Is it possible to run a 25% payroll for a full service restaurant…110 seats plus bar with 13 stools/pick-up and delivery. Italian pizzeria menu. And what would you do as far as scheduling goes to cut people when it is impossible to forecast sales. I have no trend…this is my first year. I would hate to get slammed and be under staffed…ruin the reputaion…my partner stops in frequently and asks why is food taking so long to come out or why I do not have enough people. I am puzzled because he is constantly chirping in my ear about payroll costs. I need some help here. Everyone chime in please and give me some insight on what I am missing here. One week I do $10000 in gross sales and the next I do $17000. Also I use gross sales and he tells me to use net sales on my payroll and food cost. I try to tell him that if I do $80000 a month that is $5600 in tax that someone has to work.
it takes a certain amount of “fixed” labor to staff for minimum sales…you s/b getting a “feel” which days are busier than other, so use this to make your schedule…
you can compare daily sales to daily labor…it doesn’t have 2 b perfect, but you’ll get an idea…
you s/b running daily labor costs anyway…remember, it is easier to pro-act, rather than react to any crisis…
All %'s are figured on gross sales, that is all sales (but not including sales tax)…
you have trends…what did you do last week? Last month? Now is the time to ck yourself b4 u wreck yourself!
Create some spread sheets to track daily labor - use your POS or time card system…
Semper Fi!
Auditor, U.S.M.C.
Patriot is right about having minimum staffing requirements. I have an Italian restaurant with out the pizza and I have a pizzeria without the Italian restaurant so I know both sides of the equation. When seperated, you realize how different they really are. Let me tell you, I am so happy that they are seperated!
My restaurant seats 100 and has a big bar that seats 50. We get slammed on different days and different weeks, so definitely do comps to forcast. The restaurant can fluctuate immensely compared to the pizzeria so to help us forcast, we take all reservations and do comps based on years passed. The reservations are usually a great indication of what kind of business we will have, so if we have to, we keep our day laborer until it slows around 9. The menu too is key, if designed right, you can do more volume, with less hands. There is a lot to think about.
Labor is around 25-30% in both my places and usually never goes above 35% on those freakishly slow weeks. I keep focused on the weekly gross and never send my full time guys home, only my part timers.
Your volume swing is big, one week at 17k and next at 10k can demoralize the toughest warrior so hang in there. Trust yourself, trust your numbers and tell your partner to work for a couple weeks to better understand the biz.
Look at your menu, look at your job descriptions and make sure you are squeezing out productivity from all your people. Another thing, I would get rid of your weakest personnel and keep your best, and pay them a little more! I did this at the restaurant 3 months ago and it was a great decision! Good luck!