Restaurant staff scheduling: a simple rota that follows the rules

How do you build a restaurant staff schedule?

The rota is one of the most important management tools in a restaurant. Staff costs are often the biggest expense alongside food purchases: a poorly adjusted rota loses money on quiet services and hurts quality on busy ones.

It matters a lot to the team too. Knowing your hours in advance lets you organise your life. A rota that keeps changing wears people out and drives the best ones away. This guide is part of our guide How to run a restaurant. The legal rules quoted apply in France.

How do you forecast each service?

Everything starts with an estimate of covers. It does not need to be perfect, just better than a hunch. For each service of the coming week, look at:

• bookings already made;
• covers served on the same day in previous weeks (your till shows them);
• planned events: bank holiday, school holidays, match, market, trade fair, nearby concert;
• the weather, especially if you have a terrace;
• confirmed groups and private events.

Then put each service into a level: quiet, normal or full. Three levels are enough for most restaurants.

How many staff per service?

There is no ratio that suits everyone: it depends on your menu, your dining room, table or counter service. The simplest approach is to build your own grid from real services where the team felt “just right”.

Also note the tasks outside service: prep, receiving deliveries, stock counts, deep cleaning. They take hours that people often forget to plan, and they are what overruns at the end of the day.

To adjust the grid, use a simple indicator: covers served per hour worked. If it drops clearly on one type of service, you probably have too many people that day. See also our guide on restaurant profitability.

Which working time and rest rules apply in France?

In France, the rota must follow the Labour Code and the applicable collective agreement. For most restaurants, that is the hotels, cafés and restaurants agreement (HCR, IDCC 1979), which adapts several rules to the trade (working time, overtime, rest). The general rules below are those of the Labour Code as presented by Service Public; always check what the HCR agreement says for your case, with your accountant if needed.

The split shift and late closing trap

With lunch and dinner services, the rule most often forgotten is the 11-hour rest. Example: a waiter who finishes at 12.30 am after dinner service cannot start again before 11.30 am the next day. Putting them on the 10 am prep shift would be a mistake.

Seasonal restaurants

Hotels, restaurants and caterers that open only part of the year can postpone weekly rest, provided employees get at least 2 days off per month.

Minors and apprentices

Rules are stricter for under-18s, for example at least 12 hours of daily rest between 16 and 18. Check them before scheduling a minor late in the evening.

What does a good weekly rota look like?

One sheet per week, one line per person, one column per day. Write the start and end time of each period, not just “lunch” or “dinner”.

Before publishing, do a quick check:

• each service has the staffing planned for its level;
• nobody goes from a closing shift to an opening shift without 11 hours’ rest;
• every working day of 6 hours or more includes a break of at least 20 minutes;
• everyone’s total matches their contract and the maximum hours;
• everyone has their weekly rest;
• booked holidays are taken into account;
• tasks outside service (deliveries, stock count) have someone assigned.

Keep the rotas actually worked: they are used to calculate paid hours and to prove the hours worked if questions arise.

How do you share the rota with the team?

A rota is only useful if everyone knows it. A few simple habits:

• Publish it early, ideally at least a week ahead, always on the same day.
• Post it in the staff room or changing room, and send a photo of it through the team’s messaging app.
• Warn quickly about changes, by speaking directly to the person concerned.
• Balance weekends and closing shifts over the month: it is a frequent source of tension.
• Listen to constraints: childcare, studies, transport. A rota that takes them into account means fewer absences.

Compulsory notice in France

Apart from individual rotas, French employers must post the collective working hours (start and end times, length of breaks). If weekly rest is not given on Sunday, the collective rest days and hours must be communicated. The full list of compulsory notices is on Service Public Entreprendre.

How do you adjust the rota over time?

Once a month, take ten minutes to compare planned and actual:

• services where the team was overwhelmed: were they underestimated?
• services that were too quiet for the staffing: should the grid change?
• total hours for the month compared with revenue: is the staff share rising?
• overtime: is it occasional or has it become routine?

If the same services are always quiet, it is sometimes more profitable to close that slot than to run it at a loss, or to create an event to fill it. See our guide How to grow a restaurant for ideas.

If you are regularly short-staffed, it may be time to hire: see how to hire restaurant staff.

Last tip: involve the team. Ask once a quarter which shifts are hardest and why. People who help shape the rota are more likely to respect it, swap shifts among themselves in good faith and warn you early when something goes wrong. A rota built together is also easier to explain when you have to make an unpopular choice, such as asking everyone to work on a holiday weekend.

The restaurant owner’s guide

Open, run, grow: each stage has its full guide and detailed guides, with their reading time.

This guide for your trade

• Restaurants
• Bars
• Hotels and B&Bs

Go further

• How to run a restaurant: the complete guide
• How to hire restaurant staff
• Restaurant profitability
• Booking cancellation policy
• Booking confirmation and reminder emails