Labor cost,
benchmarked.
Most operators look at this monthly and act on it quarterly — too late. Compare your labor % against the band for your service format, and see the wages you can actually afford.
Salaries + payroll taxes — kitchen, FOH, manager, owner-operator
Total topline last 30 days — all channels (dine-in + delivery + catering)
Sets the target band for your format
Where you stand
Target for Casual dining (target 28–32%)
Max wages to stay at 32% (upper end of healthy band)
Monthly topline that would bring labor % into the healthy band
Marker shows the 36% over-band line for casual dining (target 28–32%) (scale: 0–50%)
Healthy
Labor sits in the target band for casual dining (target 28–32%). Watch for creep — a 1pp slip translates to $500 of margin per month.
Labor % isn’t a target. It’s a constraint.
The healthy band is what successful operators in your format achieve, not what you should aim for. If you’re comfortably under, you might be under-staffed (long ticket times, lost upsells). If you’re comfortably over, you’re either over-staffed or under-priced.
The trap that catches most operators: they look at labor % in aggregate and don’t notice the daypart problem. You can be at 32% on the month with 25% on lunch and 45% on a slow Tuesday evening. The action isn’t hiring fewer people overall — it’s changing when they work.
The two levers when you’re over band: cut wages (usually rostering changes, not headcount cuts), or raise revenue at the same wages (menu engineering, upsell scripts, daypart promotions). Both compound; do both.
Want a labor dashboard that runs daily, not monthly?
Restronaut builds operator dashboards that tie POS sales to scheduled hours — so labor % is a real-time signal, not a post-mortem.
Frequently asked questions
How is labor cost percentage calculated?+
Labor cost % is total monthly wages (salaries plus payroll taxes for kitchen, front-of-house, manager, and owner-operator) divided by total monthly revenue across all channels — dine-in, delivery, and catering — times 100.
What's a healthy labor cost % for my restaurant format?+
The calculator uses three target bands: QSR 25–30%, casual dining 28–32%, and fine dining 32–38%. A few points above the upper end of your band is flagged as tight; beyond that it's flagged as over band.
How much revenue do I need to bring labor into a healthy range?+
The calculator divides your current monthly wages by the upper end of the healthy band percentage for your selected format — that's the monthly revenue that would bring labor cost back into the target range at your current wage spend.
How much can I afford to pay in wages at my current revenue?+
The calculator multiplies your current monthly revenue by the upper end of the healthy band percentage for your format — that's the maximum wage spend that keeps you at the edge of the healthy band.
Does the target band change if I switch restaurant format?+
Yes. Selecting QSR, casual, or fine dining changes both the healthy band and the tight band the calculator checks your labor % against, since acceptable labor cost varies significantly by service format.