The Sunday Wage Bill Hangover

You look at the rota for Sunday. You have four chefs, three KPs, six floor staff, and two bar tenders. It looks like an army. And armies are expensive.

Sunday is unique. It is high intensity, condensed into a frantic 4-hour window (12pm–4pm). Many operators accept a bloated labor cost percentage on a Sunday—often creeping up to 35% or 40%—because “we need the bodies.”

But here is the killer: If your food margin slips to 60% (because of waste) and your labor rises to 35% (because of over-staffing), you have a combined prime cost of 95%. You are running a busy, loud, stressful pub for a 5% margin. You are effectively volunteering.

The Philosophy: “Effectiveness” over “Efficiency”

Will Guidara (Unreasonable Hospitality) argues that you cannot cut corners on service. If you cut staff too deep, the service collapses, customers don’t buy that second drink, and your revenue drops. So, the goal is not just to “slash hours.” It is to maximize “Revenue Per Labor Hour” (RPLH).

Rory Sutherland would ask: “Where is the friction?” Are your expensive chefs doing cheap jobs? Are your charismatic waiters stuck polishing cutlery instead of upselling wine?

Sunday labor cost isn’t solved by firing people. It is solved by Deployment. You need to stop paying £15/hour chefs to peel potatoes on a Sunday morning. That is a Saturday job. Sunday is for service.

The Tactics: Optimising the Rota

You need to aim for a Sunday labor cost of 25-28%. If you are over 30%, you are in the danger zone. Here is how to fix it.

1. The “Staggered Start” (Stop the 10 AM Social Club) Too many pubs bring the whole team in at 10:00 AM or 11:00 AM “just in case.” Between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM, they drink coffee, fold napkins slowly, and chat. That is one hour of wasted wages x 10 staff.

• The Tactic: Stagger the starts.
  • 2 Staff @ 10:30 (Setup).
  • 2 Staff @ 11:45 (Just before doors).
  • 2 Staff @ 12:30 (When the first wave hits).
• You save 10-15 hours of labor instantly. That’s £150 saved before you serve a pint.

2. The “Runner” System Why is your Head Waiter (paid £14/hr) running plates of food and clearing dirty tables? Their job is to sell wine, charm regulars, and manage the room.

• The Tactic: Hire “Food Runners” (often younger, lower wage, high energy). Their only job is pass-to-table. This keeps your skilled (expensive) staff on the floor selling. You increase revenue without increasing the total wage bill significantly.

3. The “Aggressive Cut” Operators are terrified of “the second wave.” The rush dies at 3:30 PM. But you keep 6 floor staff on until 6:00 PM “just in case” it picks up.

• The Tactic: It won’t pick up. Check your sales data from the last 10 Sundays. It never does.
• Be ruthless. As soon as the last main course goes out, cut 50% of the floor staff. If you are paying people to lean on the bar, you are burning profit.

The Software Pitch: Fix the Food to Fund the Staff

Here is the reality: You need staff on Sunday. You can’t run a skeleton crew or the quality suffers. Sometimes, you cannot lower your labor cost any further without breaking the business.

So, if you can’t lower the Labor Cost, you must lower the Food Cost to balance the books.

If your labor is high (30%), your Food Cost must be low (25-28%). If your Food Cost is high (waste, shrinkage, bad portioning), you cannot afford your staff.

You need the Roast Forecaster.

This tool ensures your Food GP is rock solid.

• It stops you from over-spending on meat.
• It ensures every portion yields maximum profit.
• It gives you the “Margin Safety Net” that allows you to pay for that extra member of staff.

You use the software to lock down the kitchen numbers, so you have the financial freedom to staff the floor properly.

👉 Get the tool here: https://smartpubtools.com/sunday-roast-forecaster/

The Conclusion

High labor on Sunday is a fact of life, but wasted labor is a choice. Stagger your starts, use cheaper runners for manual tasks, and aggressive cuts when the volume drops. But above all, use the right tools to ensure your food margin is high enough to pay for the team that delivers the experience.