# Restaurant labor cost percentage (3 sources)

> The median published figure in the Restaurant Labour Benchmark is 16.94 USD across 3 sources' own pages in USD (range 15.24 to 17.62 USD; 4 sources publish a figure), read 15 September 2026.

Rotazo · https://rotazo.com/datasets/restaurant-labour-benchmark/ · computed 2026-09-15

**Median published figure:** 16.94 USD (range 15.24 to 17.62 USD; 3 sources with a figure; 4 of 19 sources read publish one).

4 of the 19 named sources read in full publish a figure; 15 publish none, read 15 September 2026.

## Every figure, with its source

One row per source: the figure the source's own page publishes, the page, and the day it was read.

| Source | Figure | Read |
|---|---|---|
| [ISED Canadian Industry Statistics, full-service and limited-service eating places (NAICS 7225)](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/app/ixb/cis/salaries-salaires/7225) | 19.02 CAD | 2026-09-12 |
| [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: cooks](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/cooks.htm) | 17.62 USD | 2026-09-12 |
| [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: waiters and waitresses](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/waiters-and-waitresses.htm) | 16.94 USD | 2026-09-12 |
| [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: food and beverage serving workers](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/food-and-beverage-serving-and-related-workers.htm) | 15.24 USD | 2026-09-12 |

## The sentence each figure was read from (4)

- [ISED Canadian Industry Statistics, full-service and limited-service eating places (NAICS 7225)](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/app/ixb/cis/salaries-salaires/7225), read 2026-09-12: "The average hourly wage paid in this industry is $19.02 an hour for 2024."
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: cooks](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/cooks.htm), read 2026-09-12: "The median hourly wage for cooks was $17.62 in May 2025."
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: waiters and waitresses](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/waiters-and-waitresses.htm), read 2026-09-12: "The median hourly wage for waiters and waitresses was $16.94 in May 2025."
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: food and beverage serving workers](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/food-and-beverage-serving-and-related-workers.htm), read 2026-09-12: "The median hourly wage for food and beverage serving and related workers was $15.24 in May 2025."

## Read in full, publishes no figure

- [BLS OEWS industry highlight: food services and drinking places](https://www.bls.gov/oes/highlight_foodanddrink.htm), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [BLS OEWS national employment and wage table 1](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [BLS OEWS industry estimates, NAICS 7225 restaurants and other eating places](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_722500.htm), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [BLS employer costs for employee compensation](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [US DOL minimum wages for tipped employees by state](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [US DOL fact sheet 15, tipped employees under the FLSA](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [ONS average weekly earnings, accommodation and food services (series K58C)](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/timeseries/k58c/emp), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [ONS average weekly earnings EARN01](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/averageweeklyearningsearn01), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [ONS ASHE table 8, earnings by local authority](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/placeofresidencebylocalauthorityashetable8), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [National Restaurant Association, restaurant labor costs above historical averages](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/restaurant-economic-insights/analysis-commentary/restaurant-labor-costs-are-well-above-historical-averages/), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [National Restaurant Association, elevated labor costs and profitability in 2024](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/restaurant-economic-insights/analysis-commentary/elevated-labor-costs-had-a-significant-impact-on-restaurant-profitability-in-2024/), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [Epos Now, how many members of staff do I need in my restaurant](https://www.eposnow.com/us/resources/how-many-members-of-staff-do-i-need-in-my-restaurant/), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [7shifts, restaurant staffing](https://www.7shifts.com/blog/restaurant-staffing/), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [Job Bank Canada, food service worker wages (NOC 65201)](https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/marketreport/wages-occupation/24589/ca), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [bls.gov](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_722500.htm), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused

## Methodology

Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through the estate's fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2). 4 of the 19 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 15 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 1 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere. The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source in USD (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences), so N counts sources, never sentences; 88 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded. Derivation as chartered: the labour line built from the authorities rather than asserted: the statistical agency's wage per restaurant ROLE (BLS OEWS by occupation and by NAICS 7225 for the US, ONS for GB, ISED and Job Bank for CA) multiplied by the employer's on-cost from the official compensation series, set against the statutory floor for that jurisdiction including the tipped-wage credit, and expressed as the share of sales a given cover count implies; the association's published industry ratio sits beside it as a comparison, attributed to the association and never merged in. The two calculator keywords are the same table with the operator's own numbers substituted, and the staffing rows are the SPREAD between published staffing ratios, which disagree by a factor of three and have never been tabulated against each other.

## Sources

- [BLS OEWS industry highlight: food services and drinking places](https://www.bls.gov/oes/highlight_foodanddrink.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: waiters and waitresses](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/waiters-and-waitresses.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: cooks](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/cooks.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: food and beverage serving workers](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/food-and-beverage-serving-and-related-workers.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS OEWS national employment and wage table 1](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS OEWS industry estimates, NAICS 7225 restaurants and other eating places](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_722500.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS employer costs for employee compensation](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [US DOL minimum wages for tipped employees by state](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [US DOL fact sheet 15, tipped employees under the FLSA](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [US DOL state minimum wage laws](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/state) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ONS average weekly earnings, accommodation and food services (series K58C)](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/timeseries/k58c/emp) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ONS average weekly earnings EARN01](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/averageweeklyearningsearn01) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ONS ASHE table 8, earnings by local authority](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/placeofresidencebylocalauthorityashetable8) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [National Restaurant Association, restaurant labor costs above historical averages](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/restaurant-economic-insights/analysis-commentary/restaurant-labor-costs-are-well-above-historical-averages/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [National Restaurant Association, elevated labor costs and profitability in 2024](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/restaurant-economic-insights/analysis-commentary/elevated-labor-costs-had-a-significant-impact-on-restaurant-profitability-in-2024/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Epos Now, how many members of staff do I need in my restaurant](https://www.eposnow.com/us/resources/how-many-members-of-staff-do-i-need-in-my-restaurant/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [7shifts, restaurant staffing](https://www.7shifts.com/blog/restaurant-staffing/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Job Bank Canada, food service worker wages (NOC 65201)](https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/marketreport/wages-occupation/24589/ca) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ISED Canadian Industry Statistics, full-service and limited-service eating places (NAICS 7225)](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/app/ixb/cis/salaries-salaires/7225) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [bls.gov](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_722500.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)

## Cite or embed

- The median published figure in the Restaurant Labour Benchmark is 16.94 USD across 3 sources' own pages in USD (range 15.24 to 17.62 USD; 4 sources publish a figure), read 15 September 2026.
- 4 of the 19 named sources read in full publish a figure; 15 publish none, read 15 September 2026.

Cite as: "Rotazo Restaurant Labour Benchmark", updated 2026-09-15, https://rotazo.com/datasets/restaurant-labour-benchmark/.

CSV: https://rotazo.com/datasets/restaurant-labour-benchmark.csv
JSON: https://rotazo.com/datasets/restaurant-labour-benchmark.json
Embed (plain HTML, static link back): see https://rotazo.com/datasets/restaurant-labour-benchmark/#median