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Labor Cost Percentage Calculator
Gross wages divided by sales understates labour. This loads payroll tax, comp and benefits back in.
Marji
marji.co/tools/labor-cost-calculator
Illustrative sample, not a restaurant result.
Labor cost percentage
32.5%
Fully loaded labor is 32.5% of sales — 5.0% higher than gross wages alone would show. That's $12.34 of labour on every cover.
Your numbers
- Gross wages & salaries (period)
- $52,800
- Payroll tax, comp & benefits
- 18.0%
- Total sales (same period)
- $192,000
- Covers in the period
- 5,050
- Fully loaded labor cost
- $62,304
- Unloaded (gross wages only)What you'd report if you forgot the burden.
- 27.5%
- Points understated
- 5.0%
- Labor cost per coverImmune to price changes — the cleaner productivity read.
- $12.34
Re-run these numbers free at marji.co/tools/labor-cost-calculator. Results use the inputs shown. Review quantities, units, yields and supplier costs before making a menu decision. Ingredient contribution excludes other restaurant expenses.
Print the full calculation or share a clean link to this tool. To connect a purchase cost to a dish, enter its reviewed quantities in the recipe calculator.
Cost one recipe →Common questions
What burden rate should I use?
Add employer payroll taxes (FICA, FUTA, SUTA), workers' compensation premium and any benefits, then divide by gross wages. As a sanity check, the Bureau of Labor Statistics measured benefits at 23.8% of wages for accommodation and food services in June 2026, of which 11.2 points were legally required; workers' comp varies by state and carrier.
Should salaried managers be included?
Yes. Any labour the restaurant pays for belongs in the number. Splitting it into fixed (salaried) and variable (hourly) is useful for break-even, but the headline percentage covers both.
Is there a target labor percentage?
There is no standard target. The National Restaurant Association's 2024 medians were 36.5% of sales for full-service and 31.7% for limited-service restaurants, and it says they are not standards or goals. Read labour with food cost as prime cost, measured the same way every period.