Free Tool

Staff-to-Customer Ratio Calculator

A starting estimate for a single peak hour — not a substitute for your own observed foot traffic, but a quick sanity check before you finalise a shift's headcount.

Expected customers per hour (peak)

Average minutes to serve one customer

Buffer for breaks / slow moments (%)

One staff member can serve, per hour10.0 customers

Raw staff needed (no buffer)4.0

Recommended staff this peak hour5

Doesn't account for prep/cleanup work, walk-in variance, or roles split between customer-facing and back-of-house tasks. Use it alongside your own observed traffic, not instead of it.

Turn this into an actual roster.

ShiftMate builds the week around exactly how many staff each shift needs.

Start my free 14-day trial