Covers Per Hour Calculator

Work out covers per hour instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Covers Per Hour Calculator

Covers per hour is the throughput measure for a restaurant, and dividing it by kitchen and front-of-house headcount separately shows which side of the operation is the constraint. Kitchen productivity typically caps a busy service before service staff do.

Formulas

Covers per hour

Covers per hour = Total covers / Service hours

Labour productivity

Covers per staff hour = Covers per hour / Staff on shift

Worked example

With the default values below, Covers Per Hour Calculator returns Covers per hour of 70.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Total covers served: 420
Service hours: 6
Kitchen staff on shift: 7
Front of house staff on shift: 9

Results

Covers per hour: 70.00
Covers per kitchen staff hour: 10.000
Covers per front of house staff hour: 7.778
Covers per total staff hour: 4.375

Step by step

1Values used
2Covers per hour
3Labour productivity
4Covers per hour= 70.00
5Covers per kitchen staff hour= 10.000
6Covers per front of house staff hour= 7.778
7Covers per total staff hour= 4.375

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a normal covers per staff hour figure?

Roughly 2-4 for full-service dining, 6-12 for fast casual, and higher still for counter service with limited menus.

Which side should I staff up first?

Whichever has the lower covers per staff hour at peak, since that is where the queue forms. Adding servers to a kitchen-limited service just increases waiting.