Good Evening Everyone,
We all Know the Story.. The Real Estate Bubble was over valued and mortgages were given out like BOGO's in the mail. It didn't matter who was credit worthy or not. It doesnt even matter anymore who was to blame (Insert Theory Here)! It literally destroyed our financial institutions and jobs. Three and a Half years later with 10% Unemployment and a flatlined GDP you are still here. For some reason the Recession did not choose your place to close or lay you off. Congrats from me to you! I think you have made it through the worst of it. Rejoice in the fact that you have done something right! It is the purpose of this post to inspire you to become the operator you can be. Today let's talk being Basically Brilliant in the area of Smart Labor Staffing..
Two weeks ago on a Thursday I decided to go to my favorite mid level casual eating restaurant for a quick bite and a beer. It was 645 PM the restaurant was half full and had a healthy wait at the door. The servers were stressed no hostess was present. So I waited with another guest who was a shopper for the company. When asked why can't we sit where all those empty seats are we were met with a "Corporate wants us to watch our Labor"! Some of the Guests left I decided to stay and knew how it would end. The BOH guys who were grossly understaffed took 40 minutes for me to get a burger AND a salad.. The burger was Overcooked I choked it down anyway. The overwhelmed sweaty server thanked me as I left. THIS DOESN"T NEED TO HAPPEN..
The truth is that it shouldn't happen...It can NEVER happen again! If you are thinking you are saving money on your labor line you are crazy!! You just Lost Guests, Employees and food product because you do what alot of operators do..CUT..CUT.. "I don't care how you do it".. Here is your fix! Go back to your Aloha or Your Micros and print out: Sales per Hour (1 Month) (Average Wage) (Per Capita)..
SALES PER HOUR..Number don't Lie.Over the last month you have aquired statistics on how busy you are during the course of a day. You peak in (Number of) guests and sales every night at 630 PM..1230 During the day..
YOUR AVERAGE WAGE gives you the average of how much your employees make each night and by the hour. Kitchen folks make more than Servers and bartenders per hour. EXAMPLE 9.75$
PER CAPITA Is the average each guest spends on menu items. EXAMPLE 14.50$. Covers X's Per Cap= Sales..
Sales Per Hour will give you how many guests averaged on a Thursday Night X Per Capita will Give you Sales and Peak Times
You can calculate your labor dollars by multiplying Hours vs Average wage to come up with Dollars Spent. Divide into into sales for Labor %
What does all this Mean? It is a tool to help you Schedule Properly with out going over your budget! In my case I can schedule enough front of the house staff by staggering them in by knowing my sales per hour. I know how much my guests are going to spend and how many are coming. I know my Average wage for tonights shift.
When I was a Operator I used to run this scenario in my head all the time. As a Multi Unit Operator I would teach it. It is sound and applicable towards staffing and running great Labor numbers and keeping your guests and staff. The tools are in Your POS.. Remember this..If you are trying to run labor on the last day of the period you have already lost. You can tweak in times and out times as numbers will change.. Good Luck and Happy Hunting..
