Labor Control

Labor control is to attain the maximum efficiency of staff without compromising service.

To control labor, a restaurant must accomplish three tasks:

  1. Schedule Effectively for each Day’s Business Level.
  2. Manage Each Shift to Productively Utilize Staff and to Avoid Unnecessary Costs.
  3. Maintain a Well-trained Staff with Minimal Turnover.

 

WE CAN SHOW YOU HOW TO PROACTIVELY SCHEDULE AND MANAGE DAILY AND WEEKLY LABOR TO REDUCE OVERALL LABOR COST 5-10%

  • Use Operating Trends to Forecast Daily Sales by Meal.
  • Use Labor Standards to Determine Optimal Staffing Levels.
  • Use a Daily Shift Card to Monitor Actual Clock-in Times Each Shift.
  • Use a Week-to-Date Schedule to Show Projected Hours and Labor Cost as the Week Progresses to minimize overtime.
  • Cross-train positions to Increase Flexibility.
  • Orchestrate Each Shift to Maximize Guest Service Levels.
  • Evaluate Labor Productivity on a Daily and Week-to-Date Basis.
  • Manage Shift Changes and Vacation Requests.

 

LABOR STANDARDS

Labor standards are used to determine schedule needs and evaluate labor performance.
Covers per Server Hour.

LABOR PRODUCTIVITY MEASUREMENTS

Labor standards can be determined by observing guest service levels at different levels of staff and sales. Labor standards should be applied to each job position. Covers tends to be a more significant measurement than sales dollars. There should be consideration for the strength of individual workers scheduled for a given shift.

  • Tables per Server Hour
  • Covers per Cook Hour
  • Sales per Server Hour
  • Sales per Cook Hour
 
There are several significant measurements used to evaluate labor. No one measurement alone can give an accurate assessment. We suggest using all of the measurements below in combination to first schedule labor, and then to compare the actual ratios with the scheduled.
Labor Cost / Sales
Labor Cost / Labor Hour
Labor Cost / Cover
Total Labor Hours
Sales per Labor Hour
Covers per Labor Hour
 

LABOR STANDARDS: set quality and quantity levels of staff for different levels of sales.

NOTE: A Lower Labor Cost/Sales does not necessarily mean better labor control. A higher average check for the day will increase sales with the same amount of covers, yielding a lower Labor Cost %, but the same Labor Cost/Cover ratio. A lower Labor Cost% could also be an indication of under-staffing, which will have a negative affect on guest satisfaction.

OPERATING TARGETS

The key to using labor standards and productivity measures to evaluate labor performance is to look at the daily performance with the week-to-date totals. It is impossible to project business volume accurately every day, so daily labor productivity will fluctuate. But a manager who controls labor will see consistent productivity over the course of a week.