How Many Employees Does a Small Burger Restaurant Need?

Work out the shifts first, then count the people you need to hire. A small burger restaurant's staffing depends on its workload, opening hours and employees' availability—not just its number of seats. Three people working at once could require a roster of eight people across the week. Here is how to work out both numbers.

A September 15 restaurant-owner question described a new fast-casual burger shop with 36 seats, open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Replies mixed total employees with people working a shift. Those are different measurements.

1. Turn opening hours into labor hours

That shop would be open 10 hours a day × 5 days = 50 opening hours a week. One person working for one hour uses one labor hour. Three people working for one hour use three labor hours.

List the work: cooking, taking orders and payments, packing takeaway orders, washing dishes, cleaning, prep, receiving deliveries and closing. Decide which jobs can realistically be combined during quiet periods and which need separate people during a rush. Delivery orders add kitchen work without using a seat.

The following is a fictional coverage sketch, not a recommended staffing level. Your menu, order volume, equipment, layout and safe working procedures determine the actual coverage.

This sketch has three people working during quieter opening hours and five during the specified busy hours. Neither number is the total number of employees to hire.

Count each hour once. If a cook's shift already includes an hour of prep, do not add that same hour again. Break coverage must fit the actual schedule and applicable rules; the ten hours above are an example, not a legal allowance.

2. Convert weekly hours into a hiring estimate

Suppose the owner personally covers 20 of those 210 hours. Employees must cover 210 − 20 = 190 hours a week.

If each employee can reliably cover an average of 25 of the required hours, divide:

190 employee hours ÷ 25 hours per employee = 7.6 employees.

Round up to eight employees as an initial roster estimate, in addition to the owner. That does not prove eight hires will cover the restaurant. Five people available only on Wednesday cannot fill five Saturday roles. Nor does this calculation mean that all eight work at once.

Build the actual week in half-hour or hour blocks. Give every required role a named person, using their skills and availability. Check that breaks, opening prep and closing tasks have coverage. Then make a plan for illness, leave and training; do not assume that hiring twice as many people automatically solves those problems.

The owner's 20 hours still have value. Show owner work and compensation separately in the business plan, and calculate the cost of replacement coverage when the owner is away.

3. Price the schedule and calculate the percentage

For this fictional example, suppose all 190 employee hours cost $18 an hour and nobody works overtime. That gives 190 × $18 = $3,420 in gross employee wages for the week. The $18 rate is a math input, not a market-pay recommendation or a claim that it meets every local minimum wage.

To find a wage percentage, divide weekly wages by weekly net sales, then multiply by 100. Here, net sales means sales after discounts and refunds, excluding sales tax and employee tips. Use the same week for both numbers.

• $12,000 in net sales: $3,420 ÷ $12,000 × 100 = 28.5%. Employee wages use $28.50 of every $100 in sales.
• $8,000 in net sales: $3,420 ÷ $8,000 × 100 = 42.75%. The same schedule uses $42.75 of every $100 in sales.

These are employee-wage percentages, not total labor-cost percentages. Add employer payroll taxes, workers' compensation, benefits and other employer costs. Account for owner compensation too. To calculate your total labor-cost percentage, divide all labor costs included in your plan by net sales for the same period, then multiply by 100. At zero sales the percentage is undefined, but the payroll bill still exists.

Actual payroll must use each person's rate and hours. Under the U.S. federal rule, covered nonexempt employees generally receive at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. Eight employees averaging fewer than 40 hours does not rule out overtime for one individual. Check applicable state and local requirements, including break and youth-employment rules, before finalizing shifts.

4. Test the plan before making offers

1. Map the work. Write down the tasks and required roles for each part of each day, including work before and after opening.
2. Test a rush. Walk through a realistic mix of counter, takeaway and delivery orders. Identify where cooking, packing, payments or cleaning fall behind.
3. Match people to shifts. Confirm availability and skills, assign break coverage and identify who can cover an absence.
4. Price the whole week. Include training, overtime where applicable, employer costs and owner compensation. Compare the result with both expected sales and a lower-sales scenario.

If required coverage costs more than the business can support, revisit the menu, service process, opening hours or sales plan before making hiring promises. Removing a necessary role from a spreadsheet does not remove the work.

Use the free labor cost and shift planner to enter shifts, check the coverage windows you specify and calculate employee hours and weekly overtime. The hourly pay budget tool helps compare a proposed wage with your sales and labor budget. For hiring timing and training, read the opening-team hiring guide.

Sources

• Recent owner question: “How big is your crew?”, posted September 15, 2026; question and replies checked September 16. The discussion supplies the question, not a validated staffing benchmark.
• U.S. Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #23: Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA, checked September 16, 2026.