Sample result
Labor Cost Analyzer for Restaurants
The owner asked this:«My payroll runs at 28 % and people are telling me to let two go. Before that I want to know which shift the money is leaving through.»
① The full cost, and the two locations the average was hiding
| Monthly line (COP) | Original location (2020) | New location (2024) | House |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base payroll | 21,400,000 | 17,900,000 | 39,300,000 |
| Employer charges | 8,100,000 | 6,800,000 | 14,900,000 |
| Overtime | 1,900,000 | 2,300,000 | 4,200,000 |
| Temps | 900,000 | 620,000 | 1,520,000 |
| Total labor cost | 32,300,000 | 27,620,000 | 59,920,000 |
| Sales excluding tax | 124,000,000 | 90,000,000 | 214,000,000 |
| Points on sales | 26.0 % | 30.7 % | 28.0 % |
The 28.0 % the house declares is true and says nothing: it averages a mature location at 26.0 with a two-year-old one at 30.7. And the original location is the proof that the model holds at 26.0 with the same menu, the same average ticket and the same kind of guest. There is no need to look for a yardstick outside: it is in the house already.
What gets declared, because it changes the reading: the owner's salary is not inside the 59,920,000. He covers around 22 hours a week at the new location. Costed at that location's loaded manager rate —28,000 COP/hour, taken from the payroll itself— that is 2,667,000 COP a month, and the house's 28.0 % would become 29.2 %. While that shift has no price, the percentage is made up, and every decision taken on top of it inherits the makeup.
② The expensive band, and the two moves that come before touching anyone
New location: 1,180 paid hours a month against 27,620,000 give an average loaded hour of 23,400 COP.
| Band | Paid hours | Sales | Covers | Sales per paid hour | Labor cost of the band | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lunch Tue-Fri 12:00-14:30 | 214 | 38,400,000 | 790 | 179,400 | 13.0 % | the peak pays for the house |
| Sunday midday | 62 | 12,600,000 | 262 | 203,200 | 11.5 % | the most profitable band |
| Afternoon Tue-Fri 15:00-18:00 | 186 | 4,900,000 | 96 | 26,300 | 88.8 % | 3 people for 2 tables |
| Mon-Wed evening | 168 | 6,200,000 | 128 | 36,900 | 63.4 % | does not cover its own cost |
| Rest (Thu-Sat evenings and delivery) | 550 | 27,900,000 | — | 50,700 | 46.1 % | holds up, does not contribute |
Two schedule moves, none of them about people:
- Pull 2 positions out of the Tue-Thu afternoon (15:00-18:00) and put them back into Thursday and Sunday, where the peak runs tight. That is 78 paid hours a month: 1,825,200 COP.
- Short menu on Monday evening, 2 in the kitchen instead of 4, without closing the location. That is 43 hours: 1,006,200 COP.
Total 2,831,400 COP a month. They take the new location from 30.7 % to 27.5 % —a point and a half off what the original already achieves— and they are worth 1.3 of the 6 points of operating margin the house goal is chasing. Neither move thins out Tuesday-to-Friday lunch or Sunday midday, which is where the money comes from: cutting there saves an hour and gets billed back in reviews and average ticket.
SUPUESTO: it is assumed both moves fit inside the working hours already agreed and create no new night or Sunday premium. Source: the overtime line of the house's own payroll, where no Sunday premium appears today at the new location. If the manager confirms that returning hours to Sunday does create one, the saving from move 1 drops and that move gets rebuilt against Thursday only. And above this table stands the labor law of Medellín, Colombia: no change of hours gets executed without reviewing it with whoever runs payroll.
The full example has 1 more part(s): you see them inside the library, with your account.