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  • Scheduling

    Assign shifts quickly and efficiently

  • Time Clocking

    Decrease labor costs with integrated, mobile time tracking

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    Save time and increase accuracy with Tip Pooling and Payouts

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    Pay your staff, easily and on time

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    Keep staff engaged and reduce turnover

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Built for

    Bakeries

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    The Restaurant Labor Playbook

    Read more

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    Mandy's Salads Success Story

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  • Case Study

    How Little Italy Ristorante Turned Hours of Payroll Processing into Minutes

    Read more

📹 How to live your restaurant values

Foodrunner Plate

Restaurant insights by 7shifts

May 2025

Vol 17: Restaurant AI 101

April 2025

Vol 16: The 2025 Restaurant Labor Playbook

March 2025

Vol 15: Tariffs, training, and taxes

February 2025

Vol 14: Dressing up success with Mandy’s Salads

January 2025

Vol 13: Resetting for the new year

December 2024

Vol 12: The 2024 to 2025 trends pipeline

November 2024

Vol 11: Building great restaurant teams

October 2024

Vol 10: What’s an “employer brand”

September 2024

Vol 9: Payroll secrets unlocked

August 2024

Vol 8: Rethinking how much you pay staff

July 2024

Vol 7: Tipping talk…secrets and splitting

June 2024

Vol 6: What employees actually want

May 2024

Vol 5: Supporting your team’s mental health

April 2024

Vol 4: Building great culture at work

March 2024

Vol 3: How to make + save more money

February 2024

Vol. 2: Nurturing your best team

January 2024

Vol. 1: Welcome to Food Runner

Running a profitable restaurant is a challenge at best. But the journey to profitability can be a nightmare if you don’t have efficient labor costs. In this edition, we’re diving into 7shifts’ just-released 2025 Restaurant Labor Playbook, which reveals how 500+ restaurant professionals experience and navigate their labor goals and pressures.
 
ON THE MENU 6 min read
On the menu icon 1.png The % of restaurants *actually* hitting labor targets
On the menu icon 2.png The top labor challenges for restaurants right now
On the menu icon 3.png Getting creative with growth
How much?
How much does it cost to replace employees? How much do restaurants spend on labor? And how many insights can you gain in just 6 minutes? Read on to find out.
 
by the numbers - April 2025.png

BY THE NUMBERS

What’s the true cost of employee turnover? According to our research, it depends on the type of employee.
 
By the numbers icon 1.png $1,056
The average cost to replace a FOH position.
By the numbers icon 2.png $1,491
The average cost to replace a BOH position—41% more than FOH.
By the numbers icon 3png.png $2,611
The average cost to replace a management position—147% more than FOH.
reall big insight.png

REALLY BIG INSIGHT #1

Only 36% of restaurants hit their labor cost targets.

If you’re struggling to manage your labor costs, you’re not alone. 64% of restaurants don’t achieve their labor goals, and 44% spend more than they planned on labor.

In contrast, a labor cost that’s too low can be equally inefficient. So what’s the sweet spot of labor cost percentages? Our research shows that two-thirds of restaurants keep their labor costs within the 20 to 30% range. Here’s the breakdown:

Current labor costs as % of revenue
To manage high labor costs, these three strategies came out on top (ahead of reducing headcount):

🔹 68% of restaurants are cross-training

🔹 45% of restaurants are adjusting labor targets and hours

🔹 41% of restaurants are improving processes

About half of restaurants are also optimistic about technology’s role in lowering the cost of labor—with 21% being very optimistic. Notably, back-led office tech (like automated payroll, inventory management, and staff scheduling) leads the way, while customer-facing tech shows mixed results. Why? Concerns over compromising the personal touch of the dining experience.

📖 Related reading: How to manage your restaurant labor costs

 
reall big insight.png

REALLY BIG INSIGHT #2

The #1 concern for restaurant owners is rising food costs.

Food inflation takes the top spot as the #1 concern for restaurants, with 52% ranking it first—outpacing labor costs at 31%. Overall, food inflation and labor costs are among the top three challenges for 86% and 83% of restaurants, respectively. Here’s the breakdown:

Top challenges affecting restaurant profitability

The result of higher costs often means higher menu prices. As one general manager notes, “It’s really hard getting a reasonable profit at the end of the month. Food and labor costs are so expensive at the moment because of inflation. Unfortunately, the extra cost has to be passed down to the consumer.”

📖 Related reading: The ultimate guide to restaurant costs

 
food for thought.png

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Q: What can restaurants try instead of increasing prices?

In a special tariff edition of The Pre-Shift podcast, we sat down with Jay Ashton, Canada’s Restaurant Guy, to discuss whether raising menu prices is the answer to rising food costs. His advice—relevant to any cause of inflation (tariffs or not): explore other options first.

“I’m going to say most restaurants have already ceilinged their pricing right now, meaning they just don’t have much more to go. And they’ll probably have to take it off at different areas of the P&L, and their profits may shrink even a little bit more.

If you do have to increase prices—sometimes, we go there first, but I think that we might have to go there last—like that’s your last-case scenario. A lot of people go there first because it’s easy.”

He proposes a few questions before opting for a price increase:

🔹 Are you driving traffic or enhancing guest experience with the menu?
🔹 Can you make up the money back elsewhere?
🔹 Can you innovate products and use other ingredients?

And the solutions don’t stop here—we cover more insights from Jay further on. In the meantime, this segues right into our next really big insight!
 
2501-Spotlight.png

SPECIAL FEATURE

Restaurant Technology
New Substack from Shawn Walchef
 
Our friends at Cali BBQ Media just dropped something special. Founder Shawn Walchef has launched a free Substack that’s a must-follow for anyone navigating the wild world of modern restaurant ownership. When good folks like Shawn share their expertise, we pay attention. Subscribe now for the inside scoop—exclusive interviews, helpful videos, and restaurant tech news you can actually use. You’ll get full access to their weekly insights, videos, podcasts, and their impressive Restaurant Technology archives.
Subscribe now
 
reall big insight.png

REALLY BIG INSIGHT #3

Growth > cost-cutting.

Even when costs are high, the data shows many restaurants are determined to make it work by growing sales. Along with 68% of restaurants raising menu prices, here are the strategies being adopted:

Profitability Actions Beyond Labor Management
📖 Related reading: 20 ways to increase restaurant sales
 
Heard - April 2025.png

HEARD!

Rather than cutting corners in panic, restaurants are getting creative.

Quoting Jay Ashton from The Pre-Shift podcast again (seriously, it’s a great episode—you should check it out), here are three ways restaurants can diversify their revenue, beyond the sale of food.

💡 Newsletters (plus ads)

Placemats, gone digital. That’s how Jay explains the idea of selling local ads in your restaurant newsletter. By compiling an email list from birthdays or WiFi log-ins, and writing up a few regular updates, you can leave some space for ads by partnering with local businesses, like pet stores or body shops.

As for the potential impact? Let’s say you have 3,000 newsletter subscribers and sell 10 ad placements for $500 each. Jay says, “Now, how much food do you have to sell at five grand with a 3 or 5% profit? A shwack of food, right? That’s a lot of food you have to sell. So now you don’t have to increase your menu prices or sell as much during a slow period or in the challenging situation we’re dealing with.”

💡 Uber Eats (but for e-commerce)

Did you know you can sell just about anything on Uber Eats? Jay explains that it’s more than a food delivery platform. It’s an e-commerce platform. You can sell all kinds of restaurant swag on there, from t-shirts to water bottles. And better yet, Jay recommends bundling it up with food—like buy a family meal, get a free t-shirt offer.

💡 Social media influencing

Jay believes that a restaurateur’s credibility makes them a perfect candidate for a social media star: ”That’s what counts when we look at selling stuff. No matter the age, I think restaurateurs can be influencers, and I think they’d be phenomenal influencers, and companies will spend money with you and give you money to share and show your products.”

Listen to the full episode or read the recap.

 
Labor Playbook
Check out the rest of the free report
This is just the first course! Get the main (aka the full report) with sides on cost management strategies, tech adoption insights, and more.
Take me there
 
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