Get help with restaurant labor cost control
Marty is your outsourced Chief Profit Officer for Restaurants. Start with a paid Cash Recovery Plan of the data you authorize. For labor, we examine sales, worked hours and operating context to document issues, supporting evidence and recommended next steps.
What should I expect from a labor-cost review?
Ask which records will be reviewed, how the team will check staffing context, and who will own the next action. Marty's Review delivers ranked findings, evidence, proposed owners, recommended fixes and an action plan. A suggested staffing change is not a verified saving.
What happens after the Review?
Your team can run the plan. Optional managed continuation can support manager follow-through where the agreed scope and available data support it. Marty does not edit schedules or punches. Changes remain with your team.
What should I bring to the first conversation?
Describe the locations in scope, the systems you use and the labor issue you want examined. Agree on scope, authorized access, timing and the fee before work begins.
Did labor cost rise, or did sales fall?
Labor percentage compares labor cost with sales. The ratio may rise because sales fell, labor cost increased, or both changed. Use consistent cost definitions and comparable reporting periods before drawing a conclusion.
Compare scheduled hours with actual timecards
Use the current schedule, worked hours, sales, and service requirements together. Choose a review time when a manager can still make a useful decision. First check when each report was last updated. Delayed data should not be treated as a live view of the shift.
- Compare scheduled hours with worked hours for the same period.
- Review sales and staffing by role and daypart.
- Record the manager's explanation, including training, absences, events, and service needs.
- Review overtime exposure with the payroll or scheduling owner.
- Assign an action and review date while protecting coverage and service.
Check the work before changing coverage
A variance is not an instruction to cut staff. Check sales changes, worked hours, role coverage, training, absences, events, and service requirements first. Lower labor percentage alone does not establish improved service or causal savings.
A closing-labor problem tied to specific roles and nights
A restaurant review matched 7,327 scheduled shifts to actual time records across January-August 2026. It found 1,671 unscheduled hours, concentrated in cook and dish roles on Fridays and Saturdays. The plan proposed a closing-shift alert and a manager to review what kept the crew late. It did not establish that every extra hour could be removed.
Marty can take on the comparison of schedules, worked hours and sales in a paid Cash Recovery Plan. We'd identify the closing shifts to discuss with your manager and recommend what to check next. Your team controls staffing changes. Ongoing help is optional and agreed separately.
Book a Free Working Session →Source: An anonymized Marty cash recovery plan dated September 4, 2026. Review window January-August 2026. No verified labor savings claimed.
Use the calculator as a starting point
The labor cost calculator can help organize sales, labor cost, and a comparison percentage. It is a starting point, not a validated benchmark. The paid Review examines authorized records, documents uncertainty, and recommends next steps. Optional monitoring and manager follow-through can be discussed afterward.
Works with your scheduler and POS
Read-only connections to your POS and labor systems can include Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed, Aloha, Micros, SpotOn, Shift4, 7shifts, and others. Marty reads authorized hours and sales data; it never edits schedules or punches. Source guidance checked September 8, 2026.