How to calculate labor costs in a restaurant: useful tips

One of the important components of the restaurant is its staff. The impression of visitors and the demand for services depend on the chefs and waiters. It is also important to take into account labor costs so that they do not reduce the profitability of the institution. It is proposed to analyze restaurant labor costs correctly.

Calculation features

The total amount of labor costs can be calculated relatively simply, but the gross amount of funds paid will not give an idea of the rationality of the process, how justified their accrual will be.

To perform the calculation correctly, it is worth performing the following actions:

1. Determine the number of working hours for each employee of the institution.
2. Calculate salary and other payments, including social, motivational, and preferential ones.
3. It is required to add taxes to the amount received, which are legally paid by the employer.  Medical insurance and other payments defined by various regulatory documents are also taken into account.
4. After receiving the gross amount spent on salary, it must be divided by sales volume. This will allow you to find out the share of labor costs in total income.
5. If these percentages are disproportionate and take up a significant part of income, then adjustment of individual items and expenses as a whole is required.

Cost management methods

Among the measures that the owner or manager can take, it is worth highlighting:

1. Create an optimal schedule that takes into account the peak hours of the restaurant, seasonal demand.
2. Organize cross-training of employees in order to reduce the number of employed workers, but maintain a high level of service.
3. To offer incentives for overtime work, to give bonuses to the most conscientious employees.

It is important to attract reliable, qualified specialists to each profession and reduce staff turnover.