Sales-Per-Labor-Hour Explained: What It Tells You Before You Write the Schedule

Jan 16

If you’ve looked for a better way to manage labor, you’ve probably come across Sales Per Labor Hour (SPLH).

It sounds more precise than a percentage. It feels like it might actually help you make decisions.

But most operators either don’t use it—or they use it like a report card after the week is over, then go right back to scheduling the same way.

That wastes the best part of the metric.

Why Operators Look for a Better KPI

Labor percentage is backward-looking, averaged, and blunt.

Operators want something that helps them decide, not just evaluate.

That’s why SPLH catches attention.

What SPLH Actually Measures

SPLH is:

Total sales ÷ Total labor hours

If you did $3,500 on 70 hours, your SPLH is $50.

You generated $50 in revenue for every hour of labor used.

Higher is generally better—assuming service quality stays intact.

Why SPLH Can Work Before You Schedule

Here’s the move most operators miss:

If SPLH is dollars per hour, you can invert it to get hours per dollar.

If your target SPLH is $50, then:

1 ÷ 50 = 0.02 hours per dollar

So if you project $3,500, then:

$3,500 × 0.02 = 70 target hours

Now you have a number before the week starts.

This calculation gives you a starting range—not a decision you should trust without adjustment. Targets have to be calibrated to your operation and interpreted by volume level.

How SPLH Behaves at Different Volumes

SPLH isn’t constant across the week.

On high-volume days, SPLH rises because the same team handles more throughput.
On low-volume days, SPLH falls because you’re carrying minimum staffing.

That’s normal.

The goal isn’t to force Monday to hit Saturday’s SPLH. The goal is to know what “good” looks like for each volume band in your restaurant.

Common Mistakes With SPLH

Picking a target out of thin air
If your SPLH target isn’t calibrated to your operation, it’s just a guess.
Using one target for every day
Monday and Saturday are structurally different. One target across all days creates bad decisions.
Only calculating it after the week
SPLH only helps if it influences the schedule before payroll.
Chasing the number at the expense of service
confirms you can always cut hours. That doesn’t mean you should.

How SPLH Exposes Excess Hours

Once you track SPLH by day, patterns show up.

Maybe Friday runs $58 and Tuesday runs $42.

Part of that is volume. But part of it may be excess Tuesday hours that aren’t tied to demand.

You don’t need Tuesday to become Friday.

You need Tuesday to move from “unnecessary” to “appropriate.”

That difference is often 2–3 hours per week—and those hours add up fast.

SPLH is useful. But it still doesn’t solve the core problem by itself.

Because even if you understand the metric, you still have to execute the schedule—and most tools won’t tell you if your hours are right.

Read this next → Why Restaurant Scheduling Software Doesn’t Tell You If Your Hours Are Right

Kwan Howard