Track labor cost percentage while you can still do something about it.
Labor cost percentage is the clearest read on whether a shift was worth running: labour spend divided by sales, as a percentage. The catch is timing — most operators only see it after payroll closes, when the over-staffed Tuesday is already paid for. GetUp builds the number from the hours on the clock and the sales against target, so you watch it move during the week, not at month-end.
- The formula, the benchmarks, and where your sites land — in plain terms
- Built from real clock-in hours and sales targets, per location
- Read it weekly, by site, while the schedule can still change
20–25%
Quick service
Leaner crews, faster turns
25–30%
Casual dining
The common middle band
30–35%
Full / fine dining
Higher service staffing
Typical full-service restaurant labor cost benchmarks (industry guidance, not a GetUp figure)
The problem
What this fixes
Why labor cost percentage is only useful if you see it in time.
Without GetUp
You learn last month ran at 38% when the payroll report lands — far too late to re-staff the shifts that caused it.
With GetUp
The percentage updates through the week from live hours and sales, so an over-staffed run is something you fix on Thursday.
Without GetUp
Across several sites, you have no single read — each location's number lives in a different spreadsheet, if it exists at all.
With GetUp
Every location's labour-to-sales sits side by side, so the outlier is obvious at a glance.
Without GetUp
The figure is built from rounded, hand-entered hours, so nobody fully trusts it.
With GetUp
It's built from the real clock-in times and the sales against target, traceable to the rows behind it.
How it works
From setup to running it
How to calculate and track labor cost percentage, step by step.
- 01
Know the formula
Labor cost percentage = total labour cost ÷ total sales × 100. If labour is $6,000 on $20,000 of sales, that's 30%. “Labour cost” should include wages, overtime and on-costs, not just base hourly pay.
- 02
Set the benchmark for your format
Pick the range that fits your operation — roughly 20–25% for quick service, 25–30% for casual, 30–35% for full service. The benchmark is the line you're steering toward, per site.
- 03
Feed it real hours
Use the actual clock-in times from the tablet, not the planned schedule. Planned and worked hours diverge, and the percentage is only honest if it's built from what really happened.
- 04
Put sales next to labour
Track sales against target per location so the denominator is current. GetUp pairs the hours with the sales target for each site to produce the live ratio.
- 05
Review weekly and adjust the rota
Read the percentage by site each week. Where it's drifting high, trim or move the over-staffed shifts in the planner before they're worked and paid.
Outcomes
What changes
What tracking the number in real time actually changes.
A number you trust
Built from real clock-in hours and sales against target, traceable to the rows behind it — not a rounded guess.
Seen in time to act
Watching labour-to-sales during the week means the fix is a schedule change, not a post-mortem.
Every site comparable
Each location's percentage sits beside the others, so the outlier and the model site are both obvious.
Tied to the schedule
Because hours, sales and the rota are one system, acting on the number is editing the shifts that drive it.
FAQ
Questions people ask
What is labor cost percentage and how do I calculate it?
It's labour cost as a share of sales: total labour cost ÷ total sales × 100. For example, $6,000 of labour on $20,000 of sales is a 30% labor cost percentage. For an honest figure, “labour cost” should include wages, overtime and on-costs over the same period as the sales.
What's a good labor cost percentage?
It depends on format. As industry guidance, quick-service restaurants often run around 20–25%, casual dining around 25–30%, and full or fine dining around 30–35% because of heavier service staffing. These are benchmarks to steer toward, not GetUp figures — your target depends on your model and market.
Should I use scheduled hours or actual hours?
Actual hours. Planned and worked hours drift apart through a week, so a percentage built from the schedule flatters reality. GetUp builds it from the real clock-in times captured on the tablet, which is why it can differ from your roster — and why it's worth trusting.
Can I see labor cost percentage per location?
Yes. Because hours come from each site's clock and sales are tracked against each site's target, GetUp can show labour-to-sales per location side by side. That's where the value is for multi-site operators: spotting the one venue that's drifting out of range.
How does seeing it weekly help if payroll is monthly?
Labour cost is decided when you schedule, not when you pay. Reading the percentage weekly — from live hours and sales — lets you trim or move over-staffed shifts before they're worked, which is the only point at which the number is still changeable.
See your labour cost while it's still yours to change.
Start free, connect your hours and sales targets, and read labor cost percentage by site every week — not after payday.
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