Restaurant labor cost percentage is the figure a restaurant owner reads on Monday: loaded labor for the week as a share of the week's sales. Most write-ups hand you an industry percentage to aim at; this site publishes none, because the right figure for a counter-service taqueria and a tablecloth dining room are different numbers and both are yours to set. What the calculator does is the arithmetic honestly: loaded labor, with the employer's payroll taxes and benefits on the wage, over revenue, read against the target you entered. The labor percentage calculator on this site works it free with no account.
Loaded labor, not the wage bill
The wage bill understates labor by the employer's share of payroll taxes, the benefits and the insurance that ride on every hour worked. The restaurant labor cost percentage that decides anything uses the loaded figure; the labor burden calculator on this site works the loaded cost of an hour from your own payroll, and the percentage calculator uses it.
Over which revenue, over which week
Net sales for the same period as the hours, with the same treatment of tips, comps and tax every week, so the figure moves when labor or sales move and not when the definition does. A percentage that mixes gross sales one week and net the next is two figures wearing one name.
Against your target, not a benchmark
The calculator reads the week's percentage against the target you set for your concept and your margin. It publishes no industry figure, because the number that fits a restaurant with a full bar and one with a walk-up window is not the same number and pretending otherwise decides nothing.
Keep the weeks
Pro keeps each week's loaded labor, sales and percentage against the record so the trend is on one screen in March and the summer's staffing can be planned from the actual figures. BurdenRateLedger Pro is $49 per month for the whole crew, with no per-seat and no per-job fee, and every calculator on this site computes free with no account.
Questions people ask about restaurant labor cost percentage
What is a good restaurant labor cost percentage?
This site publishes no benchmark. The calculator reads your week's loaded labor over sales against the target you set for your own concept and margin.
Should the percentage use wages or loaded labor?
Loaded labor: wages plus the employer's payroll taxes, benefits and insurance per hour worked. The labor burden calculator works the loaded figure.
Is the calculator free?
Yes. The labor percentage calculator computes on the page with no account; Pro keeps the weeks for $49 a month for the whole crew.