To calculate sales per labor hour (SPLH), divide your net sales for a period by the total hours your employees worked in that period. If you sold $6,000 on a day when your team worked 150 hours, your SPLH is $40. It tells you how much revenue each hour of paid labor produces, which makes it one of the fastest ways to see whether a shift was overstaffed, understaffed, or about right.
The formula and a worked example
SPLH = Net sales ÷ Total labor hours worked
Use net sales (after discounts and comps, before tax and tips) and include every hour paid on the clock, including managers who work shifts. Here is one dinner shift:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Net sales | $4,200 |
| Servers (5 × 5 hrs) | 25 hrs |
| Bartenders (2 × 6 hrs) | 12 hrs |
| Cooks and dishwashers (6 × 6 hrs) | 36 hrs |
| Host and busser (3 × 4 hrs) | 12 hrs |
| Total hours | 85 hrs |
| SPLH | $49.41 |
Run it for each daypart, not just the day. A single daily number hides the slow 2 pm hole that eats your profit.
What is a good SPLH?
There is no universal target because it depends on your price point and service style. As rough ranges, quick-service concepts often land around $60 to $100 per hour, casual full-service around $35 to $60, and fine dining around $50 to $90 because of high checks. Do not chase someone else's number. Instead, find your own baseline over four weeks and set a target slightly above it.
SPLH is related to, but not the same as, your labor cost percentage. Labor percent measures dollars; SPLH measures hours, so it keeps working even when wages change. Use both alongside prime cost.
How to use SPLH to build a better schedule
- Pull sales and hours by hour of day from your POS or time clock for the last four to eight weeks.
- Find your slow stretches, where SPLH drops below your baseline, and your rushes, where it spikes and service suffers.
- Set a target SPLH per daypart, such as $55 at dinner and $35 at lunch.
- Convert to hours: forecast sales divided by target SPLH gives the labor hours to schedule. At $3,500 forecast and a $50 target, schedule 70 hours.
- Adjust and re-check weekly.
This works best with a decent forecast, so read how to forecast sales to schedule staff and building an employee schedule that controls costs.
Common mistakes
The biggest trap is cutting hours just to hit a number. If SPLH rises because tickets are slower and guests wait longer, you gain a metric and lose repeat customers. Pair it with ticket times and guest feedback; see improving speed of service metrics. Another mistake is ignoring fixed roles: a restaurant needs a minimum crew no matter how slow it is, so a thin Tuesday will always look weak. Judge those shifts by whether they cover their direct costs, not by SPLH alone.
Also watch for dirty data. Forgotten clock-outs and unpaid prep time throw off hours, and comped sales inflate or deflate sales depending on how they are recorded.
SPLH is a steering wheel, not a scoreboard. Use it to match staffing to demand, and keep an eye on the guest experience while you do.
Get the data without the spreadsheet work
SPLH only helps if the numbers are easy to pull. Cobblestone POS combines sales reporting, scheduling and time tracking in one system with no monthly fee, so hourly sales and labor hours sit side by side. Compared with platforms that cost around $470 a month before add-ons, you get the reporting without paying extra to see your own labor data.
Weekly SPLH routine
- Every Monday, review SPLH by daypart for the prior week.
- Flag any shift more than 15 percent off your target.
- Adjust next week's schedule for those shifts.
- Check ticket times and reviews for any shift you trimmed.
- Update your target each quarter as prices and wages change.
Free Sales Per Labor Hour (SPLH) Calculator (Excel).