Restaurant Staff Schedule Example: Front and Back of House for a 60-Seat Venue
30 October 2026 · The Rosterly team · 4 min read
This restaurant staff schedule example covers a 60-seat dinner restaurant open Wednesday to Sunday, 5pm to 10pm. It uses eight shift templates across front and back of house: a core crew of seven on quieter nights and eleven on Friday and Saturday. That adds up to 274 paid hours a week and about 24% labor cost on $22,000 of sales.
A worked schedule makes it easier to see where hours go. Swap in your own trading hours, covers and rates, and use the structure to build your next week.
The restaurant
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Seats: 60, dinner only.
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Trading: Wednesday to Sunday, kitchen open 5pm to 10pm, closed Monday and Tuesday.
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Busy nights: Friday and Saturday, with a smaller Sunday rush.
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Sales: about $22,000 a week (illustrative).
Assumption for this example: shifts of six hours or more include a 30-minute unpaid meal break. Your local rules and agreements may differ.
Shift templates
Area
Shift
Time
Paid hours
Kitchen
Shift: Head chef
Time: 2:00pm–11:00pm
Paid hours: 8.5
Kitchen
Shift: Line cook
Time: 3:00pm–11:00pm
Paid hours: 7.5
Kitchen
Shift: Second line cook (Fri, Sat)
Time: 5:00pm–11:00pm
Paid hours: 5.5
Kitchen
Shift: Dishwasher
Time: 5:30pm–11:30pm
Paid hours: 5.5
Floor
Shift: Floor manager
Time: 4:00pm–11:30pm
Paid hours: 7.0
Floor
Shift: Server
Time: 5:00pm–10:30pm
Paid hours: 5.5
Floor
Shift: Bartender
Time: 5:00pm–11:30pm
Paid hours: 6.0
Floor
Shift: Host (Fri, Sat)
Time: 5:30pm–9:30pm
Paid hours: 4.0
The head chef and line cook start early for prep. The second cook, host and extra servers only cover the busy nights.
Staffing by night
Role
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
Head chef
Wed: 1
Thu: 1
Fri: 1
Sat: 1
Sun: 1
Line cook
Wed: 1
Thu: 1
Fri: 1
Sat: 1
Sun: 1
Second line cook
Wed: –
Thu: –
Fri: 1
Sat: 1
Sun: –
Dishwasher
Wed: 1
Thu: 1
Fri: 1
Sat: 1
Sun: 1
Floor manager
Wed: 1
Thu: 1
Fri: 1
Sat: 1
Sun: 1
Servers
Wed: 2
Thu: 2
Fri: 4
Sat: 4
Sun: 3
Bartender
Wed: 1
Thu: 1
Fri: 1
Sat: 1
Sun: 1
Host
Wed: –
Thu: –
Fri: 1
Sat: 1
Sun: –
People on
Wed: 7
Thu: 7
Fri: 11
Sat: 11
Sun: 8
Paid hours
Wed: 45.5
Thu: 45.5
Fri: 66.0
Sat: 66.0
Sun: 51.0
Weekly total: 274 paid hours.
The rules behind it
1.
The kitchen is staffed for the menu, not the covers. A head chef, a line cook and a dishwasher every night, whatever the bookings.
2.
The floor flexes with demand. Two servers midweek, four on Friday and Saturday, three on Sunday. About 15 seats per server on busy nights.
3.
Busy nights get support roles. A host and a second line cook only on Friday and Saturday.
4.
Prep happens before service. Early kitchen starts keep the 5pm opening calm.
5.
Close-down is short. Servers finish at 10:30pm; the manager, bartender and dishwasher close.
What it costs
At an illustrative average of $18 an hour, 274 hours is $4,932 in wages. In the US, the employer share of Social Security and Medicare is 7.65% (per the IRS), adding $377.30, for about $5,309 in total. Against $22,000 of sales that's roughly 24% labor cost. Industry guides such as Toast commonly cite 25–35% for restaurants, so this schedule has some room, but real rates, tipped wages, salaried roles and state rules will change your number. Use our labor cost percentage guide with your own figures.
If your roster lives in a spreadsheet for now, our free staff roster template works in Google Sheets and Excel and comes with a printable weekly grid.
Build this schedule in Rosterly
Set up front and back of house skills, add the shift templates and copy the week forward. 14-day free trial, no card needed.
The schedule above assumes demand. Check it with your own numbers:
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Sales per labor hour by night. Divide each night's sales by its paid hours. If Wednesday's figure is far below Saturday's, Wednesday is overstaffed. Our sales per labor hour post explains the method.
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Covers per server. If servers are carrying 25 covers on Saturday, add one; if 8 on Wednesday, cut one.
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Kitchen tickets per hour. If the line is backed up from 7 to 8:30pm, the second cook may be needed on Thursday too.
Handling cuts during service
Most dinner services thin out after 9pm. Agree the order for cutting floor staff before service, so nobody argues at the pass:
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First cut: the server with the fewest open tables, once the last booking is seated.
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Second cut: the next server, when the room is under a third full.
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Last on the floor: the floor manager and bartender, who close together.
Write the rule on the schedule and apply it the same way every night. In places with rules on cutting shifts short, check them first.
Common restaurant scheduling mistakes
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Starting everyone at 5pm. Stagger floor starts so the first servers set up and later ones arrive as the room fills.
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Keeping the full floor until close. Cut servers as tables clear, by a rule everyone knows.
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Forgetting prep. A kitchen that starts at service time spends the first hour catching up.
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One person who can close. Every closing skill should have a backup.
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Ignoring cut and early-release costs. Some places have rules about cutting shifts short, such as predictive scheduling laws in some US cities for large employers. Check yours.
Adapting it to your restaurant
1.
Change the trading days and hours. Then adjust the templates.
2.
Set your minimum crew. The people you need on even when the room is empty.
3.
Add flex roles for your busy nights.
4.
Check hours against sales each night.
5.
Copy the week forward, then adjust for bookings, events and leave.