If you know exactly which dishes have the best margins, you can strategically deploy your staff at the moments and tasks that generate the most profit. Many restaurant owners plan staff based on expected busy times, but forget that not all busy times are equally profitable. With insight into your margins per dish, you can deploy your team so that you not only work harder, but also smarter.
Why margin insight changes your staff scheduling
Imagine this: you have two equally busy evenings. Tuesday you mainly sell pastas and pizzas (low margin), Thursday mainly steak and fish (high margin). For both evenings you schedule the same number of people. But on Thursday you earn much more per hour per staff member.
💡 Example:
Restaurant with 100 covers per evening, 4 staff members:
- Tuesday (pasta evening): €2,800 revenue, 35% food cost = €1,820 gross profit
- Thursday (meat evening): €3,200 revenue, 28% food cost = €2,304 gross profit
- Difference: €484 more profit with the same team
Per staff member you earn €121 more on Thursday.
Strategic staff scheduling based on margin
With margin insight you can make more conscious choices about when to deploy extra staff:
- High-margin evenings: Extra cook or server can pay for itself
- Low-margin moments: Minimal staffing, focus on efficiency
- Lunch vs. dinner: If your lunch has lower margins, deploy fewer staff
- Special menus: For wine dinners or specials with high margins you can offer more service
⚠️ Note:
Never go below your minimum staffing for food safety and service. Margin optimization should never come at the cost of quality.
Dividing tasks based on profitability
You can also divide tasks differently if you know which dishes generate the most profit:
- Mise-en-place priorities: First prepare ingredients for your best-selling, highest-margin dishes
- Quality control: Extra attention to dishes that generate more profit
- Presentation: Your best cook on the dishes with the highest margin
- Suggestion training: Teach servers which dishes they should recommend
💡 Example:
You have 3 signature dishes with different margins:
- Beef tenderloin: €32 selling price, €8.50 cost = 73% margin
- Salmon fillet: €26 selling price, €9.20 cost = 65% margin
- Vegetarian pasta: €18 selling price, €4.80 cost = 73% margin
Focus your best cook and most beautiful presentation on the beef tenderloin and pasta. They generate the most profit per euro of revenue.
Flexible planning for different scenarios
With margin insight you can adjust your planning to different situations:
- Quiet evenings: Promote high-margin dishes extra to increase profit per guest
- Busy evenings: Make sure you have enough people for your most profitable dishes
- Staff shortage: Focus on simple dishes with good margins
- Training evenings: Let new staff start with low-margin dishes
KitchenNmbrs for margin-driven planning
With a system like KitchenNmbrs you immediately see which dishes have the best margins. You can analyze per day, week or month which combination of dishes and staff generates the most profit. This helps with:
- Scheduling based on expected menu mix
- Budgeting staff costs per revenue euro
- Deciding when extra staff pays for itself
- Training your team on the most profitable dishes
💡 Real-world example:
Restaurant that discovered their Friday evening was much more profitable than Saturday:
- Friday: smaller groups, more a-la-carte (high margin)
- Saturday: large groups, many set menus (low margin)
- Solution: extra cook on Friday, extra server on Saturday
Result: 15% more profit with equal staff costs.
How do you adjust staff scheduling based on margin?
Analyze your margin per dish
Calculate the exact margin for your 10 best-selling dishes. Pay attention to food cost, but also to preparation time and complexity. Rank them from highest to lowest profitability per portion.
Map your menu mix per day/time
Look at which dishes sell the most when. Different mix for lunch than dinner? Different on weekdays than weekends? This determines when you earn the most per staff member.
Schedule staff based on profitability
Deploy your best cooks during high-margin moments. Plan extra staff only if the expected margin increase covers the extra wage costs. Create a minimum staffing level for each scenario.
✨ Pro tip
Create a simple card with your 5 best-selling dishes and their margins. Hang it in the kitchen so your team knows where the focus is.
Calculate this yourself?
In the KitchenNmbrs app you can do this in just a few clicks. 7 days free, no credit card.
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Frequently asked questions
Can I deploy fewer staff during low-margin moments?
Yes, but never below your minimum for food safety and basic service. Use low-margin moments for training, preparation and maintenance instead of just having fewer people.
How do I know if extra staff pays for itself?
Calculate the extra wage costs per hour and compare with the expected extra margin revenue. If an extra cook costs €15/hour, they need to generate €15+ extra margin per hour.
What if my team doesn't understand why some dishes are more important?
Explain that profitable dishes keep the restaurant healthy and jobs secure. Train them in upselling high-margin items and share successes with the team.
Can I base my scheduling entirely on margin?
Margin is important, but not everything. Customer satisfaction, team wellbeing and operational stability remain priorities. Use margin insight as an additional factor, not as the only decision criterion.
How often should I adjust my staff scheduling?
Check your margin figures monthly and adjust your planning if you see patterns changing. Seasons, new dishes or changed purchasing prices can affect your optimal planning.
📚 Sources consulted
- EU Verordening 852/2004 — Levensmiddelenhygiëne (2004) — Official source
- EU Verordening 853/2004 — Hygiënevoorschriften voor levensmiddelen van dierlijke oorsprong (2004) — Official source
- EU Verordening 1169/2011 — Voedselinformatie aan consumenten (2011) — Official source
- NVWA — Hygiënecode voor de horeca (2024) — Official source
- NVWA — Allergenen in voedsel (2024) — Official source
- Codex Alimentarius — International Food Standards (2024) — Official source
- FSA — Safer food, better business (HACCP) (2024) — Official source
- BVL — Lebensmittelhygiene (HACCP) (2024) — Official source
- Warenwetbesluit Bereiding en behandeling van levensmiddelen (2024) — Official source
- WHO — Foodborne diseases estimates (2024) — Official source
Food Standards Agency (FSA) — https://www.food.gov.uk
The HACCP standards shown in this application are for informational purposes only. KitchenNmbrs does not guarantee that displayed values are current or complete. Always consult the FSA or your local authority for the latest regulations.
Written by
Jeffrey Smit
Founder & CEO of KitchenNmbrs
Jeffrey Smit built KitchenNmbrs from 8 years of hands-on experience as kitchen manager at 1NUL8 Group in Rotterdam. His mission: give every restaurant owner control over food cost.
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