Most labour percentages leave out the people on a salary and what employing them costs on top of their pay. Put in a month's sales and your team, and see the figure your payroll will actually land on.
A labour report built only from hourly pay would show 17.8%.
UK figures use 2026/27 rates: employer NI at 15% above £5,000 a year per person, pension on qualifying earnings, and 12.07% holiday pay for hourly staff. Assumes everyone is 21 or over and in the pension if they earn enough. Employment Allowance is not deducted. A management estimate, not payroll.
Labour cost percentage is what your team costs you in a period, divided by your sales for the same period, times 100. Use sales without VAT or sales tax and without tips, because none of that money is yours to pay wages with. Weekly is the most useful period for running a venue, and monthly is what matches payroll.
Gross pay for everyone who works in the venue: hourly staff and salaried staff alike, including managers and head chefs. Then add what employing them costs on top: in the UK, employer National Insurance, employer pension contributions, and holiday pay that hourly staff build up as they work. In Spain it is the employer's Social Security contribution, the coste empresa. Agency staff count too, at what you pay the agency.
A till's labour report is usually built from clocked hours times an hourly rate. Salaried people often don't clock in, and employer costs sit outside the report altogether. A venue whose general manager and head chef are on salary can easily look five or more points better than it really is, until the month's payroll arrives.
There is no single right number. Around 30% of sales is often quoted for full-service restaurants, with quick service usually lower and fine dining higher. More useful than any benchmark is your own trend: the same week compared year on year, and how far each day's labour moved with that day's sales.
Build the rota against forecast sales rather than last week's rota, so quiet shifts get fewer people before they happen. Look at sales by hour and trim the hours either side of the peak instead of cutting into it. And check the figure weekly, while you can still change next week, rather than at month end.
Divide your total labour cost for a period by your sales for the same period and multiply by 100. For example, £18,000 of labour against £60,000 of sales is 30%. Total labour cost means gross pay plus employer costs such as National Insurance, pension contributions and holiday pay.
Yes. Everyone who works in the venue costs money to run it, whether they are paid by the hour or by the month. Leaving salaried managers and chefs out makes the percentage look healthier than it is.
Around 30% of sales is a commonly quoted figure for full-service restaurants, but it varies with the style of service, location and pay rates. Track your own figure week by week and compare like-for-like weeks instead of chasing a benchmark.
Yes, as a labor cost percentage calculator. Choose Other and enter your employer payroll taxes, insurance and benefits as a percentage of gross pay. ShiftPlate itself currently supports venues in the UK and Spain.
No. It is a management estimate. It assumes everyone in a row is paid the same, that UK staff are 21 or over, and it does not deduct Employment Allowance or model salary sacrifice. ShiftPlate works the same figure out person by person from your real rota and clock records.
ShiftPlate works out your real wage percentage from your POS sales, rota and clock records, with salaried staff and employer costs included, and shows it next to every day's takings.