To calculate your labour cost percentage, divide your total labour cost for a period by your total revenue for the same period, then multiply by 100:
Labour Cost % = (Total Labour Cost ÷ Total Revenue) × 100
For example, if your cafe pays £4,200 in labour during a week and takes £14,000 in sales, your labour cost percentage is (4,200 ÷ 14,000) × 100 = 30%.
That's the headline formula. But getting an accurate, useful number for a UK small restaurant or cafe means knowing exactly what to include, which period to measure, and what a healthy target actually looks like. Here's the full picture.
This is where most small operators get it wrong. Labour cost is not just the wages on your rota. To get a true figure, include everything you spend to employ people:
If you only count the wages line, you'll understate your real labour cost by 15–20%. A £11.44 hourly wage (the 2024 National Living Wage for those 21+) actually costs you closer to £13.20 once NIC, pension and holiday pay are added.
Always use net sales excluding VAT. If your till shows £16,800 including 20% VAT, your net revenue is £14,000 (£16,800 ÷ 1.2). Using the VAT-inclusive figure will make your labour percentage look artificially low and give you a false sense of security.
Also be consistent: labour cost and revenue must cover the same period. Weekly is best for a busy cafe or restaurant because it lets you react quickly. Monthly works for reporting and trend-spotting.
Let's cost a typical week at a small independent cafe:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Barista and floor staff wages | £2,800 |
| Kitchen staff wages | £900 |
| Owner's drawings (working shifts) | £600 |
| Employer's NIC (approx.) | £280 |
| Pension contributions | £110 |
| Holiday pay accrual | £340 |
| Total labour cost | £5,030 |
| Net sales (ex-VAT) | £15,000 |
Labour Cost % = (5,030 ÷ 15,000) × 100 = 33.5%
Notice how including NIC, pension, and holiday pay pushed the figure up. The naive "wages only" calculation (£4,300) would have shown 28.7% — a difference big enough to hide a serious problem.
There's no single magic number, but here are realistic benchmarks:
Most UK hospitality operators aim to keep labour below 35%. Combined with food and drink costs (typically 28–35%), your prime cost (labour + cost of goods) is the real number to watch. Keep prime cost under 65% and you have room for rent, utilities, and profit. Above 70% and margins get very tight.
Labour percentage alone can mislead you. A restaurant with cheap ingredients and high wages might look "bad" on labour but be perfectly healthy overall. That's why smart operators track prime cost:
Prime Cost = Total Labour Cost + Total Cost of Goods Sold
Prime Cost % = (Prime Cost ÷ Net Revenue) × 100
If your labour is 33% and your food/drink cost is 30%, your prime cost is 63% — solid for an independent. This gives you a far more honest view than either figure in isolation.
If your percentage is creeping too high, resist the urge to simply slash hours. Instead:
1. Match rotas to sales patterns. Pull last year's hourly sales data and staff to demand, not habit. Most cafes are overstaffed mid-afternoon.
2. Track sales per labour hour. Divide daily net sales by total hours worked. Aim to understand your own baseline, then improve it shift by shift.
3. Cross-train staff so one person can cover multiple stations during quiet periods.
4. Cut prep waste and rework. Time lost to redoing dishes or over-prepping is hidden labour cost. Accurate prep quantities save both food and hours.
5. Reduce turnover. Recruiting and training new staff is expensive. Retaining good people lowers your effective labour cost.
6. Watch overtime. It's often cheaper to add a part-timer than to pay premium overtime rates.
Set up a simple weekly routine: total your labour cost (all-in), pull your net sales, calculate the percentage, and log it. Over four to six weeks you'll see a trend and a realistic baseline for your specific site. From there, small adjustments to rotas and prep efficiency compound quickly.
Labour is only half the equation, though. To protect your margins you also need to know exactly what each dish costs to make — because underpriced menu items quietly erode profit no matter how tight your rotas are.
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If you want to nail the other side of your prime cost, try our free food cost calculator to work out the true cost and margin of any dish in minutes. And if you'd rather start from a proven framework, the ready-made Excel costing templates in our shop give you a structure for recipes, yields, and portion pricing — so you can stop guessing and start seeing your real numbers.