1. Forecast sales
Use the same day in recent weeks, adjusted for anything you know is coming: a holiday, a local event, the weather, a large reservation. Forecast lunch and dinner separately; they rarely need the same staff.
2. Turn the forecast into labor hours
Pick a sales per labor hour target from your own history: the sales one hour of hourly staff time can serve well. Divide the forecast by it to get the hours you can schedule.
Labor hours to schedule = Forecast sales ÷ Sales per labor hour target
| Forecast sales | $6,800 |
|---|---|
| Sales per labor hour target | $70 |
| Hourly labor hours to schedule | About 97 |
$6,800 ÷ $70 = 97.1 hours across the front and back of house.
3. Cover the stations
Lay out the positions the floor and kitchen need at each part of the day: servers by section, bartenders, hosts, bussers, line stations, prep and dish. Fill the stations that must be covered first, then spend the remaining hours where the peaks are.
- Stagger start times so people arrive as the rush builds, not all at opening.
- Schedule cuts: the first server off when the second seating thins out.
- Put your strongest people on your busiest shifts.
- Cross-trained staff give you room when someone calls out.
4. Respect availability, rules and overtime
Build around the availability and time-off requests staff have given you. Check each person’s weekly hours: federal law requires non-exempt employees to be paid one and a half times their regular rate for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek, and some states, such as California, also have daily overtime rules.
Oregon and several cities, including New York City (fast food), Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle, have predictive scheduling laws for some restaurant employers that require advance notice of schedules and pay for last-minute changes. Check what applies where you operate.
5. Check the cost, then publish
Before you publish, compare scheduled labor cost with forecast sales. If it is above your target, look at the slowest shifts first. Publish as early as you can, ideally two weeks out, and make shift swaps go through a manager so coverage is never left to chance.