Labor Utilization and Operating Practices in Table Service Restaurants

Excerpts from the report: The restaurant industry is suffering from a shortage of qualified personnel. This initial research was designed to evaluate the utilization of manpower in the production subsystem; to obtain related data on operating characteristics, facility layout, and operating methods; and to determine which components of the system require additional research. A meaningful productivity index had to be established to express the labor utilization in a restaurant. In this study the productivity index used was the number of man-hours by department to serve 100 customers. This index was used because it eliminated fluctuations in wage rates and menu prices. The data obtained in this study were obtained from the analysis of 13 restaurant operations. The participating restaurants were selected from varied geographic locations in the 48 contiguous States of the United States to assure wide representation