The short version
Labor scheduling isn’t about filling slots—it’s about matching bodies to sales without overstaffing slow hours or burning out during peaks. If your labor % is creeping up, it’s probably because your schedule doesn’t flex with real data.
The real math: labor targets vs reality
When owners say “labor is killing us,” what they really mean is:
- Shifts overlap too much during lulls, burning hours on prep or side work.
- Peak hours are understaffed, leading to OT, comps, and lost sales.
- Staff skills don’t match the shift—rookies on busy nights, pros on dead mornings.
On paper, your target might look like this:
Weekly sales: $20,000 Target labor %: 28% → $5,600 labor budget Average hourly wage: $15 → ~373 hours to schedule
In real life, if you stack too many bodies from 11–2 but starve the 5–8 dinner rush, your effective labor jumps to 32% because sales suffer and OT kicks in.
Adjusted: $19,200 sales (due to slow service) → $5,600 labor = 29.2% (still over target) Plus $300 OT: total labor $5,900 → 30.7% labor %
Nothing changed in your payroll system. Your “labor problem” came from mismatched hours you never forecasted right.
Where scheduling quietly wrecks prime cost
There are four usual suspects that turn a solid budget into a margin killer:
1. No daypart sales breakdown
- Scheduling flat “9–5” shifts when 60% of sales hit between 12–2 and 6–8.
- Ignoring weather, events, or trends that spike certain hours.
- Building around availability first, not sales peaks.
2. Skill mismatches and cross-training gaps
- Strong closers stuck on openers, leaving weak teams for busy closes.
- No floaters trained for multiple roles, so you overstaff “just in case.”
- High-wage staff doing low-skill tasks during slow periods.
3. Hidden hour creep
- Early arrivals and late punches adding 15–30 min per shift unnoticed.
- Breaks not staggered, creating mini-staffing gaps or overstaffed lulls.
- Manager overrides for “favors” that add up over the week.
4. Zero review loop
- No weekly check: actual hours vs scheduled vs sales.
- Staff never see how their shifts tie to prime cost or bonuses.
- Only fixing after payroll hits, not forecasting ahead.
Quick 3-day scheduling audit
You don’t need a full overhaul. Grab last week’s data and run this three-day check.
Day 1: Break down sales by hour/daypart
- Pull POS reports: sales by hour for the last 7 days.
- Group into dayparts (breakfast/open, lunch, happy hour, dinner, close).
- Calculate ideal staff per daypart: e.g., $500/hour sales ÷ $100 sales per staff = 5 bodies.
If your schedule has 7 people during a $300/hour lull, that’s your creep.
Day 2: Map staff skills and availability
- List each employee: roles, strengths, availability, wage.
- Score them: e.g., 1–5 on speed, multitasking, closing efficiency.
- Match high-scorers to peak dayparts; use lower-wage for preps/lulls.
Day 3: Build and test a “prime” week
- Start with sales forecast: last week +10% buffer for trends.
- Assign shifts: stagger starts/ends by 30 min to flex with peaks.
- Run a quick huddle: “This keeps us under 28% so raises stay real.”
How to tighten scheduling without losing the team
The goal is efficiency, not squeezing hours. A few operator-tested rules:
- Forecast first, availability second. Build around sales, then fit people in—not the other way around.
- Cross-train for flex. Everyone knows 2–3 roles so you can shift without OT.
- Spot checks, not micromanagement. Managers review punches daily with staff, not as gotchas.
- Visual tools at post. Shift charts with sales targets and roles at manager station.
When you tie your schedule to real prime cost math, your labor % finally reflects what’s happening on the floor.
Where the RPS tools plug in
Good scheduling needs data under the hood. That’s where the RPS stack fits:
- Labor Planner: rough in shifts by daypart and see projected labor % before posting.
- Prime Cost Calculator: tie labor to food cost for a full prime view—don’t schedule blind.
- Break-Even Calculator: know your minimum sales per shift to justify staffing levels.
- PrimeShift Labor Audit service: if DIY feels like herding cats, we rebuild your schedule for you with intake, recommendations, and a “what if” tester.
Simple next step for this week
Don’t rebuild everything. Pick one daypart that’s always a mess (e.g., dinner rush).
- Pull sales data for that daypart over 7 days.
- Reassign 2–3 staff based on strengths and stagger starts.
- Run the Labor Planner to check projected %.
If you do nothing else and just nail that one block, your overall labor will drop 1–2% in a week.
FAQs
What labor percentage should a restaurant target?
Most restaurants aim for 25-32% labor cost as a percentage of sales. Full-service typically runs 28-32%, while QSR targets 25-28%. But the real number is your prime cost (food + labor)—keep that under 60-65% and you have room to breathe.
How do I know if I'm overstaffed or understaffed?
Compare actual labor hours to sales by daypart. If you have 7 people during a $300/hour period but only 4 during a $600/hour rush, you're inverted. The fix is staggering shifts to match sales curves, not cutting heads across the board.
How far in advance should I post the schedule?
Minimum 7 days, ideally 10-14. Last-minute schedules kill morale and force you into bad staffing decisions. Build a rolling 2-week schedule template based on sales patterns, then adjust for known events or trends.
What's the biggest scheduling mistake restaurants make?
Building around availability instead of sales. When you fit people into slots based on who's free rather than when you need them, you end up overstaffed during lulls and short during peaks. Forecast first, then match staff to the plan.