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Kitchen Staff Requirement Calculator

Work out kitchen staff requirement instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Kitchen Staff Requirement Calculator

Kitchen staffing has two components: line chefs sized to peak covers per hour, and preparation hours which can be scheduled outside service. Sizing the line to average covers rather than peak is the most common cause of long ticket times.

Formulas

Service chefs

Chefs = ceiling(Peak covers per hour / Covers per chef hour)

Total staff hours

Total = Service chefs x Service hours + Preparation hours

Worked example

With the default values below, Kitchen Staff Requirement Calculator returns Chefs required on the line at peak of 5. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Peak covers per hour
95
Covers one chef can produce per hour
22
Service hours
6
Preparation hours required per service
14

Results

Chefs required on the line at peak
5
Preparation staff equivalent
2.33
Total kitchen staff hours
44.0
Covers per kitchen staff hour
12.95

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Service chefs
  3. 3Total staff hours
  4. 4Chefs required on the line at peak= 5
  5. 5Preparation staff equivalent= 2.33
  6. 6Total kitchen staff hours= 44.0
  7. 7Covers per kitchen staff hour= 12.95

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 2 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

Why size to peak rather than average?

Because food cannot be produced in advance during service. A kitchen sized to the average fails for the two hours that matter most.

How do I reduce peak requirement?

Shift work into preparation, simplify the menu at peak, or introduce items that finish quickly from a prepared base.

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