How to create a staff rota for a restaurant: a step-by-step guide

A good restaurant rota puts the right people on each service without paying for quiet hours. This is a straightforward way to build one each week, whether you use a spreadsheet or rota software.

1. Map your services

List each service you run (breakfast, lunch, afternoon, dinner) with its opening and closing times, and the covers you expect. Include set-up and close-down time: the kitchen needs prep before the first table, and someone has to close the bar.

2. Set minimum cover by role

Decide the minimum team for a quiet service and what you add as covers rise. For example:

Make sure every service has someone who can run it: a supervisor or manager who can handle a complaint or a cash-up.

3. Put fixed things in first

• Approved holiday and known absences.
• Days and times people have said they can’t work.
• Contracted hours you’ve committed to.

Then fill the remaining gaps, giving extra hours to people who’ve asked for them where you can.

4. Check breaks and rest

Workers aged 18 and over are entitled to an uninterrupted 20-minute rest break if they work more than 6 hours in a day, 11 hours’ rest between working days, and either 24 hours off each week or 48 hours each fortnight. Watch out for a late close followed by an early start the next morning.

5. Check the cost

Add up paid hours after breaks and multiply by each person’s rate, then compare with your budget. Our guide to calculating weekly labour costs walks through holiday pay, National Insurance and pension.

6. Publish in good time, then manage changes

Give your team their hours as early as you can. When something changes after publishing, tell the people affected, and keep one current version so nobody turns up from an old screenshot.

A weekly routine that works

1. Monday: check next week’s bookings and events; set the forecast.
2. Tuesday: approve or decline holiday requests for the following weeks.
3. Wednesday: build next week’s rota and check the cost.
4. Thursday: publish.
5. Through the week: handle swaps and cover, then approve timesheets.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Contracts and collective agreements may give staff more than the legal minimum.