04 | $1,290.24 |
| Labor for the week | $6,041.28 | ||
| Labor cost | 31.8% |
|---|---|
| Sales per labor hour | $55.56 |
| Labor at a 30% target | $5,700.00 |
| Over target | $341.28, about 19.3 hours |
| Or sales to reach the target | $20,137.60 |
Set your target from your own menu, service style and past weeks. This page doesn't give one number that fits every restaurant.
See labor before the week starts. Schedules from your sales forecast, with swaps and time off.See employee scheduling
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