Covers and Sales per Labor Hour
Covers per labor hour, sales per labor hour, labor cost percentage, average check, and labor dollars per cover.
Example
You enter
- Covers served 420
- Labor hours worked 96
- Net sales ($) 12600
- Labor cost ($) 1680
You get
- Covers per labor hour 4.38
- Sales per labor hour $131.25
- Labor cost 13.3 % of net sales
- Average check $30.00
- Labor per cover $4.00
Details, formula, and sources
The five readings that together say whether a shift was staffed right. Labor cost percentage alone cannot answer that, because it moves whenever the menu price moves: raise prices and the percentage falls without a single scheduling change. Covers per labor hour is menu-price-independent, so it measures throughput; sales per labor hour sits in between and is the one that scales across concepts, since a fine-dining room at 2 covers per labor hour on a $90 check can be more productive per hour worked than a diner at 8 covers on a $14 check. A dinner period with 420 covers, 96 labor hours across front and back of house, $12,600 in net sales and $1,680 in labor runs 420 / 96 = 4.38 covers per labor hour, $131.25 in sales per labor hour, a labor cost of 1680 / 12600 = 13.3%, a $30.00 average check, and $4.00 of labor per cover. That 13.3% is strong, and reporting all five together shows what carried it: each labor hour turned 4.4 covers on a $30 check. Cut eight hours from the schedule and covers per labor hour goes to 4.77 and labor to 12.2% -- if the covers still get served, which is the judgment no calculation makes. A management reading; the schedule, the service standard, and the guests waiting at the door govern.
cplh = covers / labor_hours; splh = net_sales / labor_hours; labor_cost_pct = labor_cost / net_sales x 100; average_check = net_sales / covers; labor_per_cover = labor_cost / covers.
Covers per labor hour and sales per labor hour, the standard restaurant labor-productivity readings used in National Restaurant Association operations reporting and the standard food-service management texts, by name; a management reading, not a staffing decision.
All five readings are ratios of the operator's own period figures: covers, labor hours, net sales, and labor cost.
Estimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.
Field names used by the API: covers, labor_hours, net_sales, labor_cost, cplh, splh, labor_cost_pct, average_check, labor_per_cover
- Menu-price independence CPLH measures throughput and does not move with price; labor cost % doesrestaurant operations practice
- Labor hours front and back of house hours for the same period as the covers and sales figuresfood-service management practice