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Short interval scheduling: Proactive labour cost control
By Bill Dover, chairman, fsSTRATEGY Inc.
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Why labour cost control is critical
In the successful and profitable operation of a restaurant there are two major variable costs to control, the cost of goods and labour cost. The key to controlling labour cost is to have the correct amount of employees on duty in order to provide quality service to the number of guests in the restaurant at that time. The best way to achieve this labour efficiency is through a process called “short interval scheduling”. Many progressive restaurant use short interval scheduling in one form or another to manage their labour costs while ensuring the proper levels of guest service.
How to develop a short interval scheduling system
In order to design and implement a short interval scheduling system for your restaurant, you must first project the number of guests you expect to arrive in your restaurant on an hourly basis for the week you are writing the employee schedule.
Next you must calculate the how many employees of each job category you require to open the doors of your restaurant and serve a minimal number of guests per hour. For example let us say 25 guests per hour. This becomes your base schedule.
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Once you have your base schedule determined, you then calculate how many hours of each position you will require for the next 25 guests per hour and so forth until you have completed your schedule.
This process will ensure that you have the right number of employees to meet your projected guest count per hour. Note that this is significantly different than saying every Tuesday I have one cook, two servers and one dishwasher. We are looking at hour by hour staffing as opposed to staffing by the day or meal period. We understand that this requires more detailed scheduling as well as sourcing of employees willing to work the short interval shifts. We also realize that there are minimum shifts determined by Provincial labour laws. However, in our experience short interval scheduling will work well in the Canadian restaurant and foodservice industry.
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Once you have set your base and incremental schedule, you then apply the employee names to the shifts and post the schedule.
Managing for results
The real power from short interval scheduling comes from the real-time monitoring of the short interval schedule at the end of each meal period. Once the meal period is over, you match up the number of hours scheduled to the number of hours actually worked by each position. You also record the actual number of guests served and compare this number to the guest count you had projected. It is best to set up an Excel spreadsheet to simplify the calculations. Assuming the actual guest count is similar to the projected guest count, you can then analyse the actual hours worked versus your projections. If you used three hours more than the projection, then you are “three hours over standard” for that meal period. If you used one hour less than projected, then you are “one hour under standard”. By following this procedure, you can make schedule corrections on a meal period by meal period as opposed to waiting until the end of the week when it is too late to make any corrections.
Although this type of system was designed for restaurant chains, it will work effectively in the independent restaurant situation.
Benefits of Short Interval Scheduling
While this system will require planning and recording of results, it will ensure that you are achieving the right service levels while still controlling labour costs.
The bottom line on short interval scheduling is to have the necessary number of employees on duty at all times to meet the service needs of the projected guest count. In other words have the employees on the clock when you require them and off the clock when you don’t.
About the author:
Bill Dover is Chairman of fsSTRATEGY Inc., a consulting firm specializing in business strategy in the foodservice industry. fsSTRATEGY provides extensive support in the areas of concept development, site selection performance improvement and strategic planning . For more information or assistance with Short Interval Scheduling, visit www.fsSTRATEGY.com or contact us at 416-229-2290.
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